Random Rants, Raves and Ramblings
- Well done to the Tories
- Covid Policy in 500 Words
- The EU headscarf ruling, or how to undercut your own argument.
- How Great Would This Be?
- A Jet-Lagged R4
- Idée Fixe
- My Rejected Submission for "Thought for the Day"
- A Sense of Proportion
- My missed career as a theologian.
- Big increase in the price of paper ahead.
- Never as planned
- Wat de mens gescheiden heeft
- Found on an old hard drive
- Any sufficiently advanced technology
- "For A Successful Life"
- QTFVP
- Awash with rage
- Watch, anyone?
- Stand Up for What You Believe in, or Maybe Not
- Convert Now, Before You Change Your Mind
- That Time of Year
- Group Smarts
- The Final Copernican Revolution
- The Long March
- Dalton's Beetle
- No problem
Stand Up for What You Believe in, or Maybe Not
In 1633, Galileo Galilei was tried for advocating the view that the Earth revolved around the Sun, rather than vice versa. The court demanded that he take back his ideas. Galileo would not budge and as a result, spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Galileo was steadfast in his beliefs, and stood up for them.
In 2006, a man in Kiev made his way into the lion pit of the local zoo, proclaiming that God would protect him. He was eaten. The unnamed man was steadfast in his beliefs, and stood up for them.
Whether standing up for one's beliefs is an act of bravery or foolishness depends on the substance of those beliefs in a fundamental way. There is nothing inherently laudable about steadfastness.
Tuesday 18 October 2011