Blaise Pascal

The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as Paul’s epistles, portray the same recognizable man. Never have so many writers managed to convey the same impression of the same human being over and over again. Although the Gospels were written by non-professionals, they include more truth and power than Homer and Dante and Milton together. Their durability is all the more striking when one considers the secular world’s fads and fashions.

Pascal calculated the odds of eternal bliss and concluded that if one erroneously believes in God one loses nothing at the end; whereas if one correctly believes in God one gains everything, which is eternal bliss. Blaise Pascal was a mathematician and philosopher who figured out the odds, and I’m very happy he did. It means theological illiterates and shrill disbelievers are eternally damned. Publicity freaks such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris sit around and mope while I’m laughing all the way to church. People such as Dawkins have never engaged religion in a serious manner. They are shoddy self-proclaimed scholars who can only doubt and proclaim their doubts as proof of God and Christ’s absence. Give me a real scholar such as Pascal, who proved mathematically that one cannot go wrong by believing in God.

While 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God, only 35 percent in Britain do. No wonder England’s weather is so bad; even God at times plays favorites. Sophisticated Brits, especially Guardian readers, make fun of American mega-churches, but look what the C of E has done for Britain and then go find a quiet corner—if it’s possible in that bleak, overcrowded island—and cry. British churches lie empty and depressing, whereas American ones are thriving, happy places. In America the spirit of Jesus lives on, or at least is debated in the public arena. I don’t know of many places in America where one can stand up, insult Christianity, and announce the republic’s future demise through force of arms. So-called imams, those extremely ugly, hairy creatures, do that daily in Britain, then pick up their welfare checks and go to their miserable homes for pilaf. The Brits should wake up. Revert to being an English-speaking Christian nation and throw the bums out.

I wish all Taki’s Magazine readers a very happy Christmas.