Fantasy Football Fixtures Gameweek 18
GW17 was a tough one to call and saw a big divide between those that had the likes of Austin, Silva and erm… Yoshida and those that didn’t. If you were brave, clever or lucky enough to indeed captain one of the above then well done and congratulations on a probable huge rise in your overall ranking. With the fixtures coming thick and fast over the Christmas period we are going to take a look at which teams we feel will enjoy themselves and which teams may be wishing it was 2015 already.
Deadline reminder
Of all the information we are about to give you this is perhaps the most important as all the planning and preparation in the world will be of no use if you go and miss the actual deadlines themselves. There are three game-weeks in 7 days and to confuse matters further none of them are on a Saturday so pay close attention and set yourselves some reminders about the schedule –
GW18 is Friday 26th December and the deadline is 11.30am
GW19 is Sunday 28th December and the deadline is 11.30am
GW20 is Thursday 1st January and the deadline is 11.30am
In GW19 Spurs host Man Utd at 12pm so this is a rare opportunity to see the line-ups prior to the deadline if you have or are indeed considering any players from those two teams.
January Wildcard
After the above are done and dusted the Premier League takes a backseat for a week as the first weekend in January is taken up by the FA Cup 3rd round and GW21 isn’t until January 10th by which point your January wildcard will be in operation –
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And so onto the teams and fixtures themselves. Let’s begin with a very straightforward fixture tracker…
We have colour coded the fixtures in a simple fashion to allow you to judge your transfer and team selection plans accordingly:
[highlight_green]Green[/highlight_green] – We deem these to be winnable fixtures for the given team and should, in theory at least (!), harvest good fantasy points for you in the opening games. Aim to have a good nucleus of these players in your squad.
[highlight_yellow]Yellow[/highlight_yellow] – These are the fixtures that could go either way and do not stand out as being either particularly good or poor. If you have a player from a team in this category then do not be afraid to play them but take a considered view that it may or may not not be an explosive week for them.
[highlight_red]Red[/highlight_red]- These are the teams that we consider to have a difficult fixture and as such may be best avoided from a fantasy perspective. Aim to minimise any players that have a run of reds in the opening games.
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FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
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Man City – West Brom (a), Burnley (h), Sunderland (h)
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[/three_fourth]No strikers, no problem, evidently. City shrugged off the issue with ease to canter to a 3-0 victory over Palace at the weekend. Big Yaya took the cantering a bit too literally though and still looked half asleep as he thundered in his 4th goal in 6 games to kill the game off late on but it was his little mate Silva that took the main plaudits with an earlier brace. Milner assumed the forward position but was little more than distraction value as he dragged the defence out of position time and again to allow the likes of Silva and Nasri to run into the space that he created. Silva was clearly the main beneficiary on the day and we would expect that trend may continue as City have by far and away the best run of fixtures over the Christmas period. Nasri was probably their best palyer on the day but as ever he was just that and in fantasy terms he failed to register any meaningful points again. With just 3 assists all season, no goals and just one bonus point he’s an enigma worth ignoring we feel despite his on the pitch contribution.
City go to West Brom on Boxing Day in what will surely be their 7th victory on the road this season before having home comforts against Burnley and Sunderland. Burnley arrive at the Etihad having lost their last two away from home and with just 5 goals scored away from home all season. Sunderland will probably attempt their usual ‘park the bus, smash ‘n grab’ approach. All in all we would fancy City to grab at least 7-9 points from this lot and there aren’t too many other teams you could say that about over the Christmas period as most have a mixed bag of goodies.
We’ve touched on City’s ‘attack’, which is essentially now just their midfield and whereas Silva is very obvious it’s much tougher to predict their defence as rest and rotation will come into the equation for sure. Clichy was given the day off on Saturday and Kolarov was rolled out for his first game in 8 weeks and came up with an assist and a good performance to further muddy the waters. On the other side of the pitch Zabaleta was in fine form and also chipped in with his 3rd assist of the season and a total of 11 points thanks to 2 bonus points and a clean-sheet. The Argentine is City’s costliest currently available defender at £6.4m but also the one likliest to produce any attacking returns. Bacary Sagna is always waiting in the wings should Zaba be afforded a rest but with Kompany out we would expect Pellegrini will most likely want his most trusted defenders on the pitch in his absence and Zaba certainly comes into that category.
