Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Friday, September 7. 2007

God's Warriors

Regarding the CNN series "God's Warriors," Christiane Amanpour said this:

"In the Western and in the developed world, perhaps here in the 21st century we would have expected secularism and governance and politics to be what governs our daily lives," Amanpour told the bloggers. "We would not have expected, and perhaps we still don’t expect, religion to play such a real, present role in our daily lives, politics, and culture."

Who is "we"? What governs my daily life is family, having friends, making a living and juggling bills, being a Christian with a relationship with God, reading books, playing tennis, maintaining the homestead, planning this Fall's hunts, and riding and caring for the horses - not necessarily in that order. Oh - and trying to toss a half-decent post on the blog when I have a spare moment. I only care about politics and governance to be a good informed citizen - and because it is so screwed up these days: I wish I didn't have to think about it. 

Ms. Amanpour is a fruitcake.

Whole story at Evangelical Outpost.

Posted by The Barrister in Our Essays, Politics at 12:13 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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When Christiane Amanpour says "we," she means biased, left-wing, terrorist loving media types.
#1 NJSoldier on 2007-09-07 12:49 (Reply)
Poor girl. She should speak less and read more. "Culture" has an historical basis and faith is a major part of that history. History is the largest determinant of 'culture'. In fact, the state of the current culture may have a relationship to the history and tenets of it's faith! The common trait among those inclined to the left is a short memory. History, it's been said, extends back even further than the personal experiences of any individual, even a 'liberal' journalist. it's kind of sad when someone in the position of reporter is unaware of that simple fact. A short memory, when mixed with the romantic inclinations of the utopian, has never yielded anything but equivocation, death and destruction.

The dimwit Amanpour means well, I'm sure, but she needs more than that to be taken even half-seriously.
#2 Tom C. on 2007-09-07 13:55 (Reply)
It's a crisis alright.

What it gets down to however is quite simple.

You have two religions with very different teachings.

Believers in either religion are not going to abandon, in any great numbers, their current religion for the other.

In this crisis, as is said in Ecclesiastes 3, To everthing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal.....

We will not settle the killing and get to the healing until Islam is halved; cleaved from it's numbers enough to make it impotent to carry forward it's bastard ideology.

There are certain immutable truths on Earth. Primary is that Islam and Christianity can only coexist when Christianity has the dominant position, for to relinquish that position is to return to darkness and slavery. Once we have done the killing that is necessary, then the healing can begin.
#3 Habu on 2007-09-07 14:03 (Reply)
Well, the next time somebody jumps up and says “Everybody follow me 'cause God talks to me better'n you!” we’ll all know what to do.
#4 commander clopfelter on 2007-09-07 14:48 (Reply)
The only relevant factor in your offering is that when that person says "follow me" about half the world does and the other half doesn't. The "rightness or wrongness" of each side can't be known in this life and yet we do chose a side. Some don't, but Blaise Paschal offered an interesting, albeit logically incorrect wager. But then we're not talking about logic when we talk about religion. We talk of only one thing when all is said and done ... faith.

These two half's, the Jets and the Sharks, are gonna rumble for top territory on "the word", and history shows us that a rumble is underway and building.
#4.1 Habu on 2007-09-07 15:30 (Reply)
PASCHAL'S WAGER:

EITHER God exists or he doesn't.
Which alternative will you wager on?
You can't avoid choosing one or the other;
you have embarked on the wager already.
A refusal to choose carries the same result
as choosing that God does not exist.
What if you choose to bet that God exists?
If you win, you win everything;
if you lose, you lose nothing.
Make a bet that God exists."


Infrequently has the power of this argument, known as Pascal's wager, been denied, even by those who don't find it compelling. The risk of not believing in God, if he does exist, far outweighs the risk of believing in God if he does not exist. The gamble is between eternal damnation on one hand and philosophical misjudgment on the other. If we believe and are wrong we've lost little, but if we don't believe and are wrong we've lost everything. Pascal believed that reasonable men should bet on God's existence.
#5 Habu on 2007-09-07 15:39 (Reply)
I think Amanpour’s poorly phrased point was: The old God-gave-me-power-and-control-over-you-all con game is still alive and well. I say it may well be that somebody’s been chosen by God but I’d sure like to see some proof first.

If Pascal lived after Einstein he might have wagered that God probably operates from a higher dimension.
#6 commander clopfelter on 2007-09-07 17:40 (Reply)
CC

I do believe you and Anon are on the track. There are many logical fallacies with Paschals Wager, as I initially mentioned.

I used it simply as a point to make about logic versus faith.

Most religions I am aware of rest on their believers "faith" in that religion and it's teachings. Sunday schools, temples, mosques, etc are not in the business of "proving" by logic that their religion is THE ONE.. They simply are there to reinforce the writings, customs, and ceremonies of the religion...the remainder rests with the individual to accept or reject simply through a metaphysical "faith" the rightness or wrongness of the religion.
#6.1 Habu on 2007-09-07 20:50 (Reply)
Habu,
You need to correct immediately your statement that, the remainder rests with the individual to accept or reject simply through a metaphysical "faith" the rightness or wrongness of the religion

Islam does not leave any "free" decision to the individual. If you are born into an Islamic family you are Islamic, and if you leave you are killed. If you are NOT born into Islam and resist
converting to it you are an infidel and are killed.....so the ultimate decision does not rest with the individual.
#6.1.1 Habu on 2007-09-07 20:58 (Reply)
If Pascal had thought it through, it would have occurred to him that God has no use for people who believe because they are afraid not to. Thus, an empty wager no matter how one spins it.
#7 Anonymous on 2007-09-07 18:15 (Reply)
The die was cast with the prophet of Islam. Religion and state are one. It is merely another total ideology covering all aspects of life to the last detail. Reforms will come and go but a return to 'basics' has always been the method of restoring the purity of the faith when things go wrong, and things have always gone wrong in Islam because it requires a state without supplying an ideology for liberalism in the classical sense. It is a closed system of thought. If it truly 'reforms' in order to accomodate 'liberalism', it will cease to exist.
#8 Tom C. on 2007-09-08 10:32 (Reply)

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