Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Friday, 9 January 2015
Christians and Atheists
Why would an atheist try to convince their loved one to stop believing?
TV comedian and atheist Dara O Briain recently spent time on one of his panel shows explaining how he had attempted to convince his devoutly Catholic father that he was wrong to believe.
I wondered why. What are the possible consequences of success and failure?
Dara is a scientist, having studied Theoretical Physics at UCD in Dublin. He must surely have weighed up the consequences of his actions before speaking to his father.
Possible Result #1
Dara fails - his father retains his faith - Dara is correct and God does not exist.
Result: his father dies happy and content in his ignorance, and blinks out of existence
Possible Result #2
Dara fails - his father retains his faith - Dara is wrong and God does exist.
Result: his father dies happy and content in his faith, and goes to heaven
Possible Result #3
Dara succeeds - his father renounces his faith - Dara is correct and God does not exist.
Result: his father dies dejected and miserable for having wasted all that time at church, and blinks out of existence
Possible Result #4
Dara succeeds - his father renounces his faith - Dara is wrong and God does exist.
Result: his father dies dejected and miserable for having wasted all that time at church, and then has to face the almighty and explain himself
I ask again - why would an atheist try to convice their loved one to stop believing?
Whether God exists or not, no possible reason other than to win an argument, which they think is more important than the feelings, and possible post-death destination, of the loved one.
How utterly utterly selfish!
TV comedian and atheist Dara O Briain recently spent time on one of his panel shows explaining how he had attempted to convince his devoutly Catholic father that he was wrong to believe.
I wondered why. What are the possible consequences of success and failure?
Dara is a scientist, having studied Theoretical Physics at UCD in Dublin. He must surely have weighed up the consequences of his actions before speaking to his father.
Possible Result #1
Dara fails - his father retains his faith - Dara is correct and God does not exist.
Result: his father dies happy and content in his ignorance, and blinks out of existence
Possible Result #2
Dara fails - his father retains his faith - Dara is wrong and God does exist.
Result: his father dies happy and content in his faith, and goes to heaven
Possible Result #3
Dara succeeds - his father renounces his faith - Dara is correct and God does not exist.
Result: his father dies dejected and miserable for having wasted all that time at church, and blinks out of existence
Possible Result #4
Dara succeeds - his father renounces his faith - Dara is wrong and God does exist.
Result: his father dies dejected and miserable for having wasted all that time at church, and then has to face the almighty and explain himself
I ask again - why would an atheist try to convice their loved one to stop believing?
Whether God exists or not, no possible reason other than to win an argument, which they think is more important than the feelings, and possible post-death destination, of the loved one.
How utterly utterly selfish!
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
What should we do with Muslim extremists?
What we should do with Muslim extremists:
Simple: preach the Gospel of Christ to them, to try and convert them to Christianity!
If we succeed, they will stop being violent, and start doing good.
Even if they become Christian extremists, all they will do is run a food bank or open a soup kitchen for the homeless!
Who would object to this policy?
Not "real" muslims, who say that the terrorists are not real muslims. After all, it shouldn't matter to them whether these 'non-muslims' are Christians or atheists or anything else.
Not atheists / liberals / muslim apologists. After all, it shouldn't matter to them whether they are Christians or muslims - they think all believers are deluded fools.
Not those of other faiths. After all, it shouldn't matter to them whether they are Christians or muslims.
Of course Christians wouldn't object.
The only possible opponents of such a policy are those who support the Islamisation of western society.
Let's suggest this, and see who objects!
Simple: preach the Gospel of Christ to them, to try and convert them to Christianity!
If we succeed, they will stop being violent, and start doing good.
Even if they become Christian extremists, all they will do is run a food bank or open a soup kitchen for the homeless!
Who would object to this policy?
Not "real" muslims, who say that the terrorists are not real muslims. After all, it shouldn't matter to them whether these 'non-muslims' are Christians or atheists or anything else.
Not atheists / liberals / muslim apologists. After all, it shouldn't matter to them whether they are Christians or muslims - they think all believers are deluded fools.
Not those of other faiths. After all, it shouldn't matter to them whether they are Christians or muslims.
Of course Christians wouldn't object.
The only possible opponents of such a policy are those who support the Islamisation of western society.
Let's suggest this, and see who objects!
Monday, 15 December 2014
A free Palestine?
"FREE PALESTINE"
This is the cry we hear from various quarters, including famously in 2014, the England cricketer and self-confessed Muslim, Moeen Ali.
Supporters of the "Free Palestine" cause come from two distinct camps.
Firstly, there is the western liberal, pro-equality, anti-war, pro-education, pro-democracy camp.
Secondly, there are the militant Islamic, violently anti-Jew, anti-American bigots who want to establish an Islamic Caliphate across the middle east, and see Israel as a Western influenced buffer zone, requiring destruction.
Well, I have good news for those from Camp #1! A Free Palestine already exists! It is a multi-party, liberal democracy with religious freedom and gender equality built into its constitution, and an inclusive parliamentary democracy that is so successful, a party only needs 5% of the vote to get an MP.
