10.28
While trying to get some info on the upcoming Rush album, I stumbled upon the following quote by their drummer Neil Peart. He is speaking about “faith” as the main theme of their upcoming album:
’I tried hard to look at it as a subject – what’s good about it – and tried to balance that against what I saw as not being a good thing,’ said Peart, noting his experience as a Canadian living in the United States for the past six years has given him a unique perspective on world events. ’All we’re seeing, especially in the world today, is a very malevolent kind of faith, in fundamentalism of all kinds, on both sides. One of the lines I use in the new songs equates Middle East and Middle West, because this stuff is going on in both localities, although both would probably be insulted by the comparison.”
–Neil Peart, Macleans.ca
I could go on and on about the problems I see with Peart’s worldview, but this statement was a little surprising even for him. I have to wonder what he means by “this stuff is going on in both localities”. What exactly is “this stuff”? Nothing in my Christian faith gives me the slightest inclination to hate muslims. I’ll tell you what does give me the inclination to hate muslims though: when they chop American reporters and construction workers heads off. But that has nothing to do with my faith. If by “this stuff” he means “malevolent” faith then he is ignorant of the facts or just doesn’t want to see them. Equating a faith that prays for muslims to change with a faith that sends peoples heads home in baskets for changing is naive.
But here again, I just don’t understand why he is trying to equate strife between east and west with Christianity vs. Islam. When have we even heard Christianity mentioned in the whole middle eastern mess, except that time that the American state department stepped in to try and stop Afghanistan from executing a convert to Christianity. I don’t remember any such reciprocal action ever being needed.When he says “both would probably be insulted by the comparison” he is right. The difference is when the muslim mob in Europe and the middle-east get insulted they riot, kill cops, stab documentary film-makers to death in the street, blow up car bombs, etc. When Christians get insulted we just take it on the chin like we have been for the last 2000 years.
He goes on:
“I don’t need it in my life, is the way I would put it,” Peart said of faith. “But I see other people who do and other people for whom it’s definitely a positive sort of reinforcement of a kind of solace and those are all good things.”
–Neil Peart, Macleans.ca
Here we go again with the same old refrain that some people “need” religion to make them feel better. Let’s see, what would make me feel better is polka-dotted fairies, so I think I’ll believe in them so I’ll indeed feel better. Like anyone believes in something they know is false just to make themselves feel better. That’s not just unadulterated arrogance. It’s impossible. You can’t believe in something you know is not true. That’s not how the human mind works Neil.
I generally stay away from people who set themselves up a notch higher than everyone else, based on some intellectualism. They are usually the biggest hypocrites you will meet. Neil speaks of “malevolent” faith, as if the ultimate good is just to be happy and nice to everyone without actually “believing” in anything. Yet, if you read his books, it becomes evident that he looks down his nose in judgement at half the population. My advice to that kind of person is just to go on and live your life how you want, and leave the moral judgements to those that don’t think of themselves too highly.