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Man Utd – Newcastle (h), Spurs (a), Stoke (a)
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[/three_fourth]Much was expected of a resurgent Utd against a generally poor and depleted Villa but a disappointing 1-1 draw was all they could muster and left many a fantasy manager scratching their heads as to why they decided that Robin van Persie was their best Aguero replacement. Form (4 goals and 2 assists prior to Villa in 4 games) and fixtures (Newcastle at home next) is probably why and whilst it may have been a bad decision in hindsight we see no reason why it won’t be a good one in the long run. Maybe. LvG has turned them around quickly and to such an extent that they sit 3rd in the table and there have even been mutterings of them actually being in the title race. Games and results like 1-1 away at Villa probably illustrate why that isn’t quite so but at least the seeds are there.
Prior to the Villa blip Utd had won 6 on the bounce and so Newcastle at home is perhaps a great opportunity to get back on the form train as Pardew’s men are without a win in their last 4 away games and have scored just twice in those. Spurs and stoke away are perhaps not ideal but neither are exactly ripping it up at home with both having lost as many as they have won at home.
The one thing Utd seemed to lack at Villa was any creativity so perhaps the 30 minute cameo from Angel Di Maria was a blessing and certainly an indication as to the way forward for them as he’s clearly a class above anything else they have to offer in that department and his return will only help the likes of RvP, who ironically he replaced on Saturday.
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QPR – Arsenal (a), Crystal Palace (h), Swansea (h)
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[/three_fourth]Ok so when we say QPR we clearly mean Charlie Austin as there is little else to like or own in their ranks and this has been evident for a while now but was hammered home at the weekend as the big man himself grabbed a hat-trick. The problem with QPR is that they are great at home and absolutely awful away. How awful? 0-8 awful. 3 goals scored awful (the least), 20 goals conceded awful (the most). And they’re away next at a team in the top 6 who have won more games at home than QPR have won all season. So why on earth are they in the favourable section?! Well because two of the next three are at home and we wouldn’t bet against Charlie being able to breach the Arsenal defence in all honesty despite the above stats.
The real reason for them being in this section lies in their home form and the two games after Arsenal are both at home and also against two teams with very poor away records. Palace have won just once on the road and scored only 4 goals away from home all season whilst Swansea have won just twice and scored only 6. Mr QPR himself has 11 goals this season and 9 of those have been at home. If you already own him we would probably play him this week regardless but if you don’t then maybe hang fire but certainly buy him ahead of GW19.
As for any other QPR players than perhaps have a look at Leroy Fer as a differential at a budget friendly £5.5m as he has a couple of goals and 4 assists but beyond that we wouldn’t bother!
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Liverpool – Burnley (a), Swansea (h), Leicester (h)
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[/three_fourth]Liverpool have failed to score more times than they have kept a clean-sheet this season. We have no idea as to what that means but it’s a fact. Possibly a useless one but a fact to consider none the less. Whilst you ponder over that nugget we shall tell you that Liverpool have a decent run ahead. You will in turn tell us ‘so what, they’re useless’. You’d be right. Possibly. They were much better in the first half against Arsenal than they have been all season though and showed flashes of the verve and passing game that very nearly took them to the title last season.
If they can replicate that then Burnley away will be no problem at all. IF. If they can replicate that then Swansea and Leicester at home will be no problem either. IF. Lot’s of IF’S, and there in lies the issue with Liverpool – we just don’t know. Sterling is a midfielder playing up top. That’s about the best we can offer you and even that comes with a warning sign – he hasn’t scored since GW5. Stay away from their defence as ever and perhaps stay away from their midfield too as nobody is putting up any consistent numbers. We’d say stay away from their attack too but they, like City, haven’t got one to speak of.
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LESS FAVOURABLE FIXTURES
Burnley – Liverpool (h), Man City (a), Newcastle (a)
In the bottom three and they probably will be come the end of the season. They almost certainly will be come 2015 in any regard given their fixture list, We can’t see them getting much from any of those games in all honesty but then again we didn’t expect George Boyd to come up with an assist at Spurs and he did just that to adorn many a bench.
