Evangelical Gay Sex Scandal
There was a really good BBC documentary by Prof. Richard Dawkins on the subject of religion, called "Root of All Evil". More on Richard Dawkins and his work in the future, but one part of the program featured an evangelical church over in Colorado Springs, USA. Senior Pastor Ted Haggard is the pastor of the 14,000-strong New Life Church. He is also the president of the National Association of Evangelicals which is very influential in the US. In the program, Richard Dawkins interviewed Ted Haggard regarding blind faith over reason and the talk soon detracted to the subject of evolution where Haggard made some incorrect points about evolution. When rebuked by Richard Dawkins, Ted Haggard became agitated and said something about scientists being arrogant because they think they're intellectually superior. Later after the filming, Ted Haggard became aggressive and chased Dawkins and his crew out of the church compound.
Well, the same Ted Haggard is all over the news today because of a gay sex scandal. A male escort in Denver claimed that Haggard has been paying him for sex for three years. Although denying it at first, Haggard is now claiming that he did get a massage but not gay sex. He also admitted to buying meth but didn't use them. That's like saying he hired a hooker, but didn't sleep with her or like buying a copy of Playboy but only for the articles. You just know that it's rubbish. I kinda felt, after watching the program that something's not quite right with this guy. Turns out he might be the worst hypocrite of all. Of course he is still innocent till proven otherwise, but this is a major blow to the evangelical movement.
Religious movements have often been rocked by such scandals. Remember Roman Catholic priests? Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart? In Malaysia too, we've often heard about Buddhist monks raping devotees and Muslim clerics sexually abusing young children. There is a pattern of similarity here. For me, this just shows that no one religion is true, hence no one God is the true god. Whichever religion you look at, there are those bad apples, as there are those pious ones and all of them think they are worshipping the true God. Whichever holy book you read, you are subject to the same 'temptations' as all humans are. Some are able to overcome the temptations while others fall. No one religion is greater than another. They're all man-made and they're all the same.
Technorati tags: ted haggard, richard dawkins, root of all evil, gay sex scandal
posted by Meursault @ 9:36 PM
8 Comments:
My friend, it seems 'unscientific' to stack the cards on one's position and not give credit to disconfirming evidences...
For every paedophile priest or monk or ustaz, you can find at least 100 who selflessly serve others in philantrophic causes like mother theresa, gandhi and er... er... i dunno, farish noor??? ehehehe...
Would you consider tat as disconfirming data of ur theory? :)
bound to have bad apples as everyone is still a human being by nature. the only person who doesn't sin at all..... at all ... will be God.
bound to have failures in all universities/colleges throughout the whole world, does that mean all universities/colleges are useless
bound to have many people who will fail to achieve certain performance level during working hours, does that mean they are useless and ought to be sacked
God is full of grace and people who fails will have a chance to redeem themselves unless they chose not to do so and a failure is not a failure until he gives up totally on God and on themselves too
Good observation, Johnny.. in fact there bad atheistic apples too as Dawkins himself would admit, wouldn't he?
Yes, I agree and in fact, I've written that in all religions there are good apples and there are bad ones. I'm merely commenting on the pattern of similarity.
How can any one religion claim that theirs is different and theirs is true if to a casual observer, their group dynamics fall in a similar, predictable pattern as other religions? Seems this pattern is the same whether you worship Jesus Christ or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
well, perhaps the question can be posed this way as well: how can atheism claim to be absolute truth is its adherents also are capable of moral lapses? Dawkins concede that Stalin is one of his own :)
"well, perhaps the question can be posed this way as well: how can atheism claim to be absolute truth is its adherents also are capable of moral lapses?"
The answer is it can't. But you're getting it wrong. Atheism does not claim to be the absolute truth. Atheism also, is not a moral code. Simply deny God's existence is no guarantee that a person will be morally righteous.
Atheism is not claiming anything. its just pointing out the illogical and hipocrisy of so called " religion". It is not a belief system but rather a concept that promotes logic and reason, based on human intelligence.
Religious people who criticise Atheism, are trying to relate it to their own view of having a religion. It is not a " religion".
The point about good and bad " religious people" simply goes to show that all religion is man made; whether you want to do good or bad is totally at the power of a person. Not any " God" or spirit etc but the human will.
If any religion is to be " true" , then let it be 100% clean, then it is proof that there is the power in it to guarantee that the followers are 100%. Right now, religious people give all sorts of excuses when religious people fail and commit atrocious sins. That is so typical of religion! They will give all sorts of excuses.
eg. God gives free will, not everyone is bad, there is good and bad , bla bla bla!
Since God is so powerful and good, let His hand be upon the believers to ensure they are 100% good, and that the sinners and hippocrites be struck down by lightning.
There is no need to fear the afterlife; if we live within our concscience and do good to all we meet. The stories of hell fire, etc are creations of religion for purposes of controlling people.
Until today, no one has come back from the dead to tell us if God exists or not? To some, ifnot large extent, the holy books sound like fairy tales and feel good stories. It cant be denied some parts of the holy books do make good reading, which can be adopted for the good of all.
Thing is, do good or bad is your decision. Dont blame anyone or anything except your own human reason and intelligence to decide.
Sooner or later organised religion should die a natural death...and be replaced by simple moral code of ethics. By popular demand this will happen.
Religion is not bad in itself, but humans have unlimited capacity to twist something to their own gains and then try to justify it will all sorts of reasoning and round about explanations.
some of the good principles of religion can be adopted and incorporated into a set of universal moral code
Peace be to all men of good will :)
If Christianity is claiming that because it is true religion therefore all its followers or those who claim to follow it would be morally perfect, then such observations would have a point.
See? their followers are just the same as everyone else so what makes it so special.
But if the gospel is about sinners (cracked pots and all) can find a way of forgiveness and restoration because of what God has done on the cross... then such observations are precisely what we would expect. Only patients need doctors so we shouldn't be surprised to meet many sick people in a hospital. The church is supposed to be a place where all sorts of sinners can come and be reconciled with God :)
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