Who Exactly Are God’s Children?

Friends, over millennia people have been arguing about who are God’s Children. The Jews got in early and staked their claim. They based their claim on the Torah. In Israel now, the Jews are staking their claim using F-16s, Apache helicopters, nukes and methods that have been borrowed from the Nazis.

Of course, the Christians are another group who would claim a favoured position. They base their claim on the Bible and, more recently, achieving military superpower status. However Christians are divided into three competing groups: Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals. Little love is lost between them
(as Ireland would attest) even though they claim that their mutual God is Love. Each group believes strongly that ‘it’s their way or the highway’.

Another groups are the Muslims who base their claim on words in the Koran and, curiously, also on armed might (Pakistan has nukes). Over centuries, Christians and Muslims have had many wars. Now Muslims claim their God (Allah) will, upon their death, take them up to paradise and, for the men, make available to them 72 virgins. What the women get is unknown to me. Perhaps they are remade into virgins!

Then we have the Hindus and the Buddhists. The Hindus have hundreds of God’s which, in a way, must be a blessing because, after all, one God can only look after just so many children. They also have nukes. The Buddhists (who are generally peaceful) have elevated Buddha into a god-like status even though the original Buddha was espousing a practical philosophy for surviving life not a theology that promises life after death (which does appear to be somewhat of a contradiction).

The above mentioned are probably the main claimants but there are, spread across the world, a zillion religious splinter groups whose contradictory beliefs and claims defy enumeration. We have Mormons, Plymouth Brethren, Jehovah’s Witness, Seven Day A Week Bikeriders, Satanists, etc.

Then, to complicate issues still further, we have national and/or racial groups who claim that God is on their side. Why, the American claim they are one nation under God and have a Manifest Destiny to make the whole world into their unfortunate image. The Germans with God on their side had a similar objective as did the British, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Moors, the Mongols, etc, etc.

Friends, as an atheist,  I admit to being confused by all this. I don’t know who’s who! Who do you think God’s Children are? Am I to go to my grave not knowing? Could I, like a friend of mine, yet be converted and live forever adoring and singing praises to…er…one God or another?

Please enlighten me!