Tony Blair groups atheists with violent religious
extremists in Georgetown speech
October 11, 2009
In a speech at Georgetown University former
British prime minister Tony Blair cast atheists and
violent religious extremists in the same light, as
enemies whom people of faith must "confront.“
The larger theme of the speech dealt with
building budges between faiths, to "deeply"
respect those of differing religions "beyond
tolerance or acceptance."
Blair stated that people of faith "face an
aggressive secular attack from without" and
"the threat of extremism from within," and went
further in making a rhetorical equivalency
between nonbelievers and those who inflict
harm and death in the name of their religion,
saying:.
These challenges are not for Muslims alone or
Christians or Jews, Hindus or Buddhists for that
matter. They are challenges for all people of
faith. Those who scorn God and those who do
violence in God’s name, both represent views
of religion. But both offer no hope for faith in the
twenty first century. The best hope for faith in
the twenty first century is that we confront all of
this together.
This speech is an eye-opener to the abysmal
limitations of the man’s intrinsic intellectual
capacity
But more than that the deep malevolence
implicit in these words towards the secular
community which is basically fighting to save
the Enlightenment is truly astounding
Blair never says outright in this address that atheists
or atheist activists are just as bad as, say, Al Qaeda,
but even giving him the benefit of the doubt, the
very fact that he would place secularism and
religiously motivated violence in the same context is
astounding, offensive, and shows an incredible lack
of depth of thinking--not to mention revealing a
level of animosity toward nonbelievers on the part of
Blair that I am surprised to find exists.
It is also rather ironic that he would cast this blanket
aspersion against secularist activists (I say
"activists" because I can only assume he may not
feel as strongly about casual or closeted atheists),
when the point of his speech is to encourage
heightened levels of tolerance and respect between
religious communities, almost to the point, it seems
to me, of fetishism for Blair. "Love your neighbor as
yourself," Blair reminded his audience, forgetting
that atheists are neighbors, too.
Blair never says outright in this address that atheists
or atheist activists are just as bad as, say, Al Qaeda,
but even giving him the benefit of the doubt, the
very fact that he would place secularism and
religiously motivated violence in the same context is
astounding, offensive, and shows an incredible lack
of depth of thinking--not to mention revealing a
level of animosity toward nonbelievers on the part of
Blair that I am surprised to find exists.
It is also rather ironic that he would cast this blanket
aspersion against secularist activists (I say
"activists" because I can only assume he may not
feel as strongly about casual or closeted atheists),
when the point of his speech is to encourage
heightened levels of tolerance and respect between
religious communities, almost to the point, it seems
to me, of fetishism for Blair. "Love your neighbor as
Tony Blair groups atheists with violent religious
extremists in Georgetown speech
October 11, 2009
In a speech delivered earlier this week at
Georgetown University in Washington, DC, former
British prime minister Tony Blair cast atheists and
violent religious extremists in the same light, as
enemies whom people of faith must "confront."
The larger theme of the speech dealt with building
budges between faiths, to "deeply" respect those of
differing religions "beyond tolerance or acceptance."
Blair stated that people of faith "face an aggressive
secular attack from without" and "the threat of
extremism from within," and went further in making
Tony Blair groups atheists with violent religious extremists in
Georgetown speech
, Secularism Examiner
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(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
In a speech delivered earlier this week at Georgetown University in
Washington, DC, former British prime minister Tony Blair cast
atheists and violent religious extremists in the same light, as
enemies whom people of faith must "confront."
The larger theme of the speech dealt with building budges between
faiths, to "deeply" respect those of differing religions "beyond
tolerance or acceptance." Unfortunately, for Blair, atheists do not
warrant even that.
Blair stated that people of faith "face an aggressive secular attack
from without" and "the threat of extremism from within," and went
further in making a rhetorical equivalency between nonbelievers and
those who inflict harm and death in the name of their religion,
saying:.
These challenges are not for Muslims alone or Christians or Jews,
Hindus or Buddhists for that matter. They are challenges for all
people of faith. Those who scorn God and those who do violence in
God’s name, both represent views of religion. But both offer no hope
for faith in the twenty first century. The best hope for faith in the
twenty first century is that we confront all of this together.
Blair never says outright in this address that atheists or atheist
activists are just as bad as, say, Al Qaeda, but even giving him the
benefit of the doubt, the very fact that he would place secularism
and religiously motivated violence in the same context is astounding,
offensive, and shows an incredible lack of depth of thinking--not to
mention revealing a level of animosity toward nonbelievers on the
part of Blair that I am surprised to find exists.
It is also rather ironic that he would cast this blanket aspersion
against secularist activists (I say "activists" because I can only assume
he may not feel as strongly about casual or closeted atheists), when
the point of his speech is to encourage heightened levels of
tolerance and respect between religious communities, almost to the
point, it seems to me, of fetishism for Blair. "Love your neighbor as
yourself," Blair reminded his audience, forgetting that atheists are
neighbors, too.
He also emphasizes how faith changes lives "for the better" and that
believers (specifically, Abrahamic monotheists) must "show why
humanity is not made poorer by faith, but immeasurably enriched."
But, as is often the case, never in his speech makes any claims as to
how this is so. If it is the aforementioned "love thy neighbor" section,
then clearly the lesson is not fully learned by the speaker himself.
Finally, Blair never bemoans atheists by name, but "those who scorn
God." If we're to take this wording literally, then it becomes less
offensive, and simply puzzling. Atheists do not "scorn" God, because
there isn't a God there to scorn. I don't know, then, what percentage
of the world population wastes its energy actively dissing or working
against a deity they believe exists, but it can't be sizable enough or
constitute enough of a public nuisance to warrant mention by a
former prime minister or equation with religious terrorists.
But of course, he means outspoken, public atheists, those who
demand their right to be heard and demand the right to criticize
beliefs on their merits
This, to Blair, is an offense so terrible that it needs to be invoked in
the same breath as deluded mass murderers, slaughtering innocent
civilians in religious ecstasy. This is perhaps the most troublesome
and most firmly-fixed obstacle that the modern atheist faces: those
for whom "belief in belief" is so strong that, in their eyes, Richard
Dawkins and Osama bin Laden are in the same out-group.
This entry owes a hat tip to Vjack's posting at Atheist Nexus.
NOTE: This artcile originally used the word "equates" in the headline,
which I have changed to "groups." Realizing that Blair never
specifically makes a perfect equivalency between atheism and
religious violence, I thought this was a fairer word to use.
http://www.examiner.com/secularism-in-national/tony-blair-groupsatheists-with-violent-religious-extremists-georgetown-speech
This, to Blair, is an offense so terrible that it needs to be invoked in
the same breath as deluded mass murderers, slaughtering innocent
civilians in religious ecstasy. This is perhaps the most troublesome
and most firmly-fixed obstacle that the modern atheist faces: those
for whom "belief in belief" is so strong that, in their eyes, Richard
Dawkins and Osama bin Laden are in the same out-group.
This entry owes a hat tip to Vjack's posting at Atheist Nexus.
NOTE: This artcile originally used the word "equates" in the headline,
which I have changed to "groups." Realizing that Blair never
specifically makes a perfect equivalency between atheism and
religious violence, I thought this was a fairer word to use.
http://www.examiner.com/secularism-in-national/tony-blair-groupsatheists-with-violent-religious-extremists-georgetown-speech