'Where is this vision of PC-correctness?' you cry. It is right there - it's called Israel! But you cannot reject this perfect vision of statehood simply because you don't like the name can you? That would be the biggest case of 'cutting off your nose to spite your face' in history! Israel has more democratically elected Arab MPs than any other country in the world - about 20% of the parliament!
Of course, you may have a deep down feeling that, despite these easily verifiable facts, you are still opposed to the existance of Israel! Perhaps you need to consider if you actually belong to Camp #2!
This is the cry we hear from various quarters, including famously in 2014, the England cricketer and self-confessed Muslim, Moeen Ali.
Supporters of the "Free Palestine" cause come from two distinct camps.
Firstly, there is the western liberal, pro-equality, anti-war, pro-education, pro-democracy camp.
Secondly, there are the militant Islamic, violently anti-Jew, anti-American bigots who want to establish an Islamic Caliphate across the middle east, and see Israel as a Western influenced buffer zone, requiring destruction.
Well, I have good news for those from Camp #1! A Free Palestine already exists! It is a multi-party, liberal democracy with religious freedom and gender equality built into its constitution, and an inclusive parliamentary democracy that is so successful, a party only needs 5% of the vote to get an MP.
'Where is this vision of PC-correctness?' you cry. It is right there - it's called Israel! But you cannot reject this perfect vision of statehood simply because you don't like the name can you? That would be the biggest case of 'cutting off your nose to spite your face' in history! Israel has more democratically elected Arab MPs than any other country in the world - about 20% of the parliament!
Of course, you may have a deep down feeling that, despite these easily verifiable facts, you are still opposed to the existance of Israel! Perhaps you need to consider if you actually belong to Camp #2!
Friday, 31 October 2014
Temple Mount
According to the BBC, the Palestinians are regarding the temporary closure of access to Temple Mount as a declaration of war!
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29828547
This is a little hypocritical, given the Palestinian’s attacks on, and attempted destruction of, Jewish holy sites such as the Tomb of Rachel and the Tomb of Joseph, amongst many others, in the West Bank area. The truth is that the holy Muslim sites on Temple Mount have been preserved and protected by the state of Israel as part of its constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. How many Muslim states have that? In many, possession of a bible is a criminal offence!
It’s also a bit late! The Middle East is divided between Arabs and Jews – the Arabs get 27 out of 28 countries, and an area about that of Western Europe whilst the Jews get one country, about the size of Wales – and the Arab countries have all been formally at war with Israel since 1948 (except for a couple that have signed peace deals since). The fact that the Palestinians are not formally at war is an admission that they do not regard themselves at a state, and, of course, evidence that there was no active concept of a Palestinian state until the late 1960’s. In the 1947/48 war, the Arab countries were fighting not for the Palestinians, but for the Jordanians (the Hashemite Kingdom of Trans-Jordan, population 80%+ Palestinian) and the Egyptians, who wanted the land vacated by the Turks after World War One, when their 1000+ year occupation came to an end.
(Don’t forget that Israel was founded not only Jews wanting a safe homeland after the Holocaust, but also by Armenians wanted to escape from the genocide inflicted on them by the Turks during and after WW1).
Given that the Palestinians have been dedicated to the destruction of Israel for several decades, so it will interesting to note how this new state of war changes things - at least it would mean that the Palestinians recognise that Israel exists!
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29828547
This is a little hypocritical, given the Palestinian’s attacks on, and attempted destruction of, Jewish holy sites such as the Tomb of Rachel and the Tomb of Joseph, amongst many others, in the West Bank area. The truth is that the holy Muslim sites on Temple Mount have been preserved and protected by the state of Israel as part of its constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. How many Muslim states have that? In many, possession of a bible is a criminal offence!
It’s also a bit late! The Middle East is divided between Arabs and Jews – the Arabs get 27 out of 28 countries, and an area about that of Western Europe whilst the Jews get one country, about the size of Wales – and the Arab countries have all been formally at war with Israel since 1948 (except for a couple that have signed peace deals since). The fact that the Palestinians are not formally at war is an admission that they do not regard themselves at a state, and, of course, evidence that there was no active concept of a Palestinian state until the late 1960’s. In the 1947/48 war, the Arab countries were fighting not for the Palestinians, but for the Jordanians (the Hashemite Kingdom of Trans-Jordan, population 80%+ Palestinian) and the Egyptians, who wanted the land vacated by the Turks after World War One, when their 1000+ year occupation came to an end.
(Don’t forget that Israel was founded not only Jews wanting a safe homeland after the Holocaust, but also by Armenians wanted to escape from the genocide inflicted on them by the Turks during and after WW1).
Given that the Palestinians have been dedicated to the destruction of Israel for several decades, so it will interesting to note how this new state of war changes things - at least it would mean that the Palestinians recognise that Israel exists!
Monday, 6 October 2014
Thursday, 18 September 2014
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