West Ham – Chelsea (a), Arsenal (h), West Brom (a)
Downing has been a revelation as of late and if only he had the fixtures to go with it, he doesn’t. He’s got a realtive stinker. Away at Chelsea and then home to Arsenal, he’s got a couple of hard fixtures ahead but we wouldn’t go rushing to take him out as this isn’t West Ham of old this is a West Ham that find themselves competing at the higher end of the league and there is a reason for that. We would expect them to take the attitude of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ into these two fixtures as they did so successfully against City earlier on in the season. Two games they would perhaps expect to lose so you may just see them go for it and see what happens. The third one they would expect to win against West Brom so that’s probably the one they’ll lose. That’s football!
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GW18 Tips!
With Kop putting his feet up for Christmas we thought we would give you a quick run down on who has the best fixtures for GW18 in isolation and simply throw a few names out there as to who you may want to consider.
Arsenal (QPR, h)
Alexis Sanchez – has been a revelation this season both in reality and fantasy and leads the points total with 109 and 9 goals and 5 assists. QPR are awful away from home and we’d be surprised if Sanchez didn’t top the captains poll this week.
Also consider –
Olivier Giroud
Chelsea (West Ham, h)
Cesc Fabregas – Cesc went away to Barca as a fine footballer and seemingly came back an even better one. He may have just the 2 goals to his name but that’s backed up with 12 assists to put him on 98 points so far. We wouldn’t bet against him adding to that at home to West Ham as Chelsea are turning into a bit of a machine and we would back them against anyone at the moment.
Also consider –
Diego Costa
Everton (Stoke, h)
Leighton Baines – ! Yes we will start off this one with a big fat ‘!’. Mainly because Leighton has frustrated as of late and has retured just 6 points in his last 5 outings. Not really what you pay £7.3m for. He can seem brilliant value when he’s posting scores like 12, 10, 15 and 11 as he has done this season but they all seem a distant memory now. Perhaps Stoke at home will be an opportunity to return to that sort of form and it may be his last hurrah for many if he doesn’t but we would give him this one at least to try and change your mind.
Also consider –
Ross Barkley
Man City (West Brom, a)
David Silva – as we said above he seemed to be the main beneficiary of City’s lack of an actual srtiker and he looked to be getting into the box a lot. He’s a fine technician and has never lacked composure so if the chances keep falling to him we would fully expect he will keep taking them.
Also consider –
Yaya Toure
Man Utd (Newcastle, h)
Robin van Persie – He may have disappointed at Villa after such a fine showing against Liverpool but a home game against Newcastle feels like a Robin sort of fixture and we would expect he will be back with a bang in this one. Being on penalties also helps.
Also consider –
Angel Di Maria
Swansea (Aston Villa, H)
Wilfried Bony – An unexpected rest last time out killed many a fantasy managers spirit and upset many a well laid plan but we would expect he will be back and probably firing for this one. Perhaps and hopefully that was his ‘rest’ and he will likely play all 3 games over the Christmas period before he departs for the ACON.
Also consider –
Gylfi Sigurdsson
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GW18 Podcast
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WooFBet
Over on the WooFBet website the exclusive FF247 league is back for GW18 and has an enhanced Christmas bonanza prize pool of €247 and it is free to enter so get yourselves over there sharpish!
To enter, visit woofbet.com and sign up (no card details required). Navigate to the Tournament section and click participate on the ‘FF247 – €150 FREEROLL’ tab.
Isn’t it time your fantasy manager job finally paid off!
Who should I bring in for Brunt?
1.1 itb, 2 FT (will probably only use one)
anyone?
Thinking Henderson, Ox-Chamberlain, Larsson or Johnson.
Fer.
Walcott back means Ox should be riding the bench very soon. Johnson a great fixture this week, but then poor ones. Can you get Chadli?
Bench Brunt, play Boyd, swap out Baines, and upgrade Siggs.
A bit out of the box but it’s what I would do.
Hello and happy holidays all. This is my draft league team. Who shall I leave on the bench this week?
Rooney, Pelle, Lukaku
Fabregas, Sigurdsson, Tadic, Barkley
Jagielka, N. Taylor, Jones, Mangala
Thanks for your help.
