Catholics and Protestants
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- Created on Friday, 27 January 2012 06:35
- Published on Friday, 27 January 2012 06:35
- Written by John Draper
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The Reformation was a major turning point in history and is the subject of a lot of study and books but the questions and ideas were real and still relevant today. By the 16th century, the Church had wandered away from the story in the bible. The bible was not what guided the masses (the peasants and nobility), they were guided by priests, bishops and the Pope. Worse, the clergy were focused on gathering money from their flock and were quite happy to link donations to salvation. Many current critics (e.g. rebel Bishop Spong) have accused the Churches of being in the control or power business and that was certainly true in the 16th century. But they were able to keep the masses under their thumb because information flowed very slowly – anyone from out of town who talked of the very real excesses and debauchery of the Pope and his entourage in Rome was not credible or was “managed” by the bishops. People like Martin Luther were thinkers and genuinely concerned about this – he visited Rome and saw what was happening for himself and he lived at a time when the printing press was starting to be used to distribute anything of interest. That meant that the words of one person could be read by thousands within days - communication was much easier and the Church gradually lost control. The people discovered they did not have to accept what they were told by the priests.
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Christianity's forgiveness of sins is inherently immoral
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- Created on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 07:03
- Published on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 07:03
- Written by John Draper
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The idea that God forgives your sins and that this is possible because Jesus died a horrible death is a core teaching of Christianity. Yet just think about what it means. We are being told that if we steal from Joe, then God forgives us for this sin. Joe is not consulted yet he is the one sinned against. It's as if the victim does not count. Christians say that all sins hurt God so his forgiveness is what counts. Joe won't send us to hell when we die but God can. So Joe's forgiveness does not matter to a Christian. The forgiveness of the victim does not matter! Let me give an example in human terms. It's as if Mike steals from Joe and the Law (not Joe) says, "Mike, we forgive you - although you are guilty, there will be no punishment or compensation to Joe the victim." Clearly no justice or fairness.
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Atheism 2.0 - Religion for Atheists
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- Created on Monday, 23 January 2012 07:03
- Published on Monday, 23 January 2012 07:03
- Written by John Draper
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Alain de Botton argues that although there is certainly no god, religions are not entirely nonsense. If you put aside their dogma and stories about god, there is still some value left. In fact, one reason that religions are popular is because they cater to our needs. And it’s not a single aspect – they have multiple “virtues”. He suggests that atheists should stop being confrontational with religions – when something comes up that we disagree with, we should simply politely ignore it. Atheists and religious people should learn to live with each other. He says you don’t have to choose between a religion including a belief in a god on the one hand and the spiritual wasteland of CNN and Walmart on the other! You can just have the good parts of religion while keeping your beliefs. He calls that new way of thinking, Atheism 2.0.
Egyptian Elections give Islamic dominance
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- Created on Sunday, 22 January 2012 07:02
- Published on Sunday, 22 January 2012 07:02
- Written by John Draper
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The official final results for the Egyptian parliamentary elections are now in and Islam dominates. There is no surprise that the Muslim Brotherhood won 47% of the 498 seats in the lower house of parliament. Add that to the 25% won by the ultra-conservative Salafi Islamist party Al Nour and they dominate. The balance went to secular or non-religious parties. I would call the Salafis radical, not conservative since they want Sharia law and would ban all kinds of western behaviour like bikinis on beaches, alcohol and the many women's rights we take for granted. If the Salafis had their way, there is no doubt that tourism in Egypt would drop to levels similar to Saudi Arabia - that is they would devastate the Egyptian economy. The good news is that secular parties New Wafd and the Egyptian Bloc, each won about 9% of the seats and they may well team with the brotherhood to form a more moderate Government.
Fundamentalist Seventh Day Adventists
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- Created on Thursday, 19 January 2012 06:35
- Published on Thursday, 19 January 2012 06:35
- Written by John Draper
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Fundamentalists have their own way of interpreting the Bible that is different from other Christians. They take a narrow literal view of what is written and fervently believe that they are the only ones who have it right. Of course only one view can be right but I guess you always think that you yourself picked the right answers. We tend to think of all fundamentalists being the same but they are not. However, they tend to group into religions and cults so that they can reinforce each other's views. One such cult of fundamentalists is the Seventh Day Adventists. They specifically believe that "the end is near" and that Jesus will come in all his glory and will be very obvious. He will take to heaven only those who have accepted him and in that way they are like other fundamentalists who tend to believe that "Jesus saves them". Every few years there are predictions that this is the year. Last year we had Harold Camping and this year we have the Mayan calendar ending its cycle so some think that means "THE END". Anyway it was an excuse for the BBC program "Big Question" to ask a group of religious people "Should we repent?". Always entertaining, this time the first person to be asked was a pastor from the Seventh Day Adventists.
Studying the Qur'an
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- Created on Saturday, 21 January 2012 07:03
- Published on Saturday, 21 January 2012 07:03
- Written by John Draper
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Most Muslims believe the Qur'an is the inerrant word of God much like fundamentalist Christians think the Bible is. But most Christians take the bible with a grain of salt - they probably believe it was divinely inspired but they are happy to accept the word of theologians that it can be interpreted to be in line with today's morality. No longer do they think the bible supports slavery or bans homosexuality; few believe in 7 day creation. There are some who do but mostly they don't. One would think that the Qur'an is in the same boat but just a few hundred years behind the times. Part of the difference is that Christianity had a Reformation where the authority of "The" Church was superseded by individuals thinking for themselves. Muslims have not had that although they did split centuries ago into Shiites and Sunnis. Another difference is the extensive study that has gone into the Bible but only recently has study into the Qur'an been allowed.
Why not a higher power?
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- Created on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 06:54
- Published on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 06:54
- Written by John Draper
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Religions are getting a bad reputation. Islam wants to take over the world; Christianity has all kinds of obsolete rules about living life; Christian holy men are proving to be less than holy and certainly not a good example; evangelists are fraudulently curing sicknesses and getting rich on donations; in short, religions are no longer inspiring many – especially in the western world. However, although Church attendance is declining sharply (except where it’s entertaining or preached to the uneducated), people are not giving up on the idea of a god quite so quickly. Many people who stop going to Church and have no time for organised religions will say they still believe in a higher power. So what’s wrong with that?
It’s not because they suddenly become immoral – religion has very little to do with morality – although it’s often used to tell OTHER people how they should behave. It doesn’t matter if you believe in Jesus Christ, a higher power or no god, your morality will not change – at least not because of what you believe.
