Christianity and Biko

Stephen Biko died almost exactly 33 years ago. I am reminded that not much has changed since. The nature of man to behave with basic decency remains afflicted by the consequence of reliance on delusional belief as much today - with a child molesting pope swanning around London - as it did 33 years ago.
Once delusional belief is accepted - through the vehicle of blind faith - any instruction can be followed in the same way.

To illustrate the point I am making - that delusional belief in invisible forces corrupts the innate humanity of the individual by acting at odds with the basic intuitive means by which the individual connects with his own morality - and is therefore unhealthy at best and murderously dangerous the rest of the time, here is a tale of two christians. Church going believers of the highest order.

Gideon Nieuwoudt and Harold Snyman.

In August of 1977, relying on a law devised by christians of the highest order - The Terrorism Act no 83 of 1967, which gave practicing christians (and only practicing christians) the legal right to arrest and detain anyone without any accountability, these chaps in their uniforms of the South African Police picked up former medical student Stephen Biko - a 30 year old writer, consciousness leader and atheist. Biko was interrogated in a police cell (6-1-9) for 22 hours hours, wherein he was pummeled senseless. His skull cracked leaving him in a coma state. Obviously no contradiction here with christian belief. Beaten to an inch of his life, the biblically named Gideon and his buddy Harold then thought it a good idea to drive the battered Biko 750 miles to a Police hospital. Clearly they had good reason to not take him to a nearby Hospital in Port Elizabeth, which might have taken all of 5 minutes, so they put him into the back of a land rover, naked, a nice christian touch in the circumstances, and bleeding with a major head injury for a 750 mile  across the country. Anyone who has been in the back of a police land rover in the 70's will know the degree of discomfort represented here. Its little more than a metal box with virtually no shock absorbers.

Biko died of his injuries shortly after arriving at the Hospital in Pretoria. The Land Rovers speed of around 50 miles an hour means the journey would have taken at least 17 hours. A crucifiction would have been a considerably more christian way to kill a man, but not for these christians.

I struggle to imagine the nature of a man that would put another man into the back of a metal box - a man already beaten to an inch of his life with a cracked skull - and drive him across a country, naked, knowing and rejoicing in his  experience of the most dreadful agonies before his certain death. What kind of belief system could turn any man so against the natural order as to make him debase his humanity in this way?

To demonstrate that delusional belief in one thing encourages it in another, these devout christians when called on the explain why this chap was dead, said he had killed himself by going on hunger strike. Not even honest enough to stand up and express the truth of their actions.

In the subsequent Police inquiry the Attorney General of the Eastern Cape, another devout practicing christian, ruled that there was no case to answer for officers involved in the arrest and detention of Biko. During the trial it was claimed that Biko's head injuries were the result of a self-inflicted suicide attempt, not those of any beatings. Believe one delusion and its so easy to carry on in the same vein.

So that was that. Black atheist kills himself. His own fault. Nothing to see here.

This is one small illustration of why delusional belief is not a harmless right to be enjoyed free from any persecution.

And on a happy note of conclusion, Harold Snyman died in 1997 of lung cancer. He is now in heaven where all christians go for eternity in paradise, many with an option on virginal pleasures. Meanwhile Steve Biko continues to rot in the fiery pits of hell that is the christian message to all non-believers.

You have just got to love the christian way.

God is the truth.

My reply to a Faithbook message from Ursela advising me that 'God is the truth'. 

If god is almighty and the creator of everything and is responsible for the placement of everything in the celestial order; then he made all the little animals. And all the people too. And he made cancer. And he made the mosquito. And he made Sara Palin's brain. And he made mutating illnesses that paralyze and leave people howling in pain for years as they scream their way to sorry death. And if god see's everything and he has almighty powers to do anything. Then god willingly and knowingly allows catholic priests to serially bugger little boys in his name. Its not as if he doesn't know about this stuff because he knows everything and its going on in his own house, which could not come to pass without his approval. Otherwise it wouldn't be happening. So this almighty god is clearly responsible for a lot of nasty stuff. Whereas. I am not. I differ from your god in a few small but significant ways.

I am a happy little sailor through the universal hand that I have been dealt by complete random evolutionary procedure where I may or may not become the best human being I can possibly be. That's what I try to be on a daily basis. I don't require anyone to endorse my belief. And I don't seek to recruit anyone to conform to my will. I don't threaten anyone who fails to bow to my will with a life of damnation and I don't insult anyone's basic intelligence by claiming to be all around and omnipotent. If 'I see my brother standing by the road with a heavy load' I will always try to show kindness. 

These few qualities quite clearly place me many layers above this malicious and unkind god of which you speak, who is responsible for atrocities so gross even speaking about them diminishes me.

I understand the need for a god. The key is 'need.' Your need to believe in a god. And I can see the temptation arising from the promise of a heavenly ever after. But really this arrangement only works with blind faith. Once common sense breaks through - the argument falls over. 

Historically god is a coping mechanism invented by man in times of uncertainty as a one size fits all placebo. Sadly this basic need and its remedy has developed into a sinister underworld where the church and its believers have become little more than an exploitative mafia - preying on the needy and vulnerable for the benefit of the few. The only thing shielding any believer from this realty is. Blind Faith. And its not called Blind Faith for nothing.

And in reply - Ursela advised me that  I was wrong. God didn't make all the bad things, that was the Devil. Which reminded me that I had forgotten that the devils stuff was still being used in the agenda, but replied none-the-less.

