Finding God - Channel 4

Been far too long between posts recently. The pressures of teaching in the last term of Junior school. :-)

But I have watched a fascinating program on Channel 4 about religion and the effect on society. Link here.

Basically, it was about the success of the Alpha course and there were some interesting statistics. Apparently 1 in 8 people convert as a result of the Alpha course and since I have met several of these converts it was interesting to see what methods were used tjavascript:void(0)o convince them.

To its credit, it doesn't use strong arm tactics. Unless you count the 'feeling guilty' method of saying 'No thanks' to genuinely nice people. But there is still the common themes of 'You could be so much happier' or 'You are a sinner' or 'This is the REAL truth.' Not to the levels of catholicism or baptist churches, but in a more... 'nice' way.

The use of a quiet room to make suggestions to the groups, 'sincere' young people (usually female), the pamphlets produced to help the speakers (almost a script), going to an extremely well organised weekend away, questioning people's unhappiness and offering the 'solution' - I am deeply suspicious of these psychological appoaches to converting someone.

Alpha converts seem to have the same profile:
> An unwillingness to even entertain the idea they could be 'unconverted'.
> Total acceptance of scriptures as proof. (Despite contradictions, errors, fantasy, stolen myths, acts of genocide, racism and intolerance.)
> Dismissal of verified and researched scientific data - Sometimes even gross misconceptions about the scientific principles. (eg Evolution, Earth dating, Fossils, Flood myths, Astronomy, Quantum theory etc)
> They are usually, despite all the above, amiable, pleasant people!

I'm pretty convinced that the Alpha course could not convert me. It would be pompous to say that they never could - I am open minded and would be more than willing to accept a god that I thought was worthy of my praise.
For a start, I am happy with myself. I consider myself lucky in that respect. There are too many people who have low self esteem and christians are openly there to offer 'advice' and 'hope'. It was even suggested to me that atheists are too 'smug and self absorbed' to offer others advice. A pathetic statement that I had dismissed with disdain - there are after all, thousands of hardworking volunteers, groups, practitioners that offer help - the majority with no religious affiliation.
Secondly, I have researched both sides of the argument - and I have not come across a single reason for me needing a god, a moral reason to have a god, a spiritual 'hole' to fill and lastly (and it is the least important in my opinion) no scientific evidence for a god.

Oh yeah, and the 'speaking in tongues' was downright hilarious!

Football and gods. My dreadful hypocrisy?

And I mean PROPER football! Sorry my American friends but when you CARRY the ball for most of the game, it's a bit of a misnomer. Our beautiful game is not 'soccer'! Grrr. ;-)

If you are passionate about something, it can be frustrating when people don't have the same ideas. For example, I see NO reason why anybody should support Tottenham Hotspurs (AKA - 'The Scum'). They are a grossly overrated team who are the inferior London rivals of Arsenal. Whenever I meet such a misguided fan, I feel an urge to mock them. Remorselessly.

But I'm mature enough to realise that it is all banter. Some of it is very insulting, quite often abusive, but football does bring out a savage tribe mentality in its fans. (Impressively, you don't seem to get this in American sports.) So when fans say football is their 'religion', they are not far wrong.

• It sometimes requires a heroic amount of faith.
• You often deny the obvious flaws in your team's performance and blame others. (The ref being a common reciever of my displeasure!)
• Everyone else's team is rubbish!
• You spend far too much time devoted to your team which could be better spent doing many other things.
• You spend far too much money to prove your loyalty.
• You evangalise about your team to the point of obnoxiousness!
• You find yourself doing little rituals to change the outcome of the game.
• You wear clothing that identifies you with your team.
• You encourage your children to follow your team. Being a Man United fan would be a terrible, terrible crime against everything you stand for.
• No-one will ever persuade you to support anyone else.
  

Oh my non-existent gods... I am a football equivalent of a creationist!!!
And the scary thing is that you can't become an 'Afootballist'.

I think I am beyond saving ;-)

Persusasion with violence. (Rape and religion?)

Well, I expect that this could be seen as inflammatory... ;-)

Imagine the situation where you have this powerful, charismatic person. He/she is adored by millions around the world and YOU have caught their attention. They want you to love them, to adore them, to fully obey their desires... but you are not interested. They try to persuade you more; you still want to be left alone. Feeling spurned, they get angry and threaten you. Not just mild threats, but threats of the most terrible violence imaginable - and the frightening thing is, you know they really mean it! No-one believes you - after all, you should be honoured but you insulted him/her so it is YOUR fault! You deserve to be treated this way...

Horrible isn't it?
But then I can play the 'analogy game'. ;-)

If that was a real situation, then you would sincerely hope that the perpetrator would be arrested. They are clearly insane, extremely dangerous and devoid of morals.

The point I'm trying to make (before theists accuse me of turning Jesus into a rapist) is that morally, how can you expect someone to give unconditional love, utter faith and devotion when the alternative is such an extreme level of punishment that far outweighs the 'crime'?
Surely the love of a god should be so great so that you could not possibly conceive not to love? Obviously not, since we have such a cruel and unusual punishment. Where is this free will? "Oh but you chose suffering." Yeah, obviously.

Maybe if there wasn't such a choice, I might have been agnostic. But since the bible so clearly personifies god with all these dysfunctional human failings, it makes me wonder if such a being could ever be worthy of my love.

Racism and Jesus?

I missed this earlier.

The BNP (British National Party - Bunch of racist homophobes who have hijacked the British flag and claim persecution to their cause - IMHO) have set up a series of billboards with Jesus on it as a way of recruiting more christians!
BNP Article here. BBC opinion here.
This appears to be a direct retaliation from the General Synod who voted against allowing clergy to become a member of the BNP. (BTW - 10% of the Synod did not vote in favour of the ban, makes you wonder how morally secure they are!)
Link here.

Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. After all, I'm benefiting from it right now. I would even argue to allow the BNP their right to have a voice in politics. Just as I have the right to criticise and pull apart their opinions.
I just wonder if the BNP consider that they have the moral high ground? But then the bible does have very useful rules on how to treat your slaves, who you are allowed to persecute, what respect you should give others and details the eternal suffering for those who don't follow these ideals.
Some members of the church might even adopt the BNP as their poster boys! ;-)

Embarrassing.

Next time I put a vote out, I'll check the online urban dictionaries...

Seriously, it just means "Would you cheer if the pope got hit by someone?"

Nothing to do with self gratification. Sorry if I mislead any of you... ;-)

Extremism - Dutch MP banned from UK

A Dutch MP who called the Koran a "fascist book" has been sent back to the Netherlands after attempting to defy a ban on entering the UK.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7885918.stm

Interesting story. The man is trouble maker and can hardly be an advocate for tolerance but was sent back to Amsterdam because he would have caused offence to religious extremists. He previously released a short film showing islamic attrocities coupled with quotes from the islamic holy book.

If you do a search for 'Fitna' on youtube you can see for yourself. Be warned it does contain VERY graphic images, including the result of a beheading.

The problem being is that it ONLY portrays islam as a violent religion. It would be equally as easy to put clips of the gulf war, prison camps and interrogation techniques together with old testament quotes to make a christian version too.

I truly hope that as as the human race advances it will free itself from the shackles of religion and a true, world-wide humanistic approach to each other will emerge.

Sadly, my pessimistic theory is that as more reasoned people drift away from religion you will be left with larger percentages of extremism within their ranks. A minority that have such political sway, they can pursue their own destructive agendas, bringing misery and fear to millions of innocents.