While I do not agree 100% with Mr. Condell in this video, it is still, as he always is, well worth listening to and does contain enough value to be worthwhile even if we squabble on the details.
H/T to the Art of Blasphemy:
"Objects in history may be closer than they appear" – Eeyore for Vlad
Thank you Pat Condell for putting into words a thought that I have held for years. If a religion is downright disrespectful of me, why should I have to be respectful of it? I mean, if I knew somebody who always talked down to me as he pointed out how wrong I was, why would I have to be respectful of that person? Wouldn’t that make me a bit of a gutless weenie? Aren’t most, if not all religions at least tacitly saying that there is something wrong with you if you do not believe as they believe? Aren’t they saying, “I’m going to heaven and you’re going to Hell.” That’s not very nice, is it? Aren’t they saying, “We are the Chosen of God and you’re not”? That’s not so nice either…come to think of it. Aren’t religions just little group-superiority-trips? I’ll be tolerant of religion, but please don’t force me to be deferential toward it. Nobody is better than me based on their belonging to a particular religion.
Chris Jones Religion does have the ego trip but then ego does latch on to anything. Notice how it does that with anything from Brown hair, to being more clever, to running faster than anyone etc etc. Ego is the heart of the human experience hence when it comes to Religion it pops up too. Pat fails to see this and sees that Religion alone has this tendency when in fact the whole canvas of human experience is the playground of the ego. With Islam as this blog is about that particular religion of peace the delusion of ego superiority is so glaringly at odds with reality that one wonders how it manages any ego at all. But then the ego is such a powerful thing even with very little achievement it will cling to that. So the question is since Ego is powerful and pervasive in the human experience is the ego one experiences sort of in line with reality. The ego one experiences should be to do with one’s achievements in ones life, but sadly for so many the achievements of others in the form of patriotism take center stage. In the field of religion the “achievements” of Islam take center stage and when you objectively look at a muslim or the patriot you see very little. It is all about seeing oneself accurately as possible. It is the only way to be real. Never vicariously experience the triumphs of others as being one’s own. The ego will cling to that and you then again fall into the trap of not seeing clearly the person that you actually are with the all the failures and triumphs that entails.
I kinda agree with you Brunette Supremacy but actually I do not. Do you really think you look better than us redheads? I can assure you that we redheads are more gorgeous.
Oh really?! Stay out of the sun I would want you to come out in a red rash!
I get a bad feeling from you.
Pat Condell could use with reading some Christian philosophers.
But alas, he is too busy getting all uppity with anybody who takes scripture seriously. There are vast amounts of wisdom in that there book and tradition, believe it or not. Unfortunately for you, youve closed your mind off to it. Closed minded bigot, comes to mind. And your life is all the poorer for it.
EV I actually agree with you. There is much brilliant and worthwhile thought from Christian and for that matter, Jewish religious scholars. I find that this does not negate Condell’s points though. As a rule, religious people often use their group membership as a weapon for moral bullying. To find a religious Christian with whom you can discuss Thomas Aquinas etc. is quite rare. For example, I often enjoy telling people how much I do like the Catholic church because of the Vatican’s specific and unambiguous endorsement of Darwin because it brings a look of shock to them. Most Catholics think the Church embraces creationism when in fact it is quite clear on classical Darwinian evolution as the origin of our (and all) species as well as warns people to be wary of any pseudo-scientific theory that attempts to add a layer of magic on to it (implying ‘creation science’).
I suppose that this boils down to a simple dichotomy of pragmatic religion Vs. the intelectual aspects of religion. From the point of view of the day to day life of a Brit or Canadian etc. Religious people are those who would enforce all sorts of limits on behaviour for reasons of moral certainty founded on simplistic interpretations of books that do seem on the surface to be largely irrelevant.
I think alot of biblical teaching or moral teaching originated from western civilisation and that had originally nothing to do with god or jesus.
As I have said in another blogsite, good people do not need any moral teaching from any religion to be good or to do good.
That means, even when us nonbelievers don’t believe in god and don’t follow christianity or any other religion, we nonbelievers can still be good and do good whenever possible.
I agree with Chris Jones comment as above. Anyway, any religion or any ideology or any religious people that insult our nonbelievers individual intelligence or our nonbelievers decency, deserve no respect in return.
Patrick is off on one again, bless him! Religion must be distinguished from ideology, particularly political ideologies where religion is hijacked to form a very formidable force with one aim: to further the agenda of would be tyrants. Objectively speaking, Islam cannot be compared to Christianity or it’s elder Judiasm or Buddhism and many others . To do so, as what seems to be happening nowadays, undermines all religions regardless of merit. Christianity focuses on the salvation/redemption of the individual, the use of reason, all of which paved the way for the Enlightment and eventually the separation of the Church from State. It is fair to say that “The best of ancient Greek thought is an intergral part of the Christian faith”. Benedict XV1
Thomas Aquinas. Now there was mighty intelligent man. A Christian. Basically there is Islam and the rest. The rest are not like Islam. They produce a high level of intelligence and do a lot of good. Islam is not a relgion like Pat thinks. It is an ideology like Communism or Nazism but with a beard intead of moustache. Though Marx was guiding people along the bearded path the Moustache of Stalin and Hiltler and even Saddam won out. Nazism, Communism and Islam. Now that is the proper classification. These three are political ideolgies bent on world conquest. Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism and Hinduism, and last but not least Paganism is the correct way to classify Religion as opposed to Political Ideology.
“The best of ancient Greek thought is an intergral part of the Christian faith”. Benedict XV1
Such is the higher level of intelligence we see from the Catholic Church and I am not even a Christian just a humble brunnette supremacist. See the contradiction in those last three words. I am just guidinng Redhead Supremacist who does not know anything about logic.