Really struggling with my cappo choice. If I knew hazard was a nailed on starter it would be him.
This is currently my team. Any ideas on cap??
I think GIroud is a perfect captain choice. In form, great fixture.
B – he could be a huge differential this week. I would prefer to go with haz or sanchez but I’ve a feeling that they will be rested!
Who’s your pick this week mate?
See what Mou has to say in his press conf. regarding Hazard. Oh, and I hate you for more or less having the team I want to take an 8 point hit for!
What time is the chelsea presser??
Not a clue!
Mitro, if I had Sanchez I’d give him the armband quicker than a member of UKIP would close the channel tunnel.
Ha ha!! Do you think he could be rested?
Your guess is as good as mine mate. The only thing I would say is that some people have been saying Sanchez’s been in the ‘red zone’ for weeks now and he’s not been dropped yet. My advice is go with the best choice regardless of whether they ‘may’ get rested, and fall back on a safe vice captain.
Sanchez cap and Giroud vice?! Hazard and Costa also great options at home. If WH come out attacking then hazard could really have a huge game on the counterattack!
Right, after much deliberation i’ve come to a final squad set up this GW. (c) choice has been a hellish one but for the first time since i signed up to FFF, i agree with their squad optimizer. So, this is my team now, set in stone.
Chances are that i wont be on here tomorrow so if that is the case, have a good day everyone and go easy on the miracle whip. Pfffft…yeah right 😉
NIN – looks great mate. I still haven’t decided on my cappo yet.
Any news on hazard??
Have a great xmas buddy
Thanks Mitro, have a good one yourself mate :thumbup:
), and have decided on Alexis. Even if he doesn’t score a goal or two there’s still great potential for a bunch of assists vs dodgy away side like the R’s.
Hazard seems to have said that he is fine to play but it may not work out like that. Bry posted a link in one of the below posts.
I’ve been weighing up the odds this morning and last night too (about 5 hours worth last night! Insomnia is a bitch
Merry Christmas from Japan. Don’t let the fact that it’s a buddhist country and I’m an atheist paint that salutation in an ingenuous light. Or even the fact I despise Christmas.
So even if Hazard is fit for the next game, which he probably will be, it’s hard to feel sure he won’t be in the starting XI, huh. Jose said everyone would be rested at some stage and I can’t see a better time for Hazard than now.
disingenuous.. even.
Howdy Bry. I’m not a fan of the Christmas period either as i am in no way religious and really dislike the whole consumerism aspect of it all. The sight of people breaking themselves for shit they don’t need has always bothered me. Oh well. Each to their own. Out of interest, how is atheism received in Japan? Here in Ireland it can often lead to being looked at as if there were a 15 inch flute hanging from your nose! Crazy, in this day and age, eh?
Re Hazard, i think he will play if he is fit enough as WHU are solid opposition this season and the little Belgians pace and directness could prove vital in securing 3 points. I’d love to (c) him this GW but there’s one too many question marks over this fixture, for me. Have you decided on your cappo yet?
Hey NIN. It’s fine being an atheist here because Buddhists generally don’t believe in a God either.
I fit right in.
I’m wondering whether this will be Hazards ‘one’ game rest, and then put back in at Southampton. But who knows what Jose will do!
Y’know I still haven’t decided my (c). It’s on Hazard at the moment. I might risk keeping it on him and then hoping that if he’s not in the team, he won’t be brought on at all. I might risk the (vc) with Siggy as he should be fresh after his ‘rest’. It’s a tough one.
Interesting. I always wondered how it would go down with Buddhists, as opposed to Christians or Muslims etc. It’s refreshing to know that there are some countries out there that don’t look down on those who aren’t superstitious, or, “invisible man” worshipers
Good stuff.
Sigurdsson is an interesting choice. I’ve actually moved him on this GW. Yikes. I’m going to play it safe and go with Sanchez, along with the masses.
Hm, I thought Shinto was the biggest religion in Japan?
