Costa del Pentecost

According to the Christian calendar, today marks the day the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and the church was born. In theory, it celebrates that all branches of Christianity are equal, or — to use a Linux analogy — it doesn’t matter which distro you use, they’re all fundamentally the same.

Which is actually hokum.

Catholicists think they’re far more mighty than Protestants (“Splittaahh!”) and the Baptists think they’re mightier than the Methodists, who in turn think they have better clapping and songs than the Anglicans, who think their version of Catholicism is better than the hardcore version.

So what’s really going on? If you break it down to its most fundamental, all churches are competing not only with other denominations, but within their own particular sects for one reason and one reason alone: your collection money. With declining numbers of people visiting church — perhaps more people waking up to the fact it’s nothing more than organised brainwashing — the scramble for your cash is heating up. In America, one place I went past advertised “Free continental breakfast before 10am” on their peg board to try and lure you in.

All this competition and antagonism between branches over money is not only the start of many a war / crusade over the years, it really makes a mockery of Pentecost and the core message the Christians are supposedly peddling.