A new low for the National Post?
It's really hard to categorize what "low" is when it comes to the dregs like the National Post. But in today's editorial, entitled Perverting the Holy Spirit, Barbara Kay (keep an eye on this one, she's priceless) upbraids the rabbis that attended the Holocaust deniers "conference" and the "useful idiot" Christian Peacemakers Team in Iraq. I won't discuss the rabbi situation, as I'm not that familiar with the background or religio-political arguments they espouse, however, I do take umbrage with her remarks on the CPT.
Remember them, the guys that were held hostage earlier this year while working with Iraqi citizens? In Kay-land, this is apparently "acting as human shields", just so you know. Anyway, remember how they got the entire Right-wing military masturbation sect into a froth by not being grateful enough for being rescued? Well, apparently putting your unarmoured ass on the line for the sake of peace is a "perverted spiritual impulse" and "hubristic". Check this out:
Did you catch it? Theologically complex Christ. Yeah, it's pretty hard to take a simple doctrine - "love thy neighbour", stack in on top of "do not kill" and then use the same god to justify arbitrary war without making it complicated. If God's doctrine is complicated, it's not because of anything Christ said or James Loney did, rather it's because of asshats like Barbara Kay trying to twist it into justifying all manner of evil. If your religious doctrine on basic issues like "do not kill" is complicated, you haven't got a religion, you have a shell game.
So, the shorter Barbara Kay - you're either with us or against God.
Look at me, an atheist, talkin' Christ! Woohoo!
Remember them, the guys that were held hostage earlier this year while working with Iraqi citizens? In Kay-land, this is apparently "acting as human shields", just so you know. Anyway, remember how they got the entire Right-wing military masturbation sect into a froth by not being grateful enough for being rescued? Well, apparently putting your unarmoured ass on the line for the sake of peace is a "perverted spiritual impulse" and "hubristic". Check this out:
Hubristically, Christian Peacemakers (comparing themselves to "Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Jesus") has put fellow Christians and Westerners at risk by imitating a simplistically masochistic version of a theologically complex Christ.
Did you catch it? Theologically complex Christ. Yeah, it's pretty hard to take a simple doctrine - "love thy neighbour", stack in on top of "do not kill" and then use the same god to justify arbitrary war without making it complicated. If God's doctrine is complicated, it's not because of anything Christ said or James Loney did, rather it's because of asshats like Barbara Kay trying to twist it into justifying all manner of evil. If your religious doctrine on basic issues like "do not kill" is complicated, you haven't got a religion, you have a shell game.
So, the shorter Barbara Kay - you're either with us or against God.
Look at me, an atheist, talkin' Christ! Woohoo!
LOL maybe you're not athiest after all.
Barbara Kay might be trying to be Canada's Ann Coulter.
Not like we need one of those.
Posted by
Anonymous |
Thu Dec 21, 08:09:00 AM
Oh, yeah, here we go.
"Gott Mit Uns" is one of the oldest military precepts in recorded history. You can justify any action, no matter how morally unconscionable, as long as you believe you're in the right.
What troubles me most is
1. Her characterization of Christianity as a quest to emulate Jesus' moral perfection, then mocking the idea of pacifism. Is he not referred to as 'the Prince of Peace'? I'm as much an atheist as Kevvyd, but even I know that. How is doing all you can to promote peace a 'dark parody' of Christ's teachings?
2. "To distinguish what is admirable from what is perverted in the spiritual impulse to holiness, ask: Is the individual or group using their religion as a tribunal to plead all of mankind's case to a compassionate Father; or as a tribunal for expediting a partisan Judge's punitive dissatisfaction with certain lesser men and women?"
It seems to me you've just volunteered very loudly to prosecute those you consider lesser. A friendly reminder: "Judge not, lest ye be judged". What does hypocrisy taste like? Probably like communion wafers and wine.
As an atheist, I'm not inclined to defend anyone's beliefs - they all seem questionable to some degree, but I consider them innocuous as long as they don't hurt anyone. One of the faiths under attack is particularly questionable, and the other seems somewhat admirable, at least in terms of their devotion to pacifism. I cannot stand by, however, and let someone denounce another based on the fact that their faith is 'wrong' because it's different from their own. That's dangerous, and is only the first step down a path that Mankind has taken before, with disastrous results.
This reinforces my choice never to read the National Post. I'm glad others, like my compatriot, will take the hit and subject themselves to it for the benefit of the rest of us. Excellent and very timely, Kevvyd.
Posted by
Flash |
Thu Dec 21, 09:09:00 AM
anon -> I would consider myself a "spiritual" atheist, but an atheist nonetheless, despite my father's best efforts :)
I wonder if Kay has an Adam's apple, too?
Flash -> What pushed me away from Christianity originally was the inherent inconsistencies both in the Bible and in the interpretations of it. The violent Old Testament god and the Prince of Peace are antithetical if one actually believe they exist. The result is a confused smorgasbord in which one can pick and choose quotes or parables to justify anything one wants to justify.
Posted by
kevvyd |
Thu Dec 21, 09:27:00 AM