Category: Religion

CIA, Conspiracy Theory, Islam, Neoconservatism, Neoliberalism, Politics, Religion, US Empire, War

Review: The Lost Hegemon – Whom the Gods Would Destroy by F. William Engdahl

I have stated before my view that Islam and Muslims are not the problem but rather that religion is used as a tool by those in power as a way of manipulating ordinary people to act in their interests. My article Thoughts on the Nature of the God Construct expands on this idea in terms of how the image and nature of the god that the elites present to us for our worship reveals something of their agendas and efforts to shape society for their own benefit.

Lost hegemon

F. William Engdahl’s book, The Lost Hegemon: Whom the Gods Would Destroy goes much further in examining how radical Islam has been deliberately shaped and promoted as a tool by Western elites as a way of establishing and maintaining control over the Middle East and then as a weapon against the USSR. Since the end of the Cold War, this tool has been resurrected and used to break up Yugoslavia, destabilise Chechnya and then deployed against a succession of Arab and African states with the ultimate aim of conquering and harnessing the rising powers of Russia and China.

Continue reading “Review: The Lost Hegemon – Whom the Gods Would Destroy by F. William Engdahl” →

Economics, Islam, Judaism, Muslims, Neoconservatism, Neoliberalism, Religion, US Empire, Zionism

Thoughts on the nature of the god construct

Quora is a strange place where people pose a variety of questions on all sorts of topics. Many of the questions are from a range of people, some genuinely asking questions to find answers and others trolling for angry responses or merely the bored who incite earnest replies from the more serious minded for a laugh. Quora must have me profiled as an atheist because I tend to get a lot of questions and answers in my feed related to religious questions. Many of these seem to be from the religiously minded who seem to pose leading questions that appear to be aimed at encouraging atheists to give up their ignorant ways and see the light – a sample of such questions from my Quora feed as I write this include the following gems:

  • As an atheist, who will you turn to in your hour of need? Will you just accept your fate willingly without any additional source of hope?
  • As an atheist, why is it hard to believe in a superior being?
  • Why would an atheist suggest that more people should read the Bible?
  • What is the psychology behind atheism? What motivates people to believe in atheism?
  • Is atheism and agnostic the same thing or are they similar?
  • As an atheist, what would it take to convince you of God? Think about your answer more before you just say “evidence”. What specific evidence could be only attributed to God that would convince you of God?

Continue reading “Thoughts on the nature of the god construct” →

Australia, CIA, Islam, Muslims, Neoliberalism, Politics, Refugees, Religion, US Empire

Are Muslims and Islam the problem?

As an atheist the Islam question, the role of Islamic militants and the spread of Islamic practice through migration are thorny questions  for me. The last thing I am keen to see is a resurgence of religiosity of any stripe in our society and consequent infestation of the legal system with religiously inspired laws. Frankly, we have spent the last 200 hundred years getting rid of the Christian influence and it would be a shame to see all of that lost though a similar set of laws from 14th century Islamic culture being imported in its place.

That said, religion is, and always has been, a tool of the powerful to corral and control the masses.  It is used to separate people from each other and provide the ideological mechanisms necessary to justify a small group retaining power over a larger majority, from whom they can extract wealth and use to expand their operations to conquer and take over the resources of neighbouring / competing elites (in country and internationally). Continue reading “Are Muslims and Islam the problem?” →