Ursela. I don't mean to alarm you however I can assure you that I can make up far more credible tales of good and bad demonstrating the duality of human nature and a set of rules to live by than the bible or the quran. And this is not a skill unique to myself. There are many writers above a certain level who can invent infinitely superior story lines to those two books. 

Consider L. Ron. Hubbard. The most published writer in the world. Gets divorced - needs some money quick - writes a book called Dianetics - identifies that people need answers - so he sells in a designer model - and presto. New religion with Millions of people paying in their money and believing the fairy story. Supply and demand. There is a need for a solid belief. And that demand is serviced- cynically and with an ever decreasing degree of credibility by big religion.

The fairy story about the devil and the other guy is not well constructed. Any informed debate looking to prove the mechanics of the argument will fall on its face trying. Its full of holes - from the garden of eden apple story, to the virgin birth, to the idea of original sin. There simply is no devil just as there clearly is no god. There are avenues of belief which convince individuals that god exists and that a devil exists. This is a response to a need but is not  a logically realistic proposition. 

There is no need for any argument to prove something doesn't exist. That would be ridiculous. Proof of somethings existence relies on proof that it exists. 

I cant say to you - there are fifteen fairies at the bottom of my garden - and expect you to believe that, unless I can service the burden of proof. The onus is not on you to disprove the fairies in my garden. That would be ridiculous. If I make an assertion without a shred of tangential evidence in support - then it is a delusion. I am attempting a deceit. I am trying to make you believe their are fifteen fairies at the bottom of my garden and in so doing I am attempting to deceive you. It follows that if I am prepared to deceive you on this matter - I would attempt to deceive you on any other number of matters - because I rely on delusion to promote my belief. This is one of several dangerous elements that allowing blind faith to lead you to belief in an invisible god/devil introduces. If you believe that delusion - you have agreed a process of acceptance of things based on delusion and this means you will believe more or less anything. It is dishonesty at its most cynical because it requires you to actually believe the lie.

Human nature and the workings of the brain encourage acceptance of that which we most need to believe. The process is driven by the need. We adopt a 'The truth is what I choose to believe' approach. And that becomes 'the truth'. So you believe a powerful omnipresent good god controls everything - and a bad equally powerful other god - who is called the devil - counteracts all the stuff the good one does. And that is your truth. But it is not a reliable truth. Just one that you have elected - through the device of blind faith - to place your belief in. I know people who believe they have fairies living at the bottom of their garden. They believe. They truly believe. But that doesn't make it so.

Your previous comment about scientists implying that evolution means  god was an ape' is best addressed by the all powerful all seeing, quite brilliant commentator - Frank Zappa. 

Herewith - from the book of Zappa. 
Album: 27. Side: 2. Song:5 
Dumb all over.

Whoever we are, wherever we're from, 
we shoulda noticed by now our behaviour is dumb
And if our chances expect to improve 
it's gonna take a lot more than tryin' to remove 
the other race or the other whatever 
from the face of the planet altogether
They call it "The Earth" which is a dumb kinda name 
but they named it right 'cause we behave the same
We are dumb all over
Dumb all over, yes we are, dumb all over, 
near and far, dumb all over, 
black 'n white, people, we is not wrapped tight
And nerds on the left, nerds on the right
Religious fanatics on the air every night, 
sayin' the bible tells the story 
and makes the details sound real gory 
about what to do if the geeks over there 
don't believe in the book we got over here
You can't run a race without no feet
And pretty soon there won't be no street 
for dummies to jog on or doggies to dog on
Religious fanatics can make it be all gone
I mean it won't blow up and disappear, 
it'll just look ugly for a thousand years
You can't run a country by a book of religion
Not by a heap or a lump or a smidgeon 
of foolish rules of ancient date, 
designed to make you all feel great 
while you fold, spindle and mutilate 
those unbelievers from a neighbouring state
To arms, to arms
Hooray! That's great, two legs ain't bad
Unless there's a crate they ship the parts to mama in
For souvenirs: two ears (Get down)
Not his, not hers but what the hey
The good book says, "It's gotta be that way"
But their book says, "Revenge the crusades"
With whips 'n chains and hand grenades
Two arms, two arms
Have another and another
Our Cod says, "There ain't no other"
Our Cod says, "It's all ok"
Our god says "This is the way"
It says in the book, "Burn and destroy"
And repent and redeem and revenge and deploy 
and rumble thee forth to the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
'Cause they don't go for what's in the book and that makes 'em bad
So verily we must choppeth them up and stompeth them down
Or rent a nice French bomb to poof them out of existence 
while leaving their real estate just where we need it to use again 
for temples in which to praise our god, 
'cause he can really take care of business
And when his humble TV servant 
with humble white hair and humble glasses 
and a nice brown suit 
and maybe a blonde wife who takes phone calls, 
tells us our god says it's ok to do this stuff, then we gotta do it
'Cause if we don't do it we ain't "Gwine up to hebbin"
Depending on which book you're using at the time
Can't use theirs, it don't work, it's all lies, gotta use mine
Ain't that right?
That's what they say
Every night, everyday
Hey, we can't really be dumb if we're just following god's orders
Well let's get serious, god knows what he's doin'
He wrote this book here and the book says
"He made us all to be just like him"
So, if we're dumb, then god is dumb 
and maybe even a little ugly on the side
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side
Dumb all over, a little ugly on the side