If you enjoy what you read here you will also enjoy my novel
21 days in May
Please be aware this blog may be considered Illegal almost anywhere!

Syria - to bomb or not to bomb

An Open letter to UK Members of Parliament and all in positions of power.

With a UK Parliament vote on bombing Daesh in Syria (a noteworthy distinction to "bombing Syria") looming I thought I'd offer my perspective...
So, to bomb or not? It's easier to bomb... So much easier, than looking at the real problems.
Much less embarrassing to slaughter innocents in the name of righteousness than to start a program of education...
It's wrong to teach your child to seek friends only from your own religion.
It's wrong to teach your child being gay is evil.
It's wrong to teach your child that they belong to a group of people who are more special than any other human group.
It's wrong to keep or trade slaves.
It's wrong to shun unbelievers.
It's wrong to impose your standards of faith on another but abhorrent to inflict it on your child.
It's wrong to expect any child of the UK to be brought up as if they were living in a different country(by way of imposing old country's culture)
It's wrong for every other mandatory medieval value and viewpoint imposed on the faithful by the same fantasy fiction from which Daesh directly draws its medieval death-cult narrative to be imposed on a child.
It's impossible to ignore the central cause of Daesh; The Qur'an's message of paradise for those who slay they who cause mischief in the land will always be a source of jihadis; while Islam exists unedited it will always generate those who desire its promised paradise. Let's be honest, the strict medieval sharia imposed by Saudi Arabia and the medieval Daesh are exactly the same sharia. And, by way of the same measure of honesty, it's impossible to convince an atheist that if she would just blow up innocent humans and herself up while saying "magic words" paradise awaits her.

Close faith schools; they are the absolute antithesis of integration. It is an unbelievable kowtowing to religious privilege that even one exists. This is not "Islamaphobia"; I would advocate similar ethical neutering of the equally vile and supremacist tomes, the Torah and New Testament. The most peaceful answer is to make religious practise an adult only activity. In very few generations the problem would be gone.

Unfortunately, as what people pretend happens after they die is so much more important than saving innocent lives, it will be so much easier for everyone who feels compelled to pretend in the supernatural, to unload TNT and watch the body count rise. Yeah, much less embarrassing. And, while the ways and mindset of pretending has everyone's balls in a sling, the mountains of flesh and lakes of blood sacrificed to this childish folly will roll on unending, staining our future with myriad blood feuds just as it has stained our past.

However, education will do nothing to eradicate the threat of those who have had their minds set against us and, while our liberal democracies exist, those educated by the frighteningly many theocratic sympathisers of Qur'anic inspiration to hate all that we are will be coming.
Take the fight to them by all means, limit collateral damage wherever you may, but equal resources must be allocated into countering the medieval supremacist narrative couched in peaceful garb that is the true legacy of all the Abrahamic religious doctrines. If you're gonna have a revenge tantrum and bomb the shit out of someone's uncle and auntie's neighbourhood, it's probably best to first educate their nephew and niece here, who may hold sympathy with the target's ideological foundation, or you will just be building an army within.


This is one of the Too Many Questions
PEACE
Crispy
Please leave a comment - Anything will do
The best communications are often,
THREE WORDS OR LESS
OR ONE OR MORE FINGERS!

Faith Or Democracy

Oxford English dictionaries online defines religious faith as...
"Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof"
... but that seemingly simple definition is not so simple. If one investigates the meanings of the words in the definition, applying the meanings most suited to their purpose within the definition given for faith, it reveals much...
Belief:
(1) An acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof.
(1.2) Religious conviction.
OED - Belief.
Spiritual:
(1) Relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.
OED - Spiritual.
Conviction:
(2.1)The quality of showing that one is firmly convinced of what one believes or says.
OED - Conviction.

Faith:
(2) Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.
OED - Faith
So, as I said, taking the most suitable components we arrive at...
Faith: : Strong acceptance that the doctrines of a religion are true, based on the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things, showing that one is firmly convinced of what one accepts as true, rather than by proof.
I think that's fair; if you think otherwise, let me know in the comments.
... Which is incredibly tangly and seemingly meaningless because of it, so let's attempt to untangle it...
"human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical" is a very convoluted way of saying "the immaterial part of ourselves", commonly known as mind, where feelings are registered. So, in the context of the definition...
Faith:: Accepting the doctrines of a religion as true, based on feelings, to show that one is firmly convinced of the religion's truth.
"to show one is firmly convinced of the religion's truth" is disturbing, isn't it? Is it just me or can you almost hear the screams of those tortured under inquisition? Does it not suggest oppression will befall those who do not sufficiently display adherence?
Anyway, it adds nothing to the first half of the sentence so...
Faith: Accepting the doctrines of a religion as true, based on feelings.
Which is just a longer way of saying ...
Faith: Accepting a doctrine as true because it makes one feel good.
Which means, when it comes down to it, it's merely...
Faith: Feeling a doctrine is true (because you like what it promises and/or fear what it threatens).
And, as far as I'm concerned, feeling a doctrine is true because it makes you feel good/bad, is of no more value than pretending.
Further though, if one views the definition of faith through a sensibly more suspicious lens it can be transposed into..
Faith: Submission to non-negotiable, doctrinal rules because doctrinal promises both please and terrify one.
If there was to be a replacement for a current dictionary definition of religious faith, I think this would be close to my preferred wording.
Or, to go a stage further, based on the textually evident behaviour of the scriptural figurehead of the faiths humans have created and, mostly...
Faith: Unconditional adherence to unproven, undemocratic authoritarian overlord's wishes for unconfirmed and deferred, discretionary reward.

Freedom, to me, seems inherently votey and faith, by this definition, is at best woolly wishes for the weak or intellectually inept and at worst capitulation to a despot.
Not for this Democrat.

What about you... faith or democracy?


This is one of the Too Many Questions
PEACE
Crispy
Please leave a comment - Anything will do
The best communications are often,
THREE WORDS OR LESS
OR ONE OR MORE FINGERS!

Share

If you enjoy what you read here
you will also enjoy my novel
21 days in May


Please be aware this blog may be considered Illegal almost anywhere!

Get TMQ on your Kindle

Copyright Crispy Sea

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

All blog posts copyright http://atheist.diatribes.co.uk

TMQCrispySea 2009-2014