Sunday, March 30, 2003
What are the Odds You're Right?
As I mention, god is on your side not matter which side you're on accordingly to the various leaders of whichever country you wanna pick. This isn't just true in times of war of course but it's more apparent in the headlines and speeches. There are many who believe that their religion is the one true religion. There are quite a few of those that would have you believe if you don't cotton on to their system you're doomed. So what to believe becomes a serious question if you believe in the consequences too. So pick one and pray? Not sure how you'd nail down a definition of a religion but I've read that there are about 150 religions world-wide. Picking a few there are about 2 billion Christians (of a sort), 1 billion Muslims, 750 million Hindus, 13 million Jews, 16 million Sikhs, 3 million Buddhists, oh the list could go on of course. All are divinely inspired in one way or another with their own sacred texts. Surely they can't all be right can they? You'd think the one true god would surely want to be known no? Well, for ease of argument, if each have an equal chance at validity I'd say you have about a 0.667% chance of getting it right. God luck ...
As I mention, god is on your side not matter which side you're on accordingly to the various leaders of whichever country you wanna pick. This isn't just true in times of war of course but it's more apparent in the headlines and speeches. There are many who believe that their religion is the one true religion. There are quite a few of those that would have you believe if you don't cotton on to their system you're doomed. So what to believe becomes a serious question if you believe in the consequences too. So pick one and pray? Not sure how you'd nail down a definition of a religion but I've read that there are about 150 religions world-wide. Picking a few there are about 2 billion Christians (of a sort), 1 billion Muslims, 750 million Hindus, 13 million Jews, 16 million Sikhs, 3 million Buddhists, oh the list could go on of course. All are divinely inspired in one way or another with their own sacred texts. Surely they can't all be right can they? You'd think the one true god would surely want to be known no? Well, for ease of argument, if each have an equal chance at validity I'd say you have about a 0.667% chance of getting it right. God luck ...
Friday, March 07, 2003
The Evangelist President
I've read quite a few more articles lately about how President Bush uses religious rhetoric in his speeches. I don't think it's a secret that the President is a Christian man and he likes to point to his study of scripture as the reason he was able to overcome his problems with alcohol. I doubt that anyone would have a problem with that. What we should have a problem with is his increased use of a God-on-our-side U.S. as an instrument of unilateral policy. This not only stems to war with Iraq but to other issues the U.S. refuses to endorse that have international support like Kyoto, the Biological Weapons Protocol, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to name a few. The impending war with Iraq is most troublesome, not because it's neccessarily unjust but it seems that Mr. Bush honestly believes that God is indeed on the side of the U.S. He's convinced that his work as president is inspired by his one true god. Isn't this the kind of thinking in other countries, more pointedly countries of muslim faith-based leaderships, that we currently frown upon as being tolitarian in nature? Just a thought.
I've read quite a few more articles lately about how President Bush uses religious rhetoric in his speeches. I don't think it's a secret that the President is a Christian man and he likes to point to his study of scripture as the reason he was able to overcome his problems with alcohol. I doubt that anyone would have a problem with that. What we should have a problem with is his increased use of a God-on-our-side U.S. as an instrument of unilateral policy. This not only stems to war with Iraq but to other issues the U.S. refuses to endorse that have international support like Kyoto, the Biological Weapons Protocol, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to name a few. The impending war with Iraq is most troublesome, not because it's neccessarily unjust but it seems that Mr. Bush honestly believes that God is indeed on the side of the U.S. He's convinced that his work as president is inspired by his one true god. Isn't this the kind of thinking in other countries, more pointedly countries of muslim faith-based leaderships, that we currently frown upon as being tolitarian in nature? Just a thought.
