In an otherwise decent review of the new Sky Documentaries show 7/7: homegrown terror in The Guardian I am drawn to certain comments made by the reviewer Jack Seale. He begins: ‘It’s 20 years since 52 innocent victims and four suicide bombers died in the 7 July terror attacks on London.’ And so it is. Technically, he is correct but there is one aspect that I disagree with, which is the term ‘suicide bombers‘. That is what these men literally were but I feel we should put it straighter than that. They were suicide murderers, killing people, they felt, in the name of their God.
I am not expert when it comes to the religious texts adhered to by these scumbag murderers. Whether it’s their interpretation of the Qu’ran or, as they say their perverse interpretation, it really doesn’t matter. The truth is that without the existence of religious superstition, this time of the islamic variety, 52 innocent victims and four suicide murderers would still be alive today.
The reviewer then refers to one Thelma Stober. The previous day, 6h July 2005, it had been announced that Britain had won the bid to stage the Olympic Games in 2012 and she worked on the project. The next day, she decided on a non-working day to go to the office. Then the suicide murderers struck. Ms Stober, happily, was not among the victims but Seale explains more about her: “She talks of the guilt she felt as a Christian as she struggled to escape, when she would have liked to have been able to help others.”
I find that a strange thing to say. The guilt that comes with being a Christian? Why would that be, then, and why would an atheist not feel the same way? Or is there a suggestion that some people do good things, not because they want to do good things, but in order to please God and – who knows? – wants to be rewarded for it? I am genuinely perplexed by that. I like to think I do good things because that is who I am. If I had been in Ms Stober’s position and staggered to safety where would my guilt come from because I am sure I would feel it? I reckon in general it’s because people of ‘faith’ must judge their actions by what they think their supernatural creator would think about them. I am not sure why I do good things. The only people I want to please are those I am helping in one way or another.
But let’s have some sympathy for Ms Stober. She lost a leg in those murderous attacks. She is a victim, albeit a survivor. In all the noise and dust in the darkness post bombing, a woman having her leg blown off should not feel remotely guilty for not helping others, God or no God. The emotional trauma would have been right up there with the physical. The only people who should have felt guilty about what happened were the cowardly murderers and anyone who aided and abetted them in their evil actions.
I happen to believe that as an atheist I am no better a person than a believer and vice versa. I believe also that we do good things because generally good people do. If you happen to think God loves you more because you do something good, or will make a note for the day when you ascend towards the Pearly Gates to make sure St Peter doesn’t mess you about, that’s a matter for you.
I will carry on doing good things as I am sure you will too, my loyal reader, because that’s the kind of people we are. I happen to think God doesn’t give a toss about what you do on the simple grounds that he isn’t there and even if I am wrong (I’m not), he can judge me when I shuffle off my mortal coil and despatch me either to heaven or hell. Having enjoyed Lucifer so much on Netflix and Prime, the latter could be my best bet. And let’s face it, the God who’s supposedly in charge of our world isn’t doing much of a job, is he?
