A success story for the power of religious indoctrination seemingly unable (certainly unwilling) to understand why religious privilege in the public domain is a problem in need of real and workable solutions.
I often listen to Canada’s Mother Ship on public radio (called the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and have enjoyed one of its popular shows called Cross Country Checkup, a weekly call-in program about current events. Its host, Rex Murphy, usually does a terrific job making every caller feel like he or she is contributing understanding to the topic under review. But I noticed that his thinking, which once upon a time usually analyzed and expressed complex issues very well, seemed to shut off in response to legitimate issues about the catholic church. When such issue arose, Rex then became first and foremost an across-the-board apologist for this deplorable criminal institution. I thought to myself just how insidious must be the indoctrination needed to shut down such an otherwise powerful brain. I had hoped it was a one-off area of blindness, all to familiar and so very similar to many such deeply indoctrinated people; they are simply unable to see the forest for the trees, the problems for the Church. They have never developed the neural capability.
So it was with sadness at the blindness of a powerful mind that I then I had the great misfortune to read one of the stupidest articles ever penned by Canada’s Great Curmudgeon and Pride of Newfoundland, Rex Murphy.
His article was a knee-jerk reaction with little cognitive assonance against the proposal for atheist chaplains to be allowed in the US military in order to offer services to non believers simlar to those offered religious believers. Rather than deal with the actual issues raised by looking at the accessible mission statement of the chaplain’s designated role in the US military (“The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps provides religious support to America’s Army while assisting commanders in ensuring the right of free exercise of religion for all Soldiers. In short, we nurture the living, care for the wounded, and honor the fallen“, which is perfectly in tune with a secular chaplain, let me be clear) ), Rex turned his article into a foul diatribe against what he calls ‘angry atheists’. Motivated by his misdirected anger at an ‘unmanly’ Hitchens, for exposing Mother Teresa as another religious hypocrite who promoted suffering while enjoying private planes and access to the rich and powerful and a beneficiary of their largesse, Murphy manages to smear and misrepresent not just Hitchens, not just Dawkins for good measure, which is standard operating procedure by angry religious apologists generally and christian apologists in particular, but all atheists everywhere. In his deep wisdom and erudite thinking, Murphy manages to miss the existence of the ongoing, widespread perception by the religious that atheists are of questionable character, somehow less trustworthy and probably immoral because of their non belief. Atheists experienced in this receiving this kind of discrimination from people far less educated and wise than Rex do tend to present themselves honestly as victims of this abuse and respond in various ways… like attempting to get people of no religious belief into positions once privileged for only the religious – like chaplains, for example – whose secular roles are described by ex-priest Eric MacDonald:
While it is true that, for the religious, chaplains provide the opportunity for service members to continue, during their military service, the practice of their religion, and have the comfort of their religious beliefs in the performance of duties that are often difficult and, at the sharp end, concern things which religions often concern themselves with: moral and spiritual reflection on things like being required to kill or to accept suffering and death in the performance of their duties, reflection on the suffering and death of comrades, and the reception of comfort, reassurance and counsel at moments of crisis in their lives, crisis which so often attends the performance of military duties. It is not only about church services, hymns, prayers or other forms of religious practice. Indeed, as a priest, religious ritual or belief often did not enter into the practice of ministry to those in times of crisis. To be a listening and sympathetic ear is often much more important than prayer or the sacraments.
Atheists are subject to unwarranted and ill treatment for their non belief all the time. Rex simply proves the point for us by adding his big-brained bowel movement of an article to this shit pile fertilizing not what’s true but noxious and toxic religious beliefs that blatantly discriminate against us. Imagine the audacity and ill manners of atheists to respond to this unfair and unwarranted attack of our characters with some anger. The nerve! Apparently, we just need to shut the fuck up and continue to privilege religion and the religious whether they are deserving or not. Then all will be fine and dandy according to Rex because, hey, that’s the way god’s creation should be run.
(One take-down of Rex’s slow motion fall from grace over the past several years comes from journalist Graham Templeton here, but highly negative responses come from all over, like here, here, here, and here.)
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Questionable Motives 