Regardless of whether you are a person of faith or not, it must be admitted that throughout history, nearly every organized religion has engaged in torture, murder, infanticide, ritualistic torment, disfigurement, and self-flagellation as a part of their religious activities. The exceptions are few and far between. Killing in the name of God has been and continues to be an accepted practice.
Hatred is inspired by labels found in religious texts such as ‘Infidel’, ‘Gentile’, ‘Pagan’, ‘Apostasy, ‘Heretic’, and violent real-world nutcases like the rapist child abductors in Nigeria, Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sinful.” Extremism in many forms is encouraged, and often labeled as ‘Righteous’. Heavenly laws seem to be only revealed to the ‘chosen’ among us, and are usually the result of ‘visions’ and direct visitation by God with those who are ‘worthy’ or ‘holy’.
Even non-believers are caught up in this game of Godliness, such as the celebrated physicist, Dr. Stephan Hawking, who recently pronounced that God wasn’t necessary for the creation of the Universe. Sorry, Dr. Hawking, but mathematical proofs are not the correct tool to use in proving or disproving the existence of God. And, atheism is just another religion. The idiot preacher in Florida who burned the Koran on September 11, is no better than the Imam that teaches suicide bombing as a means to celestial ascendency. Further, it is of clinical interest that these same nutcases profess godly caring and love for their flock.
To quote from one of these religious texts (the Bible), “By their works ye shall know them”. This is perhaps, the most cogent and wise statement in this revered book. It is time for all of humanity to take the blinders off and examine the real world effects of all professed ‘Belief’ systems. It is easy to construct a table of pros and cons for each one of them. Very few pass muster when weighed by their virtues vs. their destructive dogmas and activities. Those with a predominately bloody history should be discarded forthwith. The same is true of those that maintain that God will only speak to us all through some hierarchy of men or prophets who are somehow ‘chosen’ for the task. The whole idea is ludicrous if examined critically.
These religious ideas and concepts will destroy us all if we can’t alter the course of history and abandon them in favor of real truth, justice, loving kindness, helping one another, and acceptance of personal responsibility for our choices and actions. The ‘Devil’ didn’t make you do it—you did; through inaction, improper response to the situation you find yourself in, a lack of true socialization and morality, or false-to facts perceptions of reality.
A good first test of the worth of major religions might start with a reality TV show featuring the burning each other’s books, and seeing which, if any, loses their cool. Tolerance is the only way to achieve world harmony. Another test, might be investigative reporting on how many Muslims give aid to Christians who have suffered catastrophe, and visa-versa. I could go on and on, but you get my drift. If we don’t promote global sanity and healing now, we may never get another chance.
Yeah, let’s all go the way of Polpot, Mao, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, etc. On second thought, let’s not.
It’s scary sometimes to give up cherished illusions. The Jihad guys would rather ignore it so they can have a good night’s sleep after a day of carnage, and dream of their 72 virgins…. So did Polpot, Mao, Lenin and Stalin who dreamed of conquest and empires. Hitler, on the other hand, was very religious. Now that I think of it, So were the Crusaders and the Muslims, and the priests that destroyed the Mayan and Incan civilization’s evil books, records and beliefs. They loved their converts, though.
Well, see I simply don’t agree with the premise of your statement. I don’t agree it is illusuion. I don’t agree that a non-regligious society would be any less violent. To put it in atheist phraseology, we are just not that kind of monkey. The tinre human population could be all white, blond-haired blue-eyed giaints, and a war would still break out between the 6 foot tall giants and the 6 foot 1 inch giants… Or the ones that think it is better to rise at 7 o’clock and not 6 o’clock. The answer is simple. Everyone needs to STFU and leave everyone else alone, but as I said, we are just not that kind of monkey.
The post did not state that all religions are violent; however, true believers when confronted with uncomfortable truths about their version of reality usually resort to it. Tolerance of other belief systems is the other way of reducing violence in society. The primary way is to believe in nothing that cannot be directly substantiated by others who can replicate or verify the results claimed. Gosh, this sounds like the scientific method, doesn’t it?
a world without religion would be not better but a world with religions like in this crisis moment are too withdraw into themselves are too bad for freedom and laws
Thanks for the visit and your comments, Cat. I agree with you about most present day religions. There are a few such as Buddhist and Mormons that seem to be placid (but this observation reveals my personal bias). It seems to me that religions that inspire genuine morality, bettering oneself, and helping those less fortunate are valuable at present.
Sorry but Mormons ( i have seen some TV reportage , because have not this sect in france ) has not for me the most libéral religion … Buddist are placid but I don’t think in their countries they are better for men , the temples are rich and people are poor , only peaceful
This is a thought provoking blog. We cannot just put the blame on religions. And for understanding this I invite you to read J.KRISHNAMURTY’S ” Truth is a pathless land”(googlesearch). The problem lies with MAN. The fountainheads of religions were not fanatics. THEY WERE SPIRITUAL. It was subsequently that these religions were ORGANISED. Whe ther it ir Buddha oo Marthn luther , they saw the distortion and Protested. AND another religion was aorn, only to be organised yet again by people who had stakes.. what WE need is SPIRITUALISM as intended by the prophets. THANKS AGAIN.
