Basic, basic, basic maths Nr 67

I’m writing this just after St Patrick’s day. Everyone knows he was the patron saint of Ireland, but not as many know how he got that title.

According to legend, he managed to explain the Christian doctrine of the trinity by comparing it to a shamrock (a clover leaf). „You see,” he said, „it’s like this. One leaf is the Father, another is the Son, and another is the Holy Spirit. Put them together and they are one, even though there are three of them.” Or something like that. The legend continues that his audience were so amazed that something so complicated could be explained so simply that Ireland became a Christian country.

The trouble is, it doesn’t work. For those who are unfamiliar with religious nonsense, here is the official explanation of the trinity: The Father is fully God, and separate from the Son (who is also fully God) and separate from the Holy Spirit (ditto). Each one is not part of God but fully God. Together they are also God. It is heresy to say that any of the three are not fully God, and heresy to say that there are three Gods.

You don’t need a university degree in theology (although I’ve got one myself) to see that this is stupid and illogical. On the one hand there are three things that are each God and each separate from each other. That’s the same as saying there are three Gods. On the other hand you have to say that there is only one God, not three. Christians like to call this a paradox or a mystery. It’s not. It’s a contradiction.

„Aha!” says the believer. „Maybe that’s just the simple explanation, like the simple model of an atom you get at school, and when you study it further you get an explanation that is more complicated but works better.” That’s true of physics, but take my word for it, it isn’t in theology. If you look at the top academic writings on the trinity you still have the same contradiction, just different ways of describing it.

There’s a reason for writing about this. Fine, people have a right to believe whatever they like, although the world would be a better place with no religion in it. But you don’t have to believe illogical rubbish such as „three is one but not one and not three” just because lots of other people believe the same thing, or because your parents do.

Every day people abandon nonsensical religious beliefs (they „lose their faith”) and in most countries they don’t even get killed for it. There’s nothing wrong with asking critical questions about religion. Just don’t accept „It’s a mystery” or „You’ll find out in heaven” as an answer.

Questions:
1) Where does the story of St Patrick come from?
a) It was told by generations as a tradition.
b) It comes from reliable historical accounts.
c) The author of the article invented it.
d) The Irish made it up a few weeks ago.

2) What does ‘heresy’ probably mean?
a) An official religious belief.
b) A contradiction.
c) A forbidden idea.
d) A religious mystery.

3) What’s wrong with the explanation of an atom you get at school?
a) It is too complicated.
b) It doesn’t work at all.
c) It is based on theology.
d) It isn’t accurate enough.

Three-part objects
Quite a number of things can be divided into three parts, some more naturally than others. What do each of these sets of three make?

head, thorax, abdomen
bread, butter, filling
roots, trunk, branches
spring, mechanism, hands
oxygen, fuel, ignition
fuselage, wings, engines

KEY: an insect’s body, a sandwich, a tree (but where are the leaves?),
a watch (if you ignore the case, the face and the strap), combustion, or fire
(this one is a natural three), an aeroplane (if you include the
undercarriage, or landing gear, as part of the fuselage)