The occult attacks faith
ON my way home at the weekend, after watching Bristol Rovers thump Southend United 4-2, I was walking down Gloucester Road, and all I could see were zombies.
Yes, you read that correctly, people dressed as zombies. The "undead" were walking up Gloucester Road. It was surreal, they were everywhere, and no, I'm not talking about the poor dazed Southend fans.
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The zombies were on their way to a massive pub Halloween party. It was great to see. People had gone to extraordinary lengths to dress up, some very convincingly. They were clearly enjoying themselves and bringing a smile to passers-by, even scaring a few of the younger ones, but it was all in good spirits.
It got me thinking about what I see as a sudden obsession with all things occult and supernatural. In recent years, Halloween has become increasingly popular.
Harry Potter and his ilk have joined an array of television programmes and horror films attempting to feed the seemingly insatiable fascination with contacting the dead and bringing them back to life.
Some are hunting for ghosts in the dark, scaring themselves silly in the process, as they try to convince us that the minute particle of dust we just saw moving on the night vision camera was a ghost.
Others convince members of a live TV audience that long dead uncle Garfunkel is right there in the studio, talking through the presenter.
And who can forget the immortal line from The Sixth Sense movie: "I see dead people?"
Does our fascination with the "undead" reveal our own insecurity about life? Does this fascination with bringing the dead back to life (or that we live forever in a different world much like our own, known as "the other side") reveal our fear of death?
Religion too, offers alternatives to death, but it is not fascinated by it. Death is not the central theme of the three great religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam, for example. But people today seem to be turning their backs on traditional religions in favour of their fascination with death itself, or the fear of it. The occult thrives on death.
A few incantations with the right exotic ingredients and, shazam, your dreams come true. Forget the good deeds, the life of piety, the sharing of your wealth with the poor, the kindness to strangers and all of those boring conditions of finding faith in God; just get a few frog's legs, a snake's head and the blood of a virgin and all is well. It's instant; there is no need for faith.
And if you get it wrong, a few more incantations and exotic ingredients and the occult can bring you back to life.
All of it is designed to take God out of the equation. Atheists must be overjoyed. They respond in earnest to my column every week, and I expect them to be irate this week.
Atheists proudly take God out of the equation but still allow themselves to be fascinated by the probability that little green men from another world may have brought the knowledge to build the pyramids to Earth, and by the "scientifically possible" permutations of life on other worlds. As yet, no atheist, indeed no one, has seen a little green man. But atheists believe in the possibility of little green men existing.
9 Comments
by Chris, bristol
Saturday, November 01 2008, 12:04PM
“"But atheists believe in the possibility of little green men existing."
You would be well advised to study logic Mr Siddique. What you have asserted is based on a classic error in logic.
In effect you've said that A is untrue. Some Bs believe A is true, therefore all Bs are wrong. Surely even you can see the fallacy in that argument.”
by Steven, North Bristol
Friday, October 31 2008, 12:22PM
“Jim, you;ll find more people are think for themselves and recognising the fairy stories and lies peddled by ALL religions (be they pagan, middle-eastern or spiritual) for what they are.
More people are turning their back on religious mumbo-jumbo than are turning to paganism or spiritualism.
Religion has had it's day and the deluded should not be afforded free space in which to pulicise their delusions.”
by jim, horfield
Friday, October 31 2008, 11:22AM
“perhaps the reason people are turning to pagan and spritual beliefs is that they find the 3 religions that spawned out of the middle east full of hypocricy and contractictions.......let the old gods of england rule again.......”
by Tom, Bristol
Friday, October 31 2008, 10:24AM
“Good greif, who is this idiot and why does he have his own column?
Atheists believe in the possibility of little green men existing? Do they? Your lazy generalisation aside, what point are you trying to make?
No, sorry, you don't need to BELIEVE in the possibilty of life existing on planets other than earth; the size of the universe, which we have observed according to scientific methods, makes at least the *possibilty* credible.
You believe in your god simply because your holy book tells you he exists and were (and I'm assuming here, admittedly), raised to believe by your parents.
If it was shown according to rational principles that life on other planets didn't exist then rationalists (which for you, no doubt, is what you really meant by "atheists") would review the evidence for themselves and make a judgement.
But for you, all the evidence in the world cannot shake your faith in your god. Your mind is made up!”
by Englishman, Bristol
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 6:26PM
“"Atheists must be overjoyed. They respond in earnest to my column every week, and I expect them to be irate this week."
Are you implying that you write your column to deliberately provoke those who have the mental ability to realise that there is no such thing as your God.
Show me one demonstrable fact of evidence that the world was created by anything over that evolution and then we will take you seriously.”
by Martin, Knowle,Bristol
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 1:11PM
“Of course what would really be silly would be to actually start praying to little green men or gods,or zombies(im'e told zombies might look a bit like Russell Brand).
That really would show an insecurity in life. A kind of extreme escapism.”
by Steven, North Bristol
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 12:47PM
“"Atheists proudly take God out of the equation but still allow themselves to be fascinated by the probability that little green men from another world may have brought the knowledge to build the pyramids to Earth, and by the "scientifically possible" permutations of life on other worlds. As yet, no atheist, indeed no one, has seen a little green man. But atheists believe in the possibility of little green men existing"
What on earth are you on about, Mr Siddiqui?
I am an athiest who has an identical belief in "little green men" and life on other planets as I do in the existence of an invisible frien - none.
You're attack on athiests is disingenious at best and shows how concerned religionists are about the rise in free-thinking, rationalists showing religionists deluisions for what they are.”
by Steven, North Bristol
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 12:40PM
“I feel not irateness, Mr Siddiqui, but sadness of your blinkered views.
You ignore the fact that religions are the biggest purveyors of supernaturalism. A perfect invisible entity which sees all, hears all, knows all. Yeah, right.”
by Martin, Knowle,Bristol
Tuesday, October 28 2008, 11:58AM
“No one has seen any gods either,
But I believe in the possibility that there might be one or two out there somewhere, existing, along with little green men perhaps.
No evidence for either yet though. I think he may be right in that fascinations of this sort may show an insecurity in life”