I live in America where atheists are the most distrusted minority and we apparently are comparable to Stalin and Pol Pot as we all “lack a moral center” because we don’t have a religion. Amazingly enough. this is usually coming from people who would kick their kids out unto the street if they are gay, which is apparently more moral than being atheist. Oh well, at least I spend Christmas in Norway which is possibly the least religious country in the world. Just such a shame that my family is Christian fundies :goombah:
Hi Teks. I’m no expert so i could well be wrong, but i think the Shintoists make up a small percentage of the population over there.
I can only imagine what it can be like in America when the topic of religion arises. The comparisons to the likes of Stalin crack me up. It’s such a ridiculous statement and one i always like to follow with “well, what about Hitler and the Third Reich then?”. The conversation usually ends there, which is a shame.
Is Norway really one of the least religious countries in the world? I’ve never really thought about religion in Scandi land. I plan on visiting Scandi land quite a bit over the coming years and this news just makes me even more excited!
NIN, Hitler is often mentioned in the same category as Stalin and Pot as many people here think he was atheist. Apparently it’s unthinkable for a Christian to be a mass-murderer, thus he must be athiest. Don’t think they know a lot about European history here. What really surpised me once was when a group of Pagans and Buddhists I know started bashing on atheists, especially how “arrogant” we are. It’s almost expected that you have a religion, and it’s much better to be Pagan or Muslim than athiest. “It doesn’t matter what you believe, you just gotta believe in something!”
As for Norway, religion only serves a traditional role here, by that I mean that it is very common to get married in church or baptize your kids in church, but most people that do this aren’t religious. We’re actually very distrustful of religion and it is not socially acceptable to be vocal about your religious views in public – if you’re religious, you keep it to yourself. If a child is religious, most other children would find that weird as it’s so uncommon. I actually know someone who was bullied for admitting he was Christian when he was young. I think only about 5% of Norwegians deny evolution, which is about 50% (!) or something in the US. Norway is probably one of the best countries to live in for nonreligious folk.
Not all Christians are fundamentalist about faith, but I can see your point. Your criticism is very deserved at some points. Many Christians wouldn’t kick their kids out into the street if they are gay, though, just the Fox-News and Rush Limbaugh crowd
Some of us actually try to live like Jesus actually wants us to. 
Also, I think everyone has a “moral center”, whether religious or not. I choose mine to be Jesus. If you choose something else then that’s up to you. Just like you, I think I’m making the right choice. 
Some Christians are pushy about their faith just like some atheists are pushy about their lack of faith. It’s a shame that a loud vocal portion of Christians paints all in a bad light.
Pancho – I sense a really interesting conversation brewing here, which is a shame as i have to log off shortly. I have a couple of questions about your post, if you wouldn’t mind giving a little more insight. I’m not interested in attacking anyones faith but i am infinitely interested in religion, although i do not believe any of it to be true.
Q1 – You stated that ‘everyone has a moral center whether religious or not’. If this is the case, then why label your own human instinct with Jesus or any other religious figure or organization? If it’s already there, then…..
Q2 – ‘Some of us actually live like Jesus wants us to’. How literal do you mean this to be? I’ve read the Christian Bible and there are numerous sections where brutality, oppression of women and non’believers, murder and rape are not only mentioned, but ordered by God. If one were to live like Jesus wanted them to -by the word of the bible- then surely these sections fall under that world outlook.
Just to finish off, those questions can be morphed together. If we all have a moral center whether religious or not, yet the bible preaches such inhumane and terrible things, then i would lean toward the thinking that whoever wrote these words didn’t have the best of intentions for human kind, which leads me to believe that humans wrote it, as we humans as a whole are an abomination.
Great questions! Of all the places to have these conversations I didn’t expect them on FF247. I guess it’s true that football is life!
Q1 – I think we all choose a moral center. As a Christian I think that we are all created with a need/desire for something bigger than us (God). I think that we all make choices about what we fill that need/desire with. I think that what we fillet with ends up being our moral center.
