Girolamo Savonarola was a brave and fearless Dominican monk, Bible Preacher and a member of the church clergy, active during the Italian renaissance, that became well known for his courageous outspoken views on clerical corruption, cruelty, authority abuse, dictatorship and negligence of the poor, which defied the conservative views of Catholicism of his day, as well as the established political powers, extremely inclined to wars, in his contemporaneous Italy torn apart in a complex layer of city-states, kingdoms, republics, duchies and puppy states.  

After a turbulent period of civil unrest in Florence, which resulted in his claim to power, Savonarola became the de facto ruler of Florence, igniting a campaign of puritanical behavior, and a new age of religious rule, proclaiming Florence to be the New Jerusalem. This resulted in a dramatic outrage from the Catholic Church, which, by this time, had an already hateful and disgusting view on the more and more rebellious, troubled and turmoil-maker Savonarola. As years passed by, the relationship between Savonarola and the church became even more hazardous, difficult and irreconcilable.   

Having a view of religious honesty, chastity and compromise which should result in the monks, priests, deacons and all of the catholic clergy contributing actively for the betterment of human society, the apathy, the spurious interests, the indifference and the greed of the church had turned Savonarola’s deception into a quest for revolt, and, having a fearless, daring and confident personality as well as an active attitude, he obviously objected the possibility to remain quiet and do nothing about it.

Becoming well known for its famous “bonfire of the vanities”, Savonarola ignited a campaign against what he saw as superfluous things in life, that should be rendered useless, since they did little to improve the life of citizens, besides intensifying the luxury, greed and vanity of human behavior, so the bonfire of the vanities should burn all of this things causing more harm than good. So, in February 7, 1497, people burned dresses, clothes, accessories, luxury and expensive collectibles, cosmetics, mirrors, and a lot of other things, as well as secular art, including paintings and books.  

By this time, Savonarola was already a declared enemy of the church, which did all in their power to make life for Savonarola the hardest possible. With a futile certainty of success by what he saw as a holy campaign for cleansing, and engaging the people in his cause, his enemies managed to turn popular opinion against him. So, as fast as he rose to power and made reforms, unexpectedly, overnight citizens turned against him and his associates.

No more in the favor of the population, stripped of all command, respect and authority, Savonarola felt into the hands of his enemies, being subsequently imprisoned and tortured. The once popular hero and liberator of Florence was now considered an enemy of the church, the people and the established order.     

Girolamo Savonarola was soon excommunicated, and, with two of his associates, was burned at the stake in May 23, 1498. He was 45 years old.  


​Wagner

With all the brouhaha about religion these days, a friend asked me what I believed in.  'Oh', he said after I said 'nothing', 'so you're an atheist'.  I denied. I said that I don't want to see myself as an atheist, certainly not one of those fanatic non-believers you see these days.  Most of my friends would call themselves atheists if you ask them.  Very few of them will actually start talking about it in the first place and that's exactly where I would like to fit in.

I used to believe.  I remember an intense praying session after I survived an accident where a car hit me when I was cycling to school.  I flew through the air for several meters before landing in the middle of a busy street.  Yet, I got up quickly and ran to safety.  I checked myself but apart from a few scratches and bruises, I was completely unharmed.  When I got back home, on foot because my bike wasn't as lucky as me, I prayed to Mother Mary to thank her for surviving that accident.

Yet, soon after, I started re-imagining the accident and it started to come back to me.  I saw the car coming right at me and I knew an impact was imminent.  I remember putting more pressure on one foot in order to achieve a decent landing pose.  Once up in the air, I carefully selected my strongest arm to take the fall.  When it touched the ground, I allowed the rest of my body to roll over, spreading the pressure over the entire body. Mother Mary didn't do that.  My brain just brought up the basic martial arts training I received.

I have always been fascinated with my brain.  It's such a delicate and powerful tool.  It can do so much in so little time and it feeds on information.  It can bring up worlds of fantasy and bring those to use in the so-called real world.  It's the core of my being, everything else is either working for or acting through the brain.  Two weeks after that car hit me, I started worshiping my brain and feeding it with everything it could take.  Books, papers, documentaries, observation,... I fed it all I could find.

I was brought up Catholic but not very strict.  In my childhood I was forced to go to church but that somehow vanished completely when I got older.  It was quite boring, that's true, but church gave me time to be alone with my brain while the priest babbled on.  Besides, I liked the taste of 'hosties', those little wafers priests give you, claiming it's the body of Christ.  Every Sunday, I waited forty minutes for such a wafer.  Needless to say that I'm quite a patient man, no?

I used to believe in God for a while and even today I refuse to outrule the possibility.  Why? Well, even with all the science we have today we still can't seem to figure out who we are and what we are here for.  Some things are still shrouded in mystery, something that gave way to religion in the first place.  Wasn't lighting some punishment from God or gods before we finally discovered what it actually is?  Perhaps, and hopefully, science will one day overrule religion completely but we're not there yet.

Do I believe now? No, but I also don't believe that there is no God.  My beliefs resemble those of an adolescent who ran away from home because his father was an abusing alcoholic. Even if there is a god out there, I don't think he's worth of believing in, let alone worshipping him.  He completely failed in his fatherhood when he allowed people to murder, rape and enslave others in his name.  And don't come telling me that those people just have the wrong religion.  

Perhaps there is a god and perhaps he still sees what we are doing.  In that case, I honestly think he sighed and moved on.  If you can create the universe once, you can do it again, no?  So why should I care about God if he obviously doesn't care about his children.  And why should He still care, seeing what we have done to his creation. Although, 'creation'.  Making beings in His liking and allowing them to fight over their differences is not a creation, that's a social experiment.

I read the stories and I listened to the preachers but my beloved brain classified all of them as confusing spam, as stories to keep the people obedient, as hypocritical one-liners.  At one point, I remember sitting in church and thinking 'can't we just be good people without Him?'.  Apparently, most of us can't.  Strangely, some people still need heaven and hell to make them decide either to help or hurt another person.  I decided to try to be a good person anyway and gradually I persevered that thought.

Of everything I ever asked for, God did not give me one little thing, not even a hint of understanding.  I didn't even ask that much, an easier household so my mother would have more time to play with me, a pet that chose me instead of vice versa, help that intensely religious friend of mine overcome cancer.  When God decided to let him die anyway, I said 'that's it God, you're out of my friend zone'.  I turned my back and walked away.  Now I feel like that other friend of mine who doesn't even know, or care, whether his father is dead or alive.

So, am I an atheist?  Well, according to current opinion, I probably am.  Yet, I don't feel like an atheist. I feel like someone who just goes on without the need for something or someone up there.  I don't feel the need for that discussion because I don't think it adds anything to anyone's life.  I don't want to waste my time on someone who obviously doesn't have the slightest interest in my life.  Is that selfish? Well, not more than demanding 'above all, worship only one god'. At least I try to help someone once in a while...


Rik