Right News and Views

After reading The New New Atheism by Peter Berkowitz, I’m struck by the fact that so much blame is placed on religion for so many of the world’s problems. True, fanatical Muslims are a problem. As were certain Christians during the Spanish Inquisition. But blaming God for what man does make’s as much sense as blaming Nancy Pelosi for the recent shooting of a US soldier by an anti-war nut job. I find Pelosi repugnant and loathsome but what that psycho did certainly cannot be laid at her feet. He pulled the trigger- he alone is to blame. To believe anything else is to buy into the liberal mantra that one is not – or should not be - accountable for their own actions.

Attackers of religion also turn a blind eye to the fact that people’s faith often leads them to do good to their fellow man where no other catalyst for doing such good exists. How many churches help the homeless, feed the hungry, and offer a welcome to those many others turn away from? What of the monks that preserved so much ancient knowledge and history throughout the Middle Ages that otherwise could have been lost forever? What about the men and women who lead crusades against injustice based on their belief in God’s word? There is value in having a strong faith in God.

True, there are those who twist God’s word to their own ends and do evil, harmful things to others in God’s name. But man can twist anything that way- not just religion – and often does.

I can speak only for myself here but if there were no God, and I had no faith in Him, then I surely would have murdered someone by now. Without God I would adhere to the law of the jungle for, without God, that is indeed all I believe man is - an animal.

Good an evil are, therefore, not concepts created by man- the sheer variation in what some people consider and define as good (which, to others, is considered and defined as evil) alone should be enough to at least make one consider the possibility of the truth to the universal standards of what is and is not right according to God’s standards.

But the Bible warns us that men will call good evil and evil good- and that believers will be persecuted, mocked, and ridiculed. The response is to pray for those that attack you, attack God, and do not believe. It can be hard - I know – but God loves them just as much as He loves anybody else.