Q2 – yeah, there is a lot of craziness in the Bible, especially the Old Testament! As a basis for discussion, i believe that Bible is a recording of God’s relationship with humanity, not just a record of God’s activity and teaching. Thus, it is full of people making choices, some that follow the will of God and some that don’t. We learn as much from people’s mistakes as from them getting it right. Thus, rape is never ordered by God in the Bible. Second, women are oppressed by people in the Bible, but God doesn’t order people to oppress them. There are definitely times of war and brutality in the Bible, but isn’t that life? I would be more worried by a religious/historical book that didn’t have that stuff to be honest. The Bible tells of God fighting with his people, Israel, against those who would “water down” their faith and culture because God had a plan and a purpose for Israel. But the basis for God’s relationship with his people is his relationship with Abraham where he says that he will make Abraham’s descendants a blessing to every nation and every people. The story of Jesus is the fulfillment of that for Christians, as Jesus comes from Abraham’s descendants and is believed to be the one who saves us from a world that is broken because of imperfect human actions. All that God does is working toward unbreaking what is broken, including all human relationships with one another and with God.
So there is obviously so much more to this than a FF247 conversation board can afford us, but I think your questions are super legit and worthy of a ton of thinking. As a Christian I need to not just mindlessly accept the stories of the Bible. I need to wrestle with who I believe God is and what I believe God’s purpose throughout the past, present, and future. I seek to live like Jesus in that I try to understand what God’s purpose is in our world and then participate with the mission of God. It’s not black & white, which is why there are differing opinions within faith, but each of us is tasked with doing our best to understand how Jesus wants us to live and then being faithful to that. i don’t do it perfectly, but I try to do it as well as possible. Thanks for the Qs!
Sorry to anyone else on here not interested in this conversation
I only went away for a few hours, what on earth happened!
I’m well aware that there are many different types of Christians, I just gave the gay kids thing as an example as the ones who actually considers atheists to be as bad as Stalin and Pot are probably the ones who would be capable of doing such a thing towards their own children. I’m well aware not everyone are like that. You should, however, remember that the ones who kick their kids unto the street for being gay do so because they think it’s correct according to their religion, so they would think that they live how Jesus wants them to just as much as you do.
And no, atheists who are pushy about their atheism are in no way “just like” Christians or other religious people who are pushy about their faith. If you’re a “militant” atheist, you hold lectures, write books etc that criticize religion like Dawkins and Hitchens. That’s your most “extreme” atheists right there. The most extreme religious people fly planes into buildings, kill and torture nonbelievers, oppress women etc. You might say that they are just a minority. but this happens every time religious people have political power; it was like that in Europe when the church was in charge, and it happens in the Middle-East today. It’s not just a bad portion of religious folk when it is so common.
As for morality, that’s really just something we people have made up. Your “morality” is mostly determined by your parents, the values of the society you grow up in, your personality etc. For example, if your parents raised you to be Christian, you will be so biased towards Christianity it really isn’t a choice if you “choose” to be Christian. If you grow up in the west you’ll also be biased towards Christianity since it’s the largest religion, ie if you get a terminal disease and turn to religion for comfort, it will most likely be Christianity due to this bias. The free-will aspect of morality is very weak, but we humans are very biased when it comes to overrating our freedom of judgement; we like to think that we make unbiased and neutral choices, but our choices are mostly governed by subconscious aspects (naive realism). In our scientific world, where humans are regarded as mechanical animals rather than unique, divinely created beings, most religions’ view of morality is vastly outdated, which implies that these views are created by humans and the society of the time rather than some divine being.
I see where you’re coming from, but the fact that many people turn away from their parent’s faith when they get to an age of making their own decisions means that your deterministric way of thinking (parents dictate your beliefs) isn’t really that accurate. It may create a tendency in us, but there is a point in life where we choose to either agree or disagree with them. At that point (and other times of transition) we choose the basis for our life choices (religion, atheism, or something else), which is really what is at the bottom or “moral center”. Atheism puts me at the center or morality. Religions put God or some other being at the center of morality.
Also, you may not experience atheists who are pushy, but i have encountered plenty. I just seek to not perpetuate the stereotype of pushy Christians that some create. Also, corrupt leaders throughout history have used any belief system they could get their hands on (including religion) in order to excuse or justify their actions. This doesn’t mean that religion leads people to do this. What it reveals is that nothing is incapable of being corrupted by people.
What I find hard to justify in atheism is the acknowledgment on one hand that people are unable to do good, and on the other hand declaring that there is nothing above me in the “hierarchy” of life. So everything in existence sucks at doing good things? Some thoughts on this would be very welcome.
Good thoughts Tekno. Thanks!
