Peter Gabriel was in Canada recently and was interviewed. He's a singer, known for being in the band Genesis. He said abortion is a hot topic, that's correct. He believes women should be allowed to kill their pre-born children, but not only that, but Canada has an obligation to pay for this in other countries.
Then Gabriel goes on to say that the only pro-life people are religious, and that he believes in a separation of "state and religion". This is a poor argument. If I said I'm against slavery and it just so happens that my religion teaches that all men are equal, would you say I'm simply expression my particular religious belief and that the government shouldn't be forced to live according to my religion?
This is a very common argument. People will say "don't force your religion on me!", "don't force your morals on me!", etc. But every law is imposition of one group's morality on another. Being against slavery is a moral stance, being for equally is also a moral stance. Banning pornography for children is also a moral stance, etc. Everything in law reflects morality. Without morality, law would not be necessary.
It's insulting to insinuate that those who are pro-life take that position because of some arbitrary ruling, no different than announcing your favorite colour or flavour of ice cream.
Even most moral relativists would not say that murder is an arbitrary moral preference, so if people believe abortion is murder, then it is only logical that they would oppose it.
If being against abortion were just a religion's arbitrary decision, there would be no such thing as pro-life atheists, but there are. Also, one must ask why most religions forbid abortion in the first place. The reason is they believe it is killing another human being. It's based on natural law, not a peculiar religious teaching.
I'm sometimes surprised how clever people seem to think they are when they simply act as a mouth-piece to fallacious canards. In Peter Gabriel's interview, he starts off taking great efforts to show his level of expertise and knowledge in this area. He shows that he understands both sides intimately, and he understands their intentions. Then he proceeds to rehash old arguments that hold little water. While doing this, he interjects a hefty dose of condescension.
Of course, he is following the well-beaten celebrity path of liberalism which advocates the culture of death. Maybe some day soon we will see more celebrities championing the cause of life.
"maybe some day soon we will see more celebrities championing the cause of life"
ReplyDeletemaybe...when satan's money and perversion is not attractive.when COOl is not popular...
this will only happen when The Church learns to be supernatural and stops struggling with sin, so much that we have finally a few Pauls, Peters, Marks, Mathews and Marys among us to go and respread The Truth...right now christians are soo lukewarm, they read Cosmo watch perverted T.V. practice yoga and dont know what sin is...and if they do, they say "Dont judge Me" or "Dont tell Me what to do" and i wont tell YOU what to do...
This will never happen, unless US Christians learn to discern, and Unlearn the worldly ways... sounds crazy right?...RIGHT !!!
Hello, I am an Australian Christian and I was a huge fan of Peter Gabriel and Genesis in my youth. Over time I have, however, learned some disturbing things about the religious views of some members of this band...
ReplyDeleteI will discuss these here. First of all, Peter Gabriel himself is a very eccentric person as anyone who has read his *authorised* biography by Spencer Bright will realise. Of course, this is also part of the appeal of his intellectual songwriting, as he looks at the world in unusual ways.
In terms of his religious beliefs, here are some quotes. I don't know if the moderator of this site allows guests to post URLs so I will just provide the quotes themselves and anyone should be able to easily find the sources I am drawing them from by Googling.
The first two quotes, from two different interviews, indicate Peter Gabriel's views on Buddhism and Christianity:
"When I’m thinking of God I’m a Buddhist, when I’m in pain and despair I’m a Christian."
"On the existence of a god, "Who knows? I think I've always been interested in spiritual things. I've never practiced much. And, I guess, Buddhism is probably the most appealing to me of the world's religions. Yet I think in moments of panic and crisis, I suddenly start praying, back to Christian roots. So that's about where I am. So in the song, 'More Than This,' I mean, I do think there is more to life than what we see in our everyday world. But I don't really know what it is, or what form it takes.""
On writing the music for the highly controversial/arguably blasphemous film, the Last Temptation of Christ, Peter Gabriel had this to say:
"If people’s faith is so weak that it can be destroyed by a film, then it really isn’t much to begin with. I think people may find themselves reviewing their own lives and their own points of view on religion as a result of the film. I’m very proud to have been a part of it."
Peter Gabriel's spiritual course has also led him down some occult paths. In one print interview I read, he talked about trying to levitate. In an online interview, he talks about attending an EST course:
"“Anyone with an open mind wanting to explore the world was drawn to that movement. There were fairly scary adventures that could change lives. Last year I met Werner Erhard [born John Paul Rosenberg, the former salesman who created the EST course]; many people feel negatively about him, but I enjoyed him enormously. The whole system he set up felt like a hard-sell American organization but if you didn’t have a year to spend in an ashram yet still wanted to shake up your life a bit, you could go for a couple of weekends and get severely challenged."
In an interview from the early Genesis days, he talks about his interest in the occult:
" ... I like a lot of occult fantasy. There's a lot of things in that area that interest meópeople in New York doing research with plant responses, and a community in Scotland supposed to be producing amazing cabbages by talking to them...
HP: You're supposed to talk to your plants ...
Peter: Dolphins. All these things. A lot of really interesting things that well not so much dolphins, but those subjects which have been branded occult or wishy washy, people are now beginning to investigate a little more seriously.
HP: Technology seems to be going hand in hand with mysticism. I don't think the people who invented the transistor in 1947 would have presumed that it would lead to a mystical relationship berween yourself and the transistor, which, at least, it has for me. Do you think mysticism is going to continue. Whether you call it occult or mysticism, that sense of the intellect growing fantasy levels. Do you think the normal person on the street is going to be affected?
Peter: The group itself is bourgeois escapism, but as far as this sort of thing, I think a lot of them will become less mystical. Kids will become school kids, will accept them for a sort of diet of... CONTINUED BELOW