There's a lot of fuss in the US at present, concerning the inauguration of President Barack Obama and his invitation to Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation. Secularists are understandably annoyed, saying it's a breach of the separation of church and state.
Secularists may also have wondered about Obama's motives in this selection, feeling perhaps that it's an immediate betrayal of the hopes that he embodied - pre-election - for a more rational administration.
But look at it this way: if a presidential candidate had a serious agenda to drastically reduce the influence of religion in government, the one thing that would scupper his or her campaign would be to come out as an atheist. By paying lip service to cosy and comfortable moderate religious values, a candidate is more likely to catch the votes of the religious majority, whatever beliefs (or non-beliefs) may lie in his or her heart. Once elected, that lip service would need to be maintained, to avoid charges of betrayal.
If Obama had not included a religious element to the inauguration, there might have been comments from fundamentalists, but I think the religious moderates would have let it pass. It's because of Pastor Warren's inclusion that the secularists have a legitimate grievance with which to raise their profile and promote their side of the argument. Secularism in America has become a hotly disputed issue, giving all sides the chance to air their views, and those of us on the side of rationality should be thankful.
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Fantasy holiday: The End of the World Bus Tour
The BBC's recent run of five TV documentaries in the Wonderland series ended a week ago with this film about about a group of fundamentalist Christians on a tour of Armageddon. For many it was their last chance to see significant locations that will apparently figure in the Rapture, and in the end of the world, as foretold in the Book of Revelation.
Here's a link to the BBC's trailer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGjvQD0c_4k
It's nice to have a theme for a holiday - it provides focus for sightseeing and other jolly activities. Don't fancy traipsing round a musty museum? Try helping out with menial labour on an Israeli military base. Bored with rubbernecking at old buildings? Then how about viewing the actual site of the nuclear apocalypse? When did that happen, you ask? Not yet, but just you wait - it will, we're told, be bloody. Don't worry, you won't be affected, not if you're a believer. You'll be raptured into Heaven with the other believers, disappearing from Earth in the blink of an eye, while the rest of us are left behind to perish (after which, of course, we have the small matter of an eternity of damnation to endure).
These are, by any rational standards, kooky beliefs, based on ancient texts of dubious authority. But they're beliefs held by a not insignificant minority of US citizens, this sample of whom appeared from this film to be decent (if deluded) people. Mostly they were pensioners. One teenager, however, on the trip with her parents, might have been tagging along simply for the chance to get way from her studies for a while. But no - she appeared to be as fundamentalist as the rest of them.
She said she was studying A-levels (in England, as it happens, quite close to where I live), photography (she was using the trip as part of a photography project), and - get this - critical thinking.
When explaining to the interviewer why she held her particular beliefs, she used Pascal's Wager. Perhaps when she actually gets around to that final part of her studies she'll learn what a false dichotomy is.
UPDATE:
This wasn't actually the last in the present run of Wonderland, but there was a two-week break.
And for those who missed the broadcast, but can use BitTorrent, try here, here or (recommended) here.
Another gem from the broadcast: after seeing Armageddon, contemplating the end of the world, and looking across the landscape towards the 'enemies of God', our little group of devout tourists assembled at the airport for their trip home. Naturally they prayed. For world peace? An end to conflict? Relief for the afflicted?
No, they prayed that their flight would not be delayed.
Here's a link to the BBC's trailer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGjvQD0c_4k
It's nice to have a theme for a holiday - it provides focus for sightseeing and other jolly activities. Don't fancy traipsing round a musty museum? Try helping out with menial labour on an Israeli military base. Bored with rubbernecking at old buildings? Then how about viewing the actual site of the nuclear apocalypse? When did that happen, you ask? Not yet, but just you wait - it will, we're told, be bloody. Don't worry, you won't be affected, not if you're a believer. You'll be raptured into Heaven with the other believers, disappearing from Earth in the blink of an eye, while the rest of us are left behind to perish (after which, of course, we have the small matter of an eternity of damnation to endure).
These are, by any rational standards, kooky beliefs, based on ancient texts of dubious authority. But they're beliefs held by a not insignificant minority of US citizens, this sample of whom appeared from this film to be decent (if deluded) people. Mostly they were pensioners. One teenager, however, on the trip with her parents, might have been tagging along simply for the chance to get way from her studies for a while. But no - she appeared to be as fundamentalist as the rest of them.
She said she was studying A-levels (in England, as it happens, quite close to where I live), photography (she was using the trip as part of a photography project), and - get this - critical thinking.
When explaining to the interviewer why she held her particular beliefs, she used Pascal's Wager. Perhaps when she actually gets around to that final part of her studies she'll learn what a false dichotomy is.
UPDATE:
This wasn't actually the last in the present run of Wonderland, but there was a two-week break.
And for those who missed the broadcast, but can use BitTorrent, try here, here or (recommended) here.
Another gem from the broadcast: after seeing Armageddon, contemplating the end of the world, and looking across the landscape towards the 'enemies of God', our little group of devout tourists assembled at the airport for their trip home. Naturally they prayed. For world peace? An end to conflict? Relief for the afflicted?
No, they prayed that their flight would not be delayed.
Monday, 25 June 2007
One justice away...
This is really scary.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2829599695690924108
Edward Tabash gave this speech to members of the Center For Inquiry during a recent cruise in the Galapagos.
(via RichardDawkins.net)
Here's the Q&A session:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4191917977194347234
I hadn't realised that the separation of church and state in America was so precarious. If the US becomes a theocracy in just a matter of months, what hope do we have of avoiding global holy war?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2829599695690924108
Edward Tabash gave this speech to members of the Center For Inquiry during a recent cruise in the Galapagos.
(via RichardDawkins.net)
Here's the Q&A session:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4191917977194347234
I hadn't realised that the separation of church and state in America was so precarious. If the US becomes a theocracy in just a matter of months, what hope do we have of avoiding global holy war?
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