Wednesday 29 September 2010

Another trite statement from a politician.

The recently elected leader of the Labour Party (of whom I have some, but not too many, hopes for the future) has just said in a radio interview that he doesn't believe in a God. Hooray! That makes two out of the three leaders of our main political parties who have declared themselves as atheists - and the Prime Minister himself only seems lukewarm, declaring that he doesn't regularly practice his (Anglican) faith - in stark contrast to our last two P.M.s, thank goodness. But then Ed Miliband goes and partly spoils it by saying that he has "a deep respect" for those who do have faith. Why do they always say this? One might respect those same others for different reasons, but what is there to respect about those who hold to a system of beliefs for a Supreme Being for which there's no demonstrable evidence? - and furthermore, these latter individuals almost invariably claim that they, as opposed to non-believers, ought to be given special privileges for having these bizarre views. This thing about having 'profound respect' is such a banal and silly statement to make, as though they were explaining that their non-belief is not something that should scare believers. When was the last time that a religious person declared the same level of 'respect' for a non-believer? Offhand I can't recall it ever happening. It's almost as though the atheist ought to be the apologetic one and the theist has not only no explaining to do but even considers himself as intellectually 'superior' and demands to be regarded as so. Sounds like double standards to me. High time for a fight back. Let's call a spade a spade!

9 comments:

  1. FYI: I hope you don't mind, but I posted this on my Facebook page with a link back to your blog. I just felt it was too good not to share.

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  2. Wow, Sean. Of course I don't mind - I'm flattered. Thanks!

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  3. I'm glad to see some folks in the public eye "come out of the closet" and tell people they are atheists.

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  4. Exactly, Larry. There's nowt to be ashamed of. Out and proud!

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  5. Nice to hear that someone is willing to fight against the tide. Well said Ray. It is a shame that many believers can't see value in human beings who don't subscribe to their faith system or individuals who do not have a faith system in place. When you negate one human being, you negate all of us.

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  6. Yes Kyle, it's the same old, old story of "I'm superior to you, so if you followed what I do, say and think then YOUR life would be better". (Yeah, right!) Strange that so many of these various pieces of advice seem to conflict with each other - or maybe not so strange.

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