Not ‘trying’

Rugby star refuses to play on the Sabbath

This isn’t a new story, but it’s the first time it was brought to my attention when I happened to catch the sport on BBC News this morning, mainly because it was on in the background. Not that I have much interest in the sport news, but when I heard a key player was not playing in an important upcoming match because of his Christian beliefs, it caught my attention and I looked into the original story.

In a nutshell, Northampton and Scotland rugby international Euan Murray has explained why his faith led him to quit playing on Sundays. However, it’s not Mr Murray that is the issue here, it’s the thinking behind such religious people as he is not the first sports person to refuse to play on the Sabbath.

More recently reported in the Guardian, an older article in Scotland’s Daily Record is the source of some interesting quotes attributed to Mr Murray, for example:

“It’s basically all or nothing, following Jesus. I don’t believe in pick ‘n’ mix Christianity. I believe the bible is the word of God, so who am I to ignore something from it? I might as well tear out that page then keep tearing out pages as and when it suits me. If I started out like that there would soon be nothing left.”

After that quote, all you seasoned atheists out there will know what’s coming next. Which is, if the word of God dictates not working on the Sabbath and it’s “all or nothing”, etc., why are such devout followers not out stoning to death adulterers and homosexuals, or suffering numerous other biblical abominations to go unpunished?

“Pick ‘n’ mix Christianity” is exactly what we see everywhere. That is, how often do Christians invoke biblical edicts when it suits them, only to be found ignoring others when it doesn’t?

Of course, the most amusing thing to atheists about religious people quoting from the Bible to justify why they will or won’t do something, is that it almost always highlights how little they know about their own religion and scripture. Most competent atheists can run rings around religious apologists because they’ve actually read the relevant texts with a critical eye, not just been told which bits to follow blindly by clergy.

I could mention that the Sabbath falling on a Sunday for Christians is arbitrary and could have been chosen to fall on any other day of the week, just as the days of the week could have been differently arranged on another timescale. However, that’s another topic of discussion. The point is, this just demonstrates closed thinking and indoctrination. If you really need a day off to devote to your god or religion, at least have the sense to realise you can do this anytime.

Do read the rest of the article in the Daily Record, it gets better – or worse – depending on your viewpoint.