All this, and Heaven too?

I'm a little bemused by some of the religious stories that I've run across lately.

First, there's the rather strange news that some Hindu men are dressing up as women in honor of the god Krishna.

Thousands of devotees are now dressing up as Radha - the goddess lover of Krishna - like retired railwayman V K Saxena, 72.

"I can't put it into words properly but I feel more holy dressed as a woman," said Saxena of New Delhi.

"The Lord told me he wanted me as his bride."




But the cult has astonished traditional religious leaders.

Senior priest Mohammad Ahangar said: "There are many ways to be closer to the Lord without trying to be his girlfriend."

No s**t, Sherlock! Speaking as a medically retired pastor, I must confess I've never had even the slightest inclination to cross-dress during my devotions. I rather suspect my superiors would have had more than a few words to say to me had I done so!

Then, of course, there's a rather more secular - indeed, downright pecuniary - approach to one's relationship to God, as a woman in Jacksonville, Florida, recently demonstrated.

A Jacksonville woman who said she is Jesus Christ's wife was charged with fraud Monday when she tried to purchase a car with a bad check.

Emma Kim-Tashis Harrison, 25, walked into the Coggin Pontiac dealership on Blanding Boulevard looking for some new wheels. She settled on a vehicle that cost almost $70,000, but things hit a snag when she grabbed her checkbook, according to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arrest report.

A representative from a bank in California informed the dealership's financial manager that the account Harrison supplied was bad.

So were the names on the check. It was signed "Mr. and Mrs. Jesus and Emma Christ."

Officers who detained Harrison found a host of credit cards and checks in her purse, some issued to Emma Harrison and others made out to Emma Christ. She said she doesn't work but owns "a traveling Web site that people just deposit money into," according to the report.

Investigators also discovered Harrison has never had a driver's license. She was charged with organized fraud, forging bank bills and uttering forged bills — all felonies.

She remains in the Duval County jail without bail.

And where was her husband in all this?

She said Jesus Christ would return next week to sign the paperwork and pick up the car.

Well . . . I've heard of religious fervor driving people to extremes, but never to the point that the Savior would actually drive their car!



Peter