The second and concluding installment of a work of fiction where a group of young students debate religion and the presence of Good and of Evil in the world…
by: Frederick Foote
Read “Three Steps To Evil, Part One” here.
Part Two: And A Child Shall Lead Them
Klee, Ajax, and Ronnie move lethargically to the middle school steps and sit.
“This is a bummer, man, I mean, I have to rethink all my ideas about religion and stuff.”
“Ajax, it’s like looking at one of those pictures that looks like one thing when you first see it, and then when you look at it from a different angle, it’s a whole different picture.”
‘Yeah, but it’s like you said, Ronnie, it’s right there in the books. This Christian God is a mass murderer, an assassin, and genocidal. How could anyone even imagine a monster like that loves humanity? Why do we blind ourselves to its destruction of life on an ungodly scale, and we don’t even see it or feel it?”
“Klee, ungodly?”
“Oops! Godly scale. That’s what I meant, Ronnie.”
“Yeah, words are getting twisted. I used to have to go to Sunday school. I remember the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den. After Daniel spent the night unharmed in the lion’s den, the king had all those who opposed Daniel and their families put in the lion’s den, and the lions had an all-you-can-eat buffet. I asked our Sunday school teacher why a god or anyone would do something like that? And the Sunday school teacher told me I was being disruptive and reported me to my mother. That’s the last time I attended any Sunday school or any other religious events. Assholes!”
“I feel you guys, but we are Catholic, and now I don’t even want to go to mass. I just kind of feel cold inside, you know?”
The girls move closer to Ajax and put their arms around him.
“Ajax, we will figure it out. We—”
“Guys, listen, how can any religion determine evil or good if what God did is considered good? I think they have ruined the good-and-evil values for us. I mean, nobody’s crimes against humanity can compare to God’s.”
“Oh, fuck! Klee, stop! I’m on overload, already.”
“Sorry, Ajax. I just…I’m so pissed at all the bullshit they fed us. They made us not feel the millions of deaths caused by God. Shit! Shit! Shit!”
“Okay, Ajax, Klee, we know we can’t trust God or preachers or churches or any of those fuckers, so we need to trust each other, that needs to be our first building block. We can figure this shit out. I know we can.”
“And maybe Henderson and my sister Grace — she called out our priest on violence in the church. We could meet at 9:00 on Sunday mornings. I won’t be going to Mass, so I have a free hour. That is so ironic.”
They talk for a bit longer, find their way home, and have a surprisingly good night’s sleep.
Two days later, as Klee arrives home from school, she is greeted by her mother and Reverend John Sweet, pastor at her mother’s South Street First Baptist Church.
“Klee, I would like you to meet our new pastor, Reverend John Sweet.”
“Hi, Reverend Sweet, how do you justify all the violence by God against living things. Against life.”
“Klee! Mind your manners. Be civil. I know you have been struggling with religion and your belief in God for the last few days. I invited Reverend Sweet to help you sort out some of those feelings and ideas. Please be respectful to him as you would to any other guest in our home.”
“Mom, you didn’t tell me you were inviting a minister to talk to me. You know how I feel about religion and God. I would have appreciated a chance to weigh in on this visit.”
“Klee, that is my bad, and I apologize. That still doesn’t excuse your behavior toward our guest.”
“Okay, Mom. I just felt kind of ambushed. Reverend Sweet, I apologize for being so rudely abrupt.”
“Klee, your apology is accepted, and I’m delighted to meet you. I’ve heard so many amazing things about you from your mother and your aunt, Linda.”
“Mom says you are a young and passionate spirit in the church. So, how do you justify all the violence by God and Jesus against living things?”
“Klee!”
“It’s okay, Ms. Morgan; that’s a fair question. And a good place to start. Klee, I’m delighted you are willing to discuss your views with me.”
“Is there any evil greater than your God?”
“Klee!”
“Mom, I’m asking the questions I need answered.”
“Klee, my God is not evil. He is the essence and foundation of goodness.”
“It, your God, destroyed all life on Earth except a few animals and a handful of people. How is that not evil?”
“Klee, things are not always as they appear. We always see only part of an event, like a snapshot. A wider angle would give us a better view, and we are of so few years that our historical perspective is bound to be woefully short of the mark.”
“Reverend, if what you say is true, we always make decisions without seeing the full picture. Because that’s the only way we can make decisions. Your God said he wiped out the world and has threatened to do it again by fire. That’s a confession by a being of enormous evil. Maybe at the end of time, someone will look back at the whole picture, but it won’t be you or me.”
“Klee, I don’t understand everything in the Bible. I don’t know if anyone does. But deep in my soul, I know God is not evil and is the foundation of all life and our source of goodness.”
“Okay, okay, you know the truth. God told you the truth, and every other religion and person has it wrong. That just seems so lame, stubborn, and stupid. Your God sounds like a tyrant.”
“Klee, take care in how you refer to my God.”
“Is that a threat from you or your jealous God?”
“Reverend, that did sound threatening. I will not have you threatening my child.”
“Sister, Morgan, I apologize. I’m concerned that Klee may offend powers greater than us. Klee, in the Old Testament, we have a rougher, harsher view of God. And sometimes, I’m sorry to admit, I lapse into that Old Testament viewpoint; please forgive me.”
“Reverend, your God is sick and is a narcissistic adulation junkie; it is a threat to everything living. Can’t you see the evil that you are preaching? You want us to accept your God’s crimes against nature and humanity as good or just misunderstood.”
“Child, who has been teaching you these perversions? Your mother said you had a philosophy professor who had a great impact on you. Do you have philosophy in middle school?”
“Reverend I—”
“I got this, Mom. Why do you worship a God who uses the threat of eternal torture to recruit followers? You need your followers to be God-fearing? That doesn’t sound like a God of love to me.”
“You have lost the path, child. I will intensify my prayers for you.”
“Reverend, your God seeks worshipers and says he’s all-powerful. It sounds to me like you are grooming us for a dictator or authoritarian rule. Is that what you are doing?”
“Sister, Morgan, I shall pray for both of you. I can find my way to the door. May God bless you both.”
“Reverend Sweet, maybe the biggest evildoers are the ones who teach and preach perpetual subjugation and eternal torture. That is one sweet con.”
Six Months Later.
Henderson has been fired from his teaching jobs for the “intellectual corruption” of students. He works part-time at Carl’s Jr.
Ajax’s parents moved him out of state to live with an uncle and play high school football.
Ronnie is under the authority of the juvenile justice system, classified as an African American male, and is receiving “services” in a Northern California locked facility.
Klee is an involuntary admission to a community mental health facility, adjusting to her newly diagnosed juvenile adjustment reaction.
Klee’s mother has repudiated and departed from the South Street First Baptist Church and has been firmly embraced by the New World Church of Christ.
Frederick K. Foote, Jr. was born in Sacramento, California, and educated in Vienna, Virginia, and northern California. Since 2014 Frederick has published over three hundred stories, poems, and essays, including literary, science fiction, fables, and horror genres. Frederick has published three short story collections, For the Sake of Soul (2015), Crossroads Encounters (2016), and The Maroon Fables and Revelations (2020).