Yes, many who are raised religiously does not follow their parents’ religion, but that is because the influnce from their parents is merely one of many influences. I myself was raised religiously, but I am a very strong atheist currently. I stopped believing when I graduated from primary school, and this was mainly because I was the only “Christian” among all the people I spent time with. In other words, while the influence of religion was strong in my home, it was natural to not be religious in my surroundings, and the influnce from the surroundings was stronger than the influence from my parents. Your parents are the strongest influence as a young child, but the sociological context is a stringer influence during adolescence. Also, I have a very scientific and rational personality which leads me to be very skeptical and distrust that which cannot be proven or seen. It is very difficult for someone like me to have “faith.” Both my personality and my surroundings are influences beyond my control, so I have not “chosen” to be an atheist, but this is rather the product of influences beyond my control. You can say that people can reflect about religion and make their choices in that way, but the way we think is determined by sociological context and personality, both things we don’t choose ourself. While I realize the idea that humans have free will is essential to Christianity, what science has revealed about human nature strongly conflicts with the focus on free will in Christianity, which is one of the main reasons for why I am fairly certain that Christianity is a man made religion.
As for atheists, I never stated that I don’t experience pushy atheists or that they don’t exist (I could easily be regarded as a pushy atheist myself), but rather that even the “worst” atheist (Dawkins, Hitchens) would not be as bad as possibly a common religious individual in certain places (Iran, Saudi Arabia). While some leaders, such as Hitler, have used religion to justify their actions, it cannot be disputed that religion is and has been a great cause for violence. Morality in Christianity, Islam etc is defined as obedience to God’s will, while sin is defined as rebellion to God’s will. For example, Muhammad was married to a child, ordered adulterers to be stoned to death, killed nonbelievers and similar, which means that all of this is possible from an Islamic perspective. It’s not possible for an atheist to justify stoning someone to death for having different beliefs than them, but it is possible for a Muslim to do it. If you removed their religion, their basis for stoning would be removed. Hence, without religion, these acts would not be committed. To what extent religion is a source of violence is probably determined by how influental religion is; the more influental the religion, the more violence committed in the religions name can be justified. There is no greater justification than saying “it’s God’s will,” and this is even stronger if the religion includes threats of punishment for those that disobeys God’s will. You could perhaps say that religion offers the greatest potential for abuse (with religion-like ideologies such as Nazism and Communism in second), but is it really abuse if one believes one is merely doing one’s religious duty by following God’s will? Just look at Abraham; he was about to kill his own son because God told him to. This is a celebrated event in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, because you’re supposed to do whatever God commands you to, even if that involves murdering your own child.
I am slightly confused by the latter part of your comment. Atheism merely means lack of belief in, or denial of, the existence of Gods. Hence, it is not really a philosophy, ideology, or belief system, and I am confused as to why you claim it acknowledges that people are “unable to do good,” and “declaring that there is nothing above me in the ‘hierarchy’ of life.” If an atheist has such opinions, it is their personal opinions, and not a consequence of their atheism. Atheism makes no claims, other than “I deny the existence of God,” or “I don’t believe in God.” The closest thing you get to an atheist philosophy is humanism, and that philosophy has a much stronger focus on kindness, empathy, and respect for other creatures (all things that can be regarded as “good”) than any religion I’m familiar with.
Interesting discussion there lads. Just read through it all and glad I did. Its a topic that can cause much heated debate so I thank you for the honest and constructive way you all put forward your views!
And whether a believer or not, have a Happy, Peaceful and Joyful Christmas!
This post’s discussion on religion is one of the most civil and friendly as I’ve seen or heard anywhere; kudos to the intelligence and rationale of the writers … keep going. And just for the record, I was like whhhaaatt? at first too.
So, captain Silva this GW then?
Ok so looks like Hazard is ok, Sigurdson returns but has been out of form lately. Thinking I may just do Jagielka -> Clichy. Should I consider anything else for -4pt? Costa is very expensive for his current output.
Forgot my lineup above
I think Clichy is risky in that he’ll probably alternate with Kolarov for the time being. He’ll probably be in the next game, but Kolarov was pretty impressive against Palace and deserves his place too.
I’d go for Zab as a City defender.