I was impressed to read an essay by Tom Utley about religion in one of our fellow-travelling national newspapers. He observes that:
... I’ve often done things that I know perfectly well are wrong. But
what I find so striking in my sons’ generation is that many among them
who have never darkened a church doorstep in their lives, except to
attend weddings or funerals, don’t even put the question to themselves:
‘Is the course of action I’m proposing right or wrong?’
Like
MPs fiddling their expenses, they ask instead: ‘What are my chances of
getting away with it?’ And if the answer they give themselves is
anywhere between 95 and 100 per cent, they reckon that’s the clincher.
No further objections.
It is true that religion, by which I mean Christianity, tends to have a positive impact on the lives of many people. It does not make them perfect - far from it - but I have noticed for example that people I know who go to church tend not to drink to excess (or at all), not to smoke, and not to use vulgar language.
I recall once reading about a prison in South Africa which began teaching inmates about The Bible. The result was a massive fall in the reoffending rate from above eighty percent to below twenty percent. A lot of people like to be dismissive of Christianity, but how many of them would enjoy being mugged by a career criminal who is never taught about The Bible while in prison?
One huge problem that I have with Tom Utley is that he implies - or appears to imply - that Judaism and Islam can also have a positive effect on people's behaviour.
If Judaism is a force for good, then how come the only majority-Jewish country in the world - Israel - is a terror state? How many people in Israel ever vote for political parties which are not led by cold-hearted murderous scum? How many Jews in other countries ever condemn Israel for murdering people in neighbouring countries? (I'm not implying that the answer is zero.)
Of course many people in the United Kingdom and the USA vote in elections for political parties which are led by cold-hearted murderous scum, although to be fair the people of Britain are currently suffering from war fatigue, and hence we are not currently planning to go to war against Syria.
Furthermore, many Christian countries are not led by cold-hearted murderous scum, and it is fair to point out that Christians who allow themselves to be brainwashed into voting for warmongers are not evidence for Christianity being in itself a force for evil in the world.
As for Islam, let me repeat what I said in an earlier post:
Islam is founded upon a book called The Koran. This book dictates that Muslims should fight non-Muslims (9:29) and that Jews and Christians should be destroyed (9:30). A similar sentiment is found in 5:51. The Koran also preaches terror against non-Muslims (8:12), spousal abuse (4:34), spousal rape (2:223), and that slaves may be raped (23:6).
To
anyone who accuses me of not understanding The Koran, The Koran says
many times that it is either clear or easy to understand. Therefore the
correct interpretation is always the obvious one.
If our political leaders had any sense of decency, we might expect them to encourage Christianity, but to have a more guarded attitude towards Judaism and Islam. Unfortunately our political leaders tend to be either communists or fellow travellers, and their attitude towards religion tends to be confused (to put it mildly).
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