Hmmm
A bit too much of a luvvy for my personal tastes. Plus his CV includes such outstanding services to Humanity as supporting the New Labour government and the Make (Corporate) Poverty History campaign.
So, you couldn't really describe his judgement as being 100% sound.
But...
He did present a rather interesting documentary on End Time believers and their influence on politics, particularly US foreign policy.
If you haven't seen it already it's currently up on Google Video here
It's over two hours long but the first hour is by far the strongest and worth watching, even if the full two hours present too much of a challenge.
One aspect of End Time beliefs that Robinson recognizes in the film but doesn't try to explain is, to me, the most interesting and pressing question about the entire business...
How can so many millions of people claim to be followers of Christ yet, to all intents and purposes, pay no attention to his teachings?
Rather than live a decent, compassionate life for its own sake and rewards they prefer instead to fixate on engineering human events in such a way that supposed prophecies, not made by Jesus himself, will come to pass leading to the death of billions of people in the process.
I really, really don't think Jesus would be too impressed with what these people are doing.
I just cannot see how anyone can describe what they believe as being Christianity at all and the influence End Timers have over politics in America and the Middle East should be scaring the crap out of the rest of us.
There are millions of people out there who have been indoctrinated to welcome every disaster, every atrocity and every loss of life as being a milestone on the road to their own personal salvation.
The expression 'self-fulfilling prophecy' does come to mind.
But, there again, that's what a lot of supposed prophecies really are - less of a prediction, more of a mission statement.
Having said all that I'm still sticking with my religion is not the cause of all wars mantra. And believers and non believers alike are being misdirected if they believe that it is. End Timers are dupes who have been sold a bill of goods crafted by Men, not God, designed to secure their support for very Earthly, very wicked, very, um..., anti-Christlike objectives.
Totally fucked up...
9 comments:
"Having said all that I'm still sticking with my religion is not the cause of all wars mantra. And believers and non believers alike are being misdirected if they believe that it is."
A very wise mantra.
I think religion "fills" something, a "void" many people seem to have. There is a common "need" many people have that the life here on earth just can not be everything. The phrase "I would not want to live in a world where God does not exist" comes to my mind. And while it is true that religion is not the cause of wars, religion is a tool, used by some people, to gain power and influence. In some cases it is used by the churches themselfes as in in the struggle between Popes and Emperorers in ancient times, sometimes it is used by "earthly" rulers as in the struggle between Katholics and Protestants in Germany in the times following Luther, in the British Islands until today, or the struggle between Serbs/Orthodox, Kroats/Katholic and Bosnians/Muslims. I think one can find many more examples throughout history until today on all continents.
What you have writen with regards to two party political system in the UK is true with regards to religion: It is helpful to divide the people in different fractions that can be kept at war (In the name of science! I sound like Orwell writing the book 1984...)
People want to be misguided and abused. Even if they are not consciensly aware of it.
And after watching the Doomsday code I have to modify the quote by Ghandi: I am not afraid of your God, I am afraid of those who believe in your God.
Is religion used as a tool by ruthless people to divide and rule?
Sure
No argument there.
But it would be more accurate to describe most (not all) of the disputes you have described as being based on race rather than religion. Religion is used as a convenient marker to identify which people belong to which racial group.
The ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland for example owe their origins back to the colonisation of the island. The colonists were Protestant, the native people were Catholic. Their descendants did not fight over theological differences. It was about more earthly issues such as land ownership and social equality.
The beauty of demonising people for their religious belief rather than their race is that you can always claim ‘people can change their religion not their race’. But if your religion is an integral part of your cultural identity that is not as simple as it sounds. It’s a clever way to conceal race hate behind a disguise of rationalism.
My problem with people who claim that ‘religion is the cause of all wars’ is that this generalisation is usually not true. Even on those occasions when it is true it only takes a little research and thought to establish that there is an underlying material cause and that the religious aspect is being used as a disguise by clever people who know how to manipulate others.
The current War on Terror is a rather obvious example.
'People want to be misguided and abused. Even if they are not consciensly aware of it.'
Oh, yes...
I remember seeing this when it was televised on Ch4. I was quite taken with the hypothesis at the end of the program that a bunch of dotty monks high on magic musrooms wrote the 'Book of Revelations'.
Have you heard about this 'rapture' inspired game Left Behind: Eternal Forces?
"Left Behind Games' president, Jeffrey Frichner, says the game actually is pacifist because players lose "spirit points" every time they gun down nonbelievers rather than convert them. They can earn spirit points again by having their character pray."
the game is a spoof surely, it can't be real
... oh, it is
oh dear, oh dear oh dear oh dear
Don't forget the elephant in the room. I'm just watching it, don't know if it is any good.
Oh well, this "God Delusion" docu reminds me of your South Park / Atheists War blog post...
@Tony
Yes, yes it does
I'm not a big Dawkins fan - primarily because he reeks of the same intolerence and arrogance as the people he preaches against.
IMHO Dawkins' brand of atheism is just a militant and just as scary as religious fundamentalism
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