A Story Of Faith

(This Article was featured as an opinion piece in the November 2006 issue of the Mount Observer.)

Two men burn while impaled on individual stakes somewhere within the deepest layer of Hell. One, a Fundamentalist Muslim Jihadist donned in traditional Islamic garb and garlanded with an AK-47 bandolier. His equally fated partner, an unusual bedfellow of condemnation, a Fundamentalist Christian Armageddonist conservatively dressed in a business suit; hair immaculately styled the Executive cut.

Both engage in a heated argument, ranging periodically from haughty tones to snapping rage bursts, unfazed by the unrelenting flames that char their flesh to carbon dust... dark as sin... that melt away and dissipates from gristled bones.

"You have been warned, Infidel. When Allah finally rewards my exalted deed in Janna, you'll regret your allegiance with the Great Satanic Empire of the West.” chided one who apparently defines his “exalted deed” with suicide bombing a bus load of Peace Corps activists, with no intent nor affiliation outside unconditional philanthropy.

“Hah!!!” blurted his equally self-righteous counterpart with a belittling scoff. “Once Jesus returns on his day of Rapture to Judge the wicked, my soul will inherit everlasting life in Heaven...and YOU will be forever punished for engaging in a barbarically violent, pagan religion!!!” Aside from his exhaustive time with the “Life and Family Values” religious organization he assisted in its founding, he funded the costs by war profiteering the latest in “smart weaponry” technology that somehow mistaken an understaffed and short supplied children's hospital as an insurgent ammunitions cache.

Both men fail to realize the irony of their shared situation...