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Permalink Reply by Richard K. Emms on September 1, 2011 at 6:26am

What's the matter with him?  Doesn't he know god can't do anything?  Let's get with it!  Only the Flying Spaghetti Monster can save us now!!!!

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Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 1, 2011 at 6:50am

To me, the quotation illustrates the core problem with religion: the usefulness of having a god on whom to blame one's misfortunes, the use of a surrogate on which to hang one's responsibilities.  It is amplified especially in Islam, where the name of the religion itself is submission.  I am reminded of the famous scene in the film of Lawrence of Arabia, in which "L-aw-rance," tired of hearing that "It is written," retorts, "It is not written."  The fatalism inherent in Islam renders man a helpless pawn in god's games.  If everything is written, one can always avoid responsibility for one's actions or one's failure to act.  If things are going well, the believer thanks god.  If things are going badly, he says god moves in "mysterious ways."  You cannot reason with these people.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on September 1, 2011 at 7:39am

I can imagine what's going through Perry's mind in this picture.

 

"OK.  When I stand up, look toward the ceiling and put my hand over my heart.  That'll impress the morons.  Then, when I do my stump speech in the deep south, hold up the bible, make my lip quiver, and have a tear roll down from my eye as I talk about the love of Jesus.  That should rope in the rubes and clinch the South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama primaries.  Try that with your magic underwear, Romney!"

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Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 1, 2011 at 5:22pm

Wait a minute!  You are making like pRick is faking his religious devotion.  If that were true, he'd be just another Bush.  No, no, he really believes in all that hogwash.  That is why he is dangerous.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on September 1, 2011 at 8:36pm

OK James, I'll defer to you since you are a resident of Texas and have had to live with him a lot longer than the rest of us.  But let's face it, the SOB is a fraud, whether he believes his own bullshit messiah complex or not.

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Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 1, 2011 at 10:49pm

In a sense, all believers are frauds.  Perry is both devout and Machiavellian, or would be, if he had any sense.

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Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on September 1, 2011 at 7:42am

I'd have to respond:

"Mr. Perry, you are not meant to be elected to our highest office so that you can abrogate responsibility for that office in favor of some external force or entity which is not in evidence.  If you haven't the means or the plans or proposals that YOU have formulated, that YOU intend to implement, and that YOU will be responsible for, THEN DON'T RUN."

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Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 1, 2011 at 5:27pm

I just re-read Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation.  It is still a splendid little book, his response to the mix of opinions ranging from congratulations to psychotic threats after publication of The End of Faith.  After a second reading of his Letter, he convinced me that religion is responsible for about 90% of the violence in the world today.  Directly or indirectly, religion is the greatest single source of misery in the world.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy on September 2, 2011 at 12:39am

Can we just wall them all up in one state and let them starve to death?

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Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 2, 2011 at 7:31am

Yes, but please, not Texas.  I would suggest Alabama or Mississippi.

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