Thanks for your comments, bhau. It is the epitome of human folly to assume we are the pinnacle of evolution. I have a cat which I raised from birth (his mother is a stray that was pregnant when I took her in). Time and again, I have watched this ‘animal’ reason and make choices, and feel guilt and happiness; all like human beings–it is simply a matter of scale and the speed of cognition. If we are ‘spiritual’, then so are the animals. Their little spirits simply don’t shine as brightly. So, if all life has a spirit, there is nothing ‘special’ about humans. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, the German philosopher said, “Man is a rope stretched across the abyss between the animal and the superman. What is good in man is that he is a means and not an end.”
“It is the epitome of human folly to assume we are the pinnacle of evolution”. This beautifully sums up the truth. There is a spot called PENEAL GLAND in the brain and I think it is there in animals too. It gets calcified as we grow out of childhood and we lose touch with divine. It gets de-calcified with deep meditation and results in revisiting the divine. This ir a territory outside the organised religion and as it starts getting activated one feels the same way the prophets wanted us to. UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, PIETY, COMPASSION, FORGIVENESS . . . That ynu embarked on writing this blog indicates that your PENEAL GLAND is awakening. GOD BLESS YOU.
You assume that a “God” exists, but I’m not sure of anything!
I have read Krishnamurti in past
“All authority, especially in the realm of thought is destructive, a bad thing. Leaders destroy their followers and followers destroy the leaders. You must be your own teacher and your own disciple. You need to question everything that man has accepted as valid or necessary. ”
sorry for my poor english
the animal is considered according to the system of values of each people. we could also extend it to the plant life.
Killing an animal is a crime but killing a leek is not ! either cut down a tree … what is our system of values to accept one and not the other?
There are a lot of unanswered questions in life and “IS THERE A GOD” is one such question. No Catse, I do not know if there is a creator or GOD. I will never ever know. And you are right in questioning my morality in cutting down a tree or stamping life out of an insect.
In the animal world MIGHT IS RIGHT. It is the jungle law. The cat kills the mouse and the lion kill them all.
I think the need for religion arose in order to control this ‘animal’ in Man. But man has ORGANISED religion to keep the JUNGLE LAW working. So the same law operates when school girls are abducted and sold, when a school girls is shot in the head because she is an advocate of female education, when a brave young girl of nineteen is burnt at stake to death when she challenges the wrongs of the religious authorities, when a widow is consigned to flames along with her dead husband. ALL THESE ACTS HAVE THE BACKING OF RELIGION.
Until there is mechanism to tame the EVIL in MAN I see little hope. May be if the world becomes FEMALE DOMINATED things will improve. They are not driven by testosterones.
You all see what a paralyzing effect a ‘belief’ system has on a rational mind (my bias here gives humans the benefit of a ‘ reasoning mind’ in its evolution). Good, bad, or indifferent, beliefs have no application in solving the current problems of a trashed environment, internecine warfare, over-population, extinction of species to make way for the new highway or gold mine, and the misuse of science such as GMO crops that make our food supply totally vulnerable to a newly evolved or exotic pest. But, ‘faith’ in science is better than faith that a spiritual ‘God’ is going to help us out of our miserable conditions today. We are so stupid in so many ways (even ‘animals’ don’t defecate where they eat) that we do not need any more distraction from cleaning up our act on the only planet that can support us at present. We have very, very, little time to deal with these things before we go the way of the dinosaurs.
“But, faith in science is better than faith that a spiritual”
you want to say than you prefer believe in science ?
i think too , but not blind faith in it !
the belief is a private sphere and it must doesn’t go out this sphere
Hi again, Cat. It is important to understand that science, by its very nature, rejects the idea of ‘Faith’. Belief is another matter; some scientists, especially the older ones, believe they are right even when they are wrong. This is where independently replicating results involving a hypothesis comes into play.
Yes i know it
but scientific or no scientific , i think when they want prove something they believe they are right even when they are wrong .
When I see by example “pro homeopathies” is it that not be similar to a form of belief, whereas science shows not efficiency of that one ?
Hi, Cat. As far as I know, Homeopathy is considered a ‘natural’ form of medicine as it applies to Human Beings, and has no other global meaning. There is a lot of pseudoscience floating around the Internet, books, and some religions like Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics (Scientology). If you study General Semantics and symbolic logic, things will become clearer to you.
hi DLCox
“The observer is an integral part of the event observed ,that he influences through his observation” …who has said that ?
thank you but let Ron to his place ah ah, and i don’t know where ! I’m not able to study General Semantics and symbolic logic, but i have a “global rudimentary” understanding about it
Hi again, Cat.
I think it was either John von Neumann or Eugene Wigner who made that statement! It is a fundamental concept of Quantum Mechanics.:)
maybe Mauss ? many have said this sentence and concept
Hi, Cat
It could be Mauss, I really don’t know for sure.