Saturday, November 01, 2008

The Christian Right...

UPDATE: Little did I know that a mere two days ago Ezra Levant had posted this on his blog. A perfect example of violent fury, except this one has the force of the state behind it. Truly, truly frightening.
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...and this God thing occupy the minds of many lefties to the point of pathological obsession, especially when they imagine that George Bush is one such vile creature. The mere mention of the word God issuing from George Bush's mouth summons up violent fury. Here then are some examples of what would certainly be viewed as right wing Christian speak today if the standard were applied equally to all who use the frightening word. (Right wing Christians? Are there any other kind? /sarcasm) I wonder how these poor souls (is the word "souls" allowed?) would have reacted to the words of these famous men and women?

"This only is denied to God: the power to undo the past." Aristotle
"God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed." Saint Augustine

"One and God make a majority." Frederick Douglass
"At any rate, I am convinced that He [God] does not play dice." Albert Einstein

"God, as Truth, has been for me a treasure beyond price. May He be so to every one of us." Gandhi

"Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays." Soren Kierkegaard

"I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land." Martin Luther King Jr.
"I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being, who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with me, and remain with you and be every where for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."
Abraham Lincoln

"Women was God's second mistake." Friedrich Nietzsch
"I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability."Oscar Wilde
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." Voltaire
"To believe in God is impossible. Not to believe in Him is absurd." Voltaire

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it." Alice Walker
"I say to mankind, Be not curious about God. For I, who am curious about each, am not curious about God - I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least." Walt Whitman
"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." Frank Lloyd Wright
Check out this one, too.

Well, that should be enough for now. I'm sure all these folks are, or were, as dangerous as they are evil.

And on a related note, I rather like these words by Charles Darwin:
"The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic. "
There are some things we simply cannot know, such as whether or not there is a God, a Creator of all things; things that include the process of evolution, the vast universe and the notion of time without beginning or end. To declare oneself an agnostic is to admit there are some things you cannot know so you remain open to further enlightenment. To declare oneself an atheist is a cocksure statement which, at its essence, is the very definition of bombastic arrogance.

4 Comments:

Blogger Thesauros said...

Actually, I think agnostics are the ones who go only as far as evidence will take them.

Christians and atheists go the rest of the distance on pretty much equal amounts of faith.

November 01, 2008 2:59 pm  
Blogger Louise said...

Except that I know a whole shitload of Christians who are not literalists. That's one of the troubles I have with the atheist crowd. They reject Biblical literalism, but haven't quite figured out that that stance does not in any way shape or form prove there is no God. Any human created concept is just that, created by humans. Reject 'em all if you want, you still haven't proven or disproven the existence of God.

November 01, 2008 4:33 pm  
Blogger Balbulican said...

When asked, I say I'm a atheist, by which I mean that, having weighed the evidence and reviewed the argument, I've concluded that there most likely is no god.

Does that mean there isn't a god? Of course not. I'm wrong about smaller issues than that every day. But at this point, I come down strongly on the negative side, rather than middling/undetermined.

Frankly, I find at least as much arrogance on the side of folks like SUZANNE, who simply will not admit the possibility of the non existence of God.

November 02, 2008 10:08 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hm I feel fortunate to have a few select loved ones and family members that have differing views about this than I and we love to discuss God. Does God exist or not.
The very fact that we can do this without harboring hard feelings is the most important thing to me.
Then there are the 'other' family members that this would never be a healthy 'discussion' just a rant and hard feelings, which is silly.

And that statement would set it off! LOL

November 04, 2008 4:51 pm  

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