Religious Hypocrisy

So I'm back (well I never really left) and I thought it was high time that I got back to good hard philosophy but instead of that I am going to complain about religion for however many words this takes. Enjoy! (What am I saying of course you will.)

So what the hell do I mean by "Religious Hypocrisy"? Well I guess there are a number of ways of looking at it (yeah just so you know this could be a long one). One way is just the classic example of a believer spouting: "God says I should love my neighbour!" and then immediately going on to oppress some minorities and homosexuals. I could talk a lot about this but really everyone understands and knows this: "God loves us all", "Forgiveness!", "Charity!", "You're a single parent? DIE HEATHEN!" you know the classic stuff.

However what I find most annoying and self conceited and simply idiotic is more subtle than this simple forgetfulness of the Bible's teachings (I should do a post about Biblical ethical code... Coming soon to this blog!).

Have you ever seen a post on Facebook or more likely a picture of a post on Facebook along the lines of "Wow God is fantastic! My toast didn't burn even a little bit!"or "My toast didn't fall butter side down! Praise Jesus!" (is it obvious I haven't had breakfast yet?) or "I won £20 on the horses! All hail the almighty Cthulhu! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!" (Cause ya know Christianity ain't the only religion around. Elder Gods need love too...)? 

Posts like these ROYALLY piss me off. Here's why:

These posts indicate that the author believes that their particular brand of deity is capable of interfering in their creation in favour of their believers whether it's saving your toast from a buttery nightmare (I'm really hungry) or helping you find 20p on the floor.

Now... given that God CAN interfere and that he DOES in favour of his believers, why is there still evil in the world? Seriously none of these idiots (just to be clear I don't think they are idiots because they have a belief, I think they are idiots because they haven't for a second questioned said belief and considered anyone else but themselves) have ever stopped to think "If God can help me pass an exam, why does AIDS exist?" or "If God has the ability to alter the physics of the universe and make my cold all better, why are there tornadoes?"

These people are the worst type of believers in the world. They can't see past their own lives at all! To consider that their God is not a God for all and is in fact a personal God just for them and their friends and family is the very pinnacle of arrogance and vanity. 

Now of course I haven't even mentioned that there are perfectly reasonable explanations for good fortune and you don't have to bring in an eternal, omnipotent God into it, but I don't need to. These people are still wrong even if you do accept that God exists and that miracles happen.

Jesus turned water into wine so he could get pissed at a guy's house but eradicating malaria is a bit too hard for him? Jesus walked on water but tape worms are still around? 

Saying that God can do everything and will do everything to help you is a very impressive statement but you have to expect people to ask "Well why isn't he helping me?" It's beliefs like this that lead to ridiculous headlines like "Gays Caused the Asian Tsunami!" or "Sneaky Sodomists Smash States With Hurricane Sandy!" (that one was fun to make up). Minority groups get blamed for these entirely natural disasters because people don't like to think it's random. That's terrifying. No-one looking out for you, no reason that you shouldn't die. There has to be a reason! Right!? You can be saved from these thoughts though if you accept that it's part of THE PLAN. The Lord moves in mysterious ways (Fun Fact: If you use that phrase within earshot of me prepare yourself for one hell of a philosophy lecture) and seemingly one of those ways is to ineffectually eradicate homosexuality and other sinfulness with the use of natural disasters.

"Yes ok so a few brown people died from a preventable illness but God wanted them to die! It's all part of his plan. I'm sure they were secretly evil. Of course they could be good Christians in which case they should be happy in their suffering because it brings you closer to Jesus!" (Seriously people have actually believed and still believe this crap. Mother Teresa for one. Bet you didn't know that.)

To think that you are so special that God will break the laws of physics for you and only you but will do nothing for starving children is abhorrent. I feel sickened when I see statements to that affect. 

Now of course (as I am sure you know) I believe that disasters ARE random. There is no plan or design. It isn't a punishment or a retaliation from God, it's physical processes acting out on a lump of rock spinning around space. When you win on the horses or pass an exam it's entirely within reason for these things to happen and it doesn't need an interventionist God. In my opinion, if God was going to help us he would do more than preserve the deliciousness of our toasted wheat products (I am so hungry). Just off the top of my head, if I was God, I would sort out Syria cause that's one hell of a mess, I would sort out the Middle East because that's one hell of a mess, I would sort out Haiti cause that's STILL one hell of a mess, I would sort out Charlie Sheen cause he's one hell of a mess and I would sort out my room because that is one HELL of a mess (actually it's not that bad but I thought that would make a good joke. You know, needing a deity to clean my room cause it's THAT bad. No? Yes? Answers on a postcard. Or the internet).

With so many problems in the world (a lot of them caused by God in the first place) why doesn't he help us? Why has God forsaken us but still takes the time to help out with toast?

And with that I'm off to have breakfast.