Take Care When Illustrating Hypocrisy
March 30th, 2005 | by Todd W |This is another Schiavo related post, but it has more to do with the arguments found on one particular side of the issue.
Several bloggers have pointed out what they see as an inconsistency in the position of the religious right. If there is a God and a heaven, then why the overwhelming desire to cling to this life? For a time, I’ve shared their perspective, but certainly without a sense of righteous glee over a fallacy in the religious position.
Upon consideration, I think we should be thankful for this perspective on the part of the ‘pew population’. Imagine a world where the faithful did embrace the afterlife as something not only to be embraced, but actively sought. Imagine a religion where the highest duty was to dispatch people to God’s judgment, even at the cost of your own life. And while it might be currently fashionable to correctly point to Islam, I’m taking a longer view back to the Catholic/Protestant/Lutheran clashes of the middle teen centuries.
Should we mock a faith that has turned away from a logical thread that would lead to widespread bloodshed in the name of Allah God, or should we congratulate the evolution of thought that says life is sacred, regardless of the condition and circumstance of such life? Is it better to have killing in God’s name, arbitrated by the clergy, or to have the occasional sanctioned killing governed by due process of law answerable to the people, regardless of faith?
By this standard, we should admire the logical consistency of Islam. After all, they care so much for the soul of the infidel they are willing to convert us by the sword, even at their own expense in life and treasure. They brook no alternative faith, like any good meme.
Ridicule of hypocrisy is usually an effort to change behavior. Consider the alternatives.
