Time: The Taliban have taken over power in Afghanistan. Upstairs in heaven, God is confused over the strict and often violent means espoused by the outfit to reach Him.
Scene: God’s living room. Some men are sitting around sipping tea & chatting.
God (Frowning): Guys, I am suffering from an identity crisis. I need your help. How do you refer to me? I have heard about this thing called religion downstairs. What is it? I didn’t create it…
Darwin (Scowling): Err, this creation business is bullshit. For me, “The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic.” I don’t want to speak on this nonsensical issue.
God (Placating): But, of course. I respect your views too. After all, I can’t be blamed for not being secular, even against an agnostic. Ah ha! We have another man of science among us. Voltaire, tell us, what is God?
Voltaire (Nonchalantly): I reserve my comments.
God (Shocked): What? You were pretty free with your opinions down there.
Voltaire (Sighs): Alas. “Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.”
God (Contemplative): True. But we need a scientific view. Here, Albert, enlighten us on this matter of grave gravity.
Einstein (Absentmindedly): E=mc2… Therefore mc2=E… Big Bang! No speed of light… Err, you were saying something?
God (Patiently): Yes Albert, please tell us, what or who is God?
God (Smiling): Well that settles it for the scientist. Now, Vivekananda, you are well versed in Vedanta. Where do you find this “superior reasoning power” as Albe
rt describes it?
Swami Vivekananda (Calmly): I find this power in humans. “The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free.”
God: Well said, indeed. Now, we have a poet too. Khalil, what is God? This is a riddle.
Khalil Gibran (Reverentially): “And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles / Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children / And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain / You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees…”
God (Grinning): I like it. O, I simply love poets. As for you Martin, you were devout, fought for harmony & equality, & always carried a Bible. So what did the book tell you about me?
Martin Luther King: I beg your pardon, but it’s a wrong notion that you exist in a particular book. “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”
God (Contentedly): Exactly. I didn’t write the books, you humans did. Everybody hails me in their books & abuses me in others. So, which side I am on?
Abraham Lincoln (Gravely): The question never bothered me. “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
God (Sighs): But who cares? I am really very disappointed. The best thing is to end all this nonsense. I will make the human race barren. What do say, Rabi? After all, you are a humanist.
Rabindranath Tagore (Beseechingly): Lord, please don’t. “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”
God: Hmmm…
They talked upstairs & we continued to fight downstairs. (Curtains)