Voltaire on God
“If God created us in his own image we have more than reciprocated”. Voltaire (Le Sottisier)
Archive of posts filed under the Religion category.
ISIS: a challenge to the readers, Part 2
A reader made the following observation yesterday: “The Epicurean solution (to the turmoil in the Middle East) would be: DON’T INTERVENE. Epicurus was against involvement in politics, especially geopolitics, and for good reason – life is too short to make yourself miserable solving other people’s problems. The reader was talking about Britain, but I entirely …
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1. Understanding ISIS: a challenge to the readers. Long, but important!
General Nagata is a top US General. He is quoted as saying, “We do not understand ISIS, and until we do, we are not going to defeat it. We have not defeated the idea. We do not even understand the idea.” About 1,000 foreign fighters flock to Iraq and Syria every month. How and why …
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Challenge!
Do you seriously need a God to tell you not to kill one another, not to steal, not not bear false witness?
Christianity and nationalism
Christianity and nationalism are incompatible. Why would an all-seeing, all-loving god pick Americans to favor above all others. And yet huge numbers of Americans regard their country as God’s most favoured nation. “It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in …
Violent faiths
To The Times Desmond Swayne’s analysis of the comparative records of violence between Muslims and Christians is flawed. Humans are capable of unlimited violence, but Christianity restrains them. Its dominant ethic is that of “turning the other cheek”. Islam’s dominant texts, in the post-Medina part of the Koran, sanction violence, and they take precedence over …
False beliefs
Entire systems of values emerge from false belief in Divine Providence that denies the freedom and responsibility of individuals. The blind belief in “how things have always been” breeds automatons, not free and creative men and women. People who trust fate can allow themselves to degenerate into a state of powerlessness and allow this demoralized …
Cow sanctity
“There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten”. (Indira Gandhi)
Stacking the deck
A majority of Britons in a Huffington Post survey concluded that religion “does more harm than good,” and 60 percent described themselves as “not religious at all.” Another recent survey showed that twice as many Britons believe in ghosts as believe in God. Nonetheless, in Britain there are numerous ” faith” schools, where religion is …
Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine wrote. “Abstinence from all sexual union is better even than marital intercourse performed for the sake of procreating.” In other words, if you cannot control yourself then get married, but please don’t enjoy it. If you want to see how Augustine’s inhumane ideas played out in real, modern life please do get to …
The last abolition of a Caliphate
The huge problem of militant Islam Is not confined to Iraq and Syria. In 1924 Kemal Ataturk and the Grand National Assembly abolished the Caliphate, and along with it, the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Pious Foundations were wound up, religious schools transferred to the secular arm, and the Sheriat Courts were closed. Instead, a Civil …
Islamic extremism in Germany
Eleven self-styled “sharia police” vigilantes who patrolled the streets of a town in western Germany and attempted to dissuade people from drinking alcohol were recently arrested on charges of unlawful assembly and misuse of uniforms. The young men, who were led by a German convert to Islam, wore fluorescent orange jackets with the words “Shariah …
God and Einstein
I believe in Spinoza’s god, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, not in a god who concerns himself in the fate and doings of mankind. (Albert Einstein In other words, God is Nature. Not far from the ideas of Epicurus.
The “success prophets”
Some American churches tell their congregations that if they believe (and give) they will not only go to heaven, but they will be rich here on earth. These are the so-called “success prophets”, preying on the poor. I suppose one could argue that the “pastors” involved are at least trying to offer some hope, but …
False philosophies
False philosophies are as bad as false religions. Stoicism, for instance, affirms divine providence and asserts that the social class you find yourself in is ordained by a higher power. Hinduism supports the Indian caste system. (Tending the Epicurean Garden, Hiram Crespo). Most philosophies, like religions, become successful by bolstering the power of the ruler …