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January 8, 2013 in Catholic, Protestant | Tags: Israel, Pat Condell
Pat Condell — a British atheist — asks why the West is so tolerant of the Palestinians. Why do we give them so much monetary aid and verbal cover when they are determined to destroy Israel?
Condell condends that Israel is the only buffer between civilisation and radical Islam.
This is a short film and, as always, Condell speaks his mind concisely and eloquently, yet politely:
Leftist Protestants, please take note.
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6 comments
January 9, 2013 at 7:26 pm
captaincatholic
Concise? Yes. Eloquent? Yes. Polite? Yes. And yet he does nothing to appeal to one’s sense of reason and logic and everything to stir up fear and panic.
As an atheist, no doubt, he refutes the believer’s claim that God intervenes in the affairs of men. Fine. But he certainly knows that RELIGION intervenes in the affairs of men. In fact, it seems to me that atheists are better suited than anyone to cry ‘foul’ when an injustice is perpetrated in the name of religion, or under the pretense of divine instruction.
I’ll be very quick to admit that the Palestinians are their own worst enemy inasmuch as their methods for fighting injustice only serve to lend justification to the ones who are doing them wrong. That said, we should never lose sight of the fact that they have, in fact, been victimized by a colossal injustice. What’s more, the injustice was rationalized by the very sort of misuse of religion that atheists are usually so good at spotlighting.
The whole world aided the Israelis when they invaded and occupied Palestine. Over the course of my fifty-eight year lifetime I’ve been around to observe Israel maintain and expand their occupation through the use of increasingly cruel and unjust measures. The world, apparently, has been brainwashed into accepting this behavior because, according to the Scriptures, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were promised this particularly juicy tract of real estate by God Himself.
It’s enough to tempt me to side with the atheists; but now, after listening to Condell, I see that the atheists are as easily duped as the believers.
Imagine, if you will, that the Muslims found a passage in the Qur’an that they could claim indicated that God had promised them possession of the state you live in. Let’s say millions upon millions of them moved in and pushed you and your neighbors into refugee camps. Let’s say that, to add insult to injury, all the nations of the world endorsed and approved this action.
Perhaps Condell would claim that that particular Muslim settlement was all that protected the civilized world from YOU!
Peace flows from Justice,
Paul
January 9, 2013 at 7:38 pm
churchmouse
Your penultimate sentence had no effect on me. I expect to be vilified. As far as his views on Christianity go, he’s live and let live. I’ve featured a few other videos from him.
I disagree with you on Palestinian victimhood. Now that the US will see more (im)migration from Saudi Arabia, let’s touch base again in a few years’ time and see what you think then.
Good to hear from you, though. Hope you have a good 2013!
January 9, 2013 at 8:49 pm
captaincatholic
I am very sorry if my manner of expressing myself resulted in your vilification. My intention was to have you imagine yourself in the place of the Palestinian, who is constantly being vilified.
My job puts me in contact with a lot of people who’ve had a rough go of it — disabled vets, survivors of incest, victims of medical malpractice. Almost everyone I work with has some sort of behavioral oddity that repulses or annoys the people they come in contact with. They hardly ever get a kind word from the world around them. I well understand how it can be that the victims of abuse are labeled ‘troublemakers’ while the perpetrators are respected as upstanding citizens.
Paul
January 9, 2013 at 10:47 pm
churchmouse
I didn’t take it as being vilified by you, Paul. I took it as your making a statement of an atheist towards a Christian. No matter. No offence taken.
Many of us can empathise with your working with those in a type of need — emotional or physical — and with their needs. However, we might not see how that equates with the Palestinian situation. May I respectfully suggest that you look behind the scenes of what you see on the news … Search YouTube, where there are a few 15- to 20-minute films of the set-ups some Palestinians use for the news films that make major Western networks. Furthermore, I cannot condone the use of strapped-up suicide bombers, especially children.
Having been brought up by my family to consider the Jewish people our spiritual brothers and sisters in the Old Testament, it’s not my style to turn my back on them.
In closing, many of us have had rough patches as outsiders in life — myself included. We just try not to make a deceptive Hollywood propaganda production out of it. All of us have our crosses to bear. Some of those are/were worse than we let on.
January 11, 2013 at 2:12 am
captaincatholic
“Having been brought up by my family to consider the Jewish people our spiritual brothers and sisters in the Old Testament, it’s not my style to turn my back on them.”
I’m sure that my upbringing, my religious practice and my personal convictions all incline me to recognize Jewish people as my brothers and sisters. I will add, though, that my recognition of those of Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity is neither more nor less than the recognition I extend to Muslims, to atheists, to Christians, to Buddhists or to anyone.
Do you agree with me that all the world’s people are equally deserving of ‘brotherly respect’ or do you think those who happen to be mentioned in the Bible have some special status?
I asserted that, beginning in 1948, Israel invaded and occupied a virtually helpless Palestine with the cooperation of all the world’s military powers. Do you agree with me? Do you also agree that that is an injustice, or does someone cease to be a victim of injustice when they behave badly?
I liken the position of today’s Palestinian to that of a young man or woman who is preparing to be born. The rights of either are very, very easy to abrogate and neither has the power to advocate on his/her own behalf. The cause of the Palestinian, like the cause of the unborn, is hopeless unless someone from the outside takes up the cause on their behalf. It’s worth trying to consider what would motivate someone to take up the cause of those whose rights are being trampled inasmuch as the vulnerable and the powerless have no means to repay their champion.
I await your reply.
Paul
January 11, 2013 at 2:18 am
churchmouse
Paul, I’m not going to spend much more time on this, but the UN gave Israel her territory. The Muslims have 57 nation-states. Yassar Arafat had a questionable past which was transformed into heroism via the media over the past few decades.
If what you are saying is what the Catholic Church teaches and preaches today, I pray for her future. At least Protestants can feel free according to the Bible to opt out of churches which teach error. Catholics, on the other hand, are beholden to getting their ‘cards stamped every Sunday’, as my better half puts it.
Best wishes to you. This is a conservative Christian blog. It does not have space or time for error.