Rainbows and Religion by Rev Glynn Cardy

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I was at a national religious gathering last week. Some denominations call them synods, some conferences, and some assemblies.  They have governance and business functions which border on the boring.  They have supportive and gossiping functions, nowadays called networking.  And they have a discuss and debate function, which makes them memorable or not.  

Amid the latter a woman got to her feet and staked a claim that religion (specifically Christian) had the patent on the word ‘rainbow.’  She didn’t like how queer communities were using the word as a self-description.  She referenced the Noah story, and said the rainbow was a symbol of hope.

Later, over lunch, I had a chat with her.  I empathized with her about language that we think means one thing and then somebody goes and uses it to mean something else.  Happens to me all the time.  Just when I think the meaning is clear about one thing, someone adds a new meaning.  So words start to have multiple meanings and confusion creeps in.

Like the word God.  I thought it was a done deal that it meant love for one another.  A mutual, transformative, life-giving love.  Good, beautiful, healthy stuff that no one could object to.  

But then along comes other people who tell me I’ve got it completely wrong.  God, they say, is a big superman in charge - lord, sovereign, father, judge of the earth, and all that and all that.

And I’m left thinking, given that I don’t want a bar of all that and all that, maybe I shouldn’t use the G-o-d word at all.

So, I empathise with this woman.  She looks at me a little strangely when I tell her about my G-o-d thoughts.  I suspect she thinks the big super god is the only right way to think about God.  But she hears me out.

I then try to say something about rainbows existing before language and religion did, and how the story of Noah and that ark doesn’t show God in the best light.  But by then she’s getting up and politely putting some distance between us.  

The Noah saga when you think about it has problems.  Like there are 7.77 million species of animals on earth.  Probably more back then.  Then double that number for ‘two of every kind’ and you are left having to construct a very, very, very big boat!  

Finding ‘two of every kind’ is problematic too.  Like, for example, there are 65,000 hermaphroditic species.

Then think about what 15.54 million creatures are going to eat for 40 days and 40 nights.  Especially the carnivores!!

Then, given this flood was meant to cover the globe, there is the repopulate the earth thing.  From one family.  Limited gene pool.  Lots of inbreeding.  Not good.

Then there are all the dead bodies when the flood waters abate.  Bloated from drowning.  Too many to bury.  Think of the smell.  And the infectious hazards of dead bodies.

About now you’ll be thinking, ‘Give us a break Glynn we all know this is just a story.’  Which is true.  Though some still think its history.

Yet it’s a story with a moral.  And to find it we need to read to the end where Noah has PTSD, is drowning himself in alcohol, and cursing his grandchildren.  The moral being that all this death and destruction, including the trauma visited upon the survivors, is the result of a terrible vengeful and murderous god.

Note: sometimes religions pass on tragic stories in their traditions to warn us about dangerous gods and bad ideas.  Think health and safety training.

As for the rainbow, I agree with the woman I was talking to.  It’s a symbol of hope.  Hope that we will never justify mass murder.  Hope that we will find a better god than this one.  Hope that every species, every person, of whatever race, religion, or sexual identity, will find a welcome home on this planet.

In my last parish we created a billboard to celebrate and affirm the Rainbow Community Church which shared our building with us.  It gave a different slant on the words ‘two of every kind.’

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