Politicians who consult God...

[Dayman]

Apparently, according to this article, Tony Blair has come out saying that he consulted God on making decisions that could affect the world. So I can see how he and GW got along, they both phoned the Big Man upstairs to make decisions.

Am I the only person who thinks that this is one of the scariest things possible? A world leader that consults God before making their decisions? This may seem harmless at first, since many people do that in making everyday choices, but, for the most part, those choices are not important enough to influence anything that matters. And not everyone's god is the big old friendly dad that westerners are accustomed too, some people's god is very warlike or intolerant. George Bush (the first) once said that "No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God." That is pretty damn ignorant, but stuff like this gets worse. What about Iran? They make their decisions based on what god tells them.

To be honest, a politician in an important position who claims to rely on God to make decisions betrays the population (in western governments anyway). Why? They don't do what is best for the people, but what their God (which is 99% likely to be themselves) says.

[Bokks]

Well, Tony Blair isn't exactly a poster boy for American government because... well...
= ... as least not as much as people would like to say it does.

More on point, consulting God, or any god, is a very time honored thing.
Besides, you have to think about what "consulting" means, if it's just a euphamism to "search inside oneself" then I imagine a lot more people do it than many would like to admit.

We all also need to remember that politicians are people too, and they are likely to be as religious as their neighbors.
It's only when God starts responding to the questions that we need to worry...

[Gary88]

tony tony tony, i have now lost all respect for you.


if you can't make up your own damn mind asking the advice of your invisible friend is probably not going to save the day.


also does this prove
a) God hates tony blair
b)God hates Iraq
c) God is a ****ing moron
d) Tony Blair can't even take God's advice

[Centurion-Lucius-Vorenus]

tony tony tony, i have now lost all respect for you.


if you can't make up your own damn mind asking the advice of your invisible friend is probably not going to save the day.


also does this prove
a) God hates tony blair
b)God hates Iraq
c) God is a ****ing moron
d) Tony Blair can't even take God's advice

I think someone needs a time-out

[Farnan]

So what if they pray?

If you don't believe in God all that means is that they are actually thinking of the problem and spending time internally debating the decision.

[removeduser_487563287433]

You make it sound like Blair sought divine guidance on decision making which is simply not true.

[Farnan]

Yea, if the article said, "Tony Blair calls Anglican Archbishop before every decision." Then I can see your problem. All that is now happening is that he prays about decisions, which is no problem at all.

[Dayman]

You make it sound like Blair sought divine guidance on decision making which is simply not true.

That's what it sounded like to me, perhaps I was a little overzealous, I've been up all night writing a paper on atheism.

Yea, if the article said, "Tony Blair calls Anglican Archbishop before every decision." Then I can see your problem. All that is now happening is that he prays about decisions, which is no problem at all.

But there is a distinction, prayer before making a decision is one thing, but what about actually claiming God has told you to do something, and applying that to international politics.

[Kritias]

To tell you the truth I find these statements as a way to give the infallible to some politicians.Why?Because if they are instructed by God to act in a concrete way,then their acts are the only right thing to do.Fortunately,in the western countries(US and Europe's countries)that trend is not as widely used as it is in the religious states of Middle East where the opinion of the spiritual leaders is the law of God to the simple people.
However,if you ask about the morality of such a claim i believe that at 90% its just a political trick to obtain more voters.Lets face it: Religions still have a grip to millions and millions of people so an unethical figure could say: "why not abuse their faith to get me in office?".When this is the case then its a pretty safe practice - Unethical;yes.But safe. However,there can be individuals who are totally unethical,power hungry or simply not mentally stable; They may claim the same thing - that God is giving them orders. I believe that from that point onwards the matter becomes dangerous; Don't you think that its a scary thought if a Hitler-like figure claimed that God had commanded him to wipe out a nation?

[Farnan]

To tell you the truth I find these statements as a way to give the infallible to some politicians.Why?Because if they are instructed by God to act in a concrete way,then their acts are the only right thing to do.Fortunately,in the western countries(US and Europe's countries)that trend is not as widely used as it is in the religious states of Middle East where the opinion of the spiritual leaders is the law of God to the simple people.
However,if you ask about the morality of such a claim i believe that at 90% its just a political trick to obtain more voters.Lets face it: Religions still have a grip to millions and millions of people so an unethical figure could say: "why not abuse their faith to get me in office?".When this is the case then its a pretty safe practice - Unethical;yes.But safe. However,there can be individuals who are totally unethical,power hungry or simply not mentally stable; They may claim the same thing - that God is giving them orders. I believe that from that point onwards the matter becomes dangerous; Don't you think that its a scary thought if a Hitler-like figure claimed that God had commanded him to wipe out a nation?

Then people in that religion won't believe him. Just because he says God wanted him to do something doesn't make it true. Only in nations where the political figure is also a religious figure is this dangerous.

[Bokks]

Yeah, Gaivs, that's definately happened before...

[sephodwyrm]

I can't access the article.
But is it wrong for Tony Blair to COME OUT IN THE OPEN and CONFESS that he consulted God?
Over what matter?
Which God did he consult?
Beelzebub? Zeus? Thor? Athena? Aphrodite? Janus?

OK, even if he did, this sounds like a man that brags about his faith. And God doesn't like braggarts.

[Bokks]

Well, technically speaking Beelzebub is more of an anti-god, not really much of a figure or a force but a ... feeling, if you will. His name which means "Lord of the Flies" doesn't really mean he's a lord or figure, Jews generally (well, Rabbis) define him as a feeling of ill will and horrible desire. Closest thing to a devil that there is in Judaism, but not really a devil per-say.
Anyway, I do agree with you, as I usually do. There is no real issue with "consulting god" I would say, though, that should a politician do so I imagine that that politician thinks it's the best thing they can do. Barring the leader who'd takes any god's message as saying "kill 'em all", such a politician would generally be a good thing to have.

[sephodwyrm]

To be fair, I would take George Bush's God inspired Crusade as a crime against humanity.
I put in Beelzebub because the name is really funny.

Trick is we have to bring him to court first.

[Bokks]

To be fair, I would take George Bush's God inspired Crusade as a crime against humanity.
I put in Beelzebub because the name is really funny.

Trick is we have to bring him to court first.

Bring God or Bush to court?
That reminds of that Simpsons' episode where Lisa was Joan of Arc and God was present at the trial .. "Well, I never expected both of you to be in the same room, together"

Maybe that's where the differences of Muslims and Christians come from!

I think someone needs a time-out

I think we all do.

[infernocanuck]

The main argument against Mr. Blair's praying seems to be an ad hominum argument, mostly. Unless Mr. Blair, or any other political leader actually says, "We must do -blank- because God told me too." or "God Wills It", then it's not an issue.

[Thanatos]

Fine with me, as long as he doesn't claim he's doing God's Will in XYZ action.

[Gary88]

Fine with me

he didn't run your country...then again you have bush who probably does claim its gods will

i am still not comfortable that our prime ministers religion was a big influence on his decision to go to war.

[sephodwyrm]

i am still not comfortable that our prime ministers religion was a big influence on his decision to go to war.

It probably wasn't.
But he's trying to appease a certain section of the population by appearing so.
And no he wasn't trying to appease you, obviously.
(please don't tell me you're appeased with the lie that he consulted God about anything...we both know he consulted thin air).

[Safekeeper]

Fine with me, as long as he doesn't claim he's doing God's Will in XYZ action.

Ditto here.