Religious idiocy
I have various problems with organised religion. One is the problem most seem to have with homosexuality. The other is not doing something useful when there’s a good opportunity to and, instead, condemning homosexuality.
Enter stage left: the Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Reverend Graham Dow. It may be that Bishop Dow sincerely believes that homosexuality is ‘wrong’. It may also be that he is using the Bible to justify his prejudices. Either way, I think it would be more appropriate for a Bishop to offer support - spiritual or physical - at a time of crisis. Indeed, if the Bishop would like to bring people to Christianity or at least give the impression that it might be worth looking at, hellfire-and-brimstone prophesying and theological argument aren’t necessarily the most effective way. In the meantime, it does nothing to help people who need it. Could the Bishop open his cathedral or other churches within his diocese to give the people who have lost their homes somewhere to sleep?
The Bishop’s comments are included in this article from the Telegraph.
As I read it, the Bishop is saying that global warming is God’s judgement for environmental desecreation, exploitation of the poor and gays. The Bishop said that “He expressed his sympathy for those who have been hit by the weather, but said that the problem with “environmental judgment is that it is indiscriminate” “, which makes God a bit of a bastard, really.
It’s a little bit like the SWP’s ‘we are all Hizbollah’ placards. It keeps the nutters who subscribe to that particular ideology on board and attracts the fellow-travellers while alienating pretty much everyone else. The end result, though, is sectarianism without, of course, actually achieving anything of any use at all.
xD.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:08 am
It would be wonderful to see religion be useful and do something like unify people towards a positive goal, like love.
I know it seems like a radical idea to some, but I think it’s even supported by the Bible.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter what the Bible or any other text, religious or otherwise says, but what people interpret them as. Frequently, it would seem, people are very stuck in their interpretations or are using them for ulterior motives, as Jerry Falwell was accused of doing by the inimitable Christopher Hitchens.