Friday, December 24, 2010

'Tis the season ... to pity non-believers

Ian Hunter penned a column this week that was full of pity for those unhappy agnostics:

... Many such people will describe themselves as "religious" or, better, "spiritual"; they are, they will say, "seekers", pilgrims who journey hopefully but somehow never arrive.

...By and large, the appeal of agnosticism is to the spiritually timid. Its attraction is that it gives the illusion of a safe harbour in a roiling sea when, in fact, it offers no harbour, only more seasickness.
... etc.
And today Chris Selley replied ... bollocks.  I'm with Selley on this one, a happy "seeker".

4 comments:

Blazingcatfur said...

Merry Christmas!

JR said...

Right back atcha, BCF!

Zookeeper said...

So speaking of cats (fur a-blazing or not) and faith and certainty:

Wouldn't you agree that the gap between man and any god worth calling God would have to be greater than the gap between, say, housecat and man.

So whatever my cat knows about me, that is more than what I know about God.

I am ok with that level of uncertainty, considering the subject. But it beats me why anyone would feel he has so much knowledge of God that he can slaughter those who believe differently than he does.

JR said...

I would agree about the gaps, Halfwise. I think some have claimed "revelations" offering them knowledge of God or "the truth" - but that's not at all convincing to those who haven't.

Beats me, too, how people could have such little doubt. Sometimes I think that if their justifications for slaughter weren't based on religion there'd always be some other excuse. The godless totalitarians of the 20th century found "reasons" to slaughter multi-millions at a go. Something in human nature? Psychopathology of some kind?