I'm still trying to make some sense out of the reports coming from Nice (which, as might be expected, are chaotic and contradictory -- here's The Guardian's report), but sure enough, there are comments galore on the theme of "Filthy Muslims! Get them all!" (Donald Trump, strangely enough, has been relatively silent -- so far.)
This is going to be something of a rant, but it's going to be brief: Religion is merely the excuse for what people want to do anyway. It's convenient, it has behind it unchallengeable authority, and it means you don't have to really examine your motives.
History is littered with examples of religious conflicts that are nothing more than pretexts for power grabs, money grabs, land grabs, you name it. Thirty Years' War? Politics: who was going to control Germany? The Crusades? Who was going to control the Middle East, plus stopping the expansion of Arabs into Europe. The Partition of India? Who was going to control the newly liberated country? The Buddhist atrocities against Muslims in Myanmar (which are still going on)? Shoring up a dictator's power. And of course, the ongoing campaign against gays in the U.S. -- money and power. (Because these are people who need an enemy to justify themselves, and the Soviet Union is history. Just look at the timeline: the Soviet Union was tottering in the 1970s-80s, and guess when the "Christian" right started to become a factor in US politics.)
I know some Muslim guys. In addition to being big flirts, they're really nice guys. My Sikh doctor, aside from being terminally gorgeous, is completely charming. I've known too many real Christians -- and I'm including evangelicals -- to think that the likes of Kevin Swanson or Tony Perkins are real examples of the religion and what it's about. (There's this thing called the Gospels -- they should read them.) I've known Jews all my adult life, and for the most part, they've been a lot of fun to be around. I can't say that I know many Hindus or Buddhists, but I'd guess they're pretty much the same as anyone else.
And religion -- all religions -- offer a few basic lessons in common, which boil down to "treat each other with decency and respect" and "we're all in this together, so help each other out," which I take as the basis for morality -- and which is not something you're going to hear from the Family Research Council or ISIS.
So, it will hardly come as a surprise that I have no patience with comments that single out a particular religion as "evil," or even worse, condemn all religions as garbage. That's bullshit.
And I have to wonder what those who make those kinds of statements are trying to avoid dealing with.
This is going to be something of a rant, but it's going to be brief: Religion is merely the excuse for what people want to do anyway. It's convenient, it has behind it unchallengeable authority, and it means you don't have to really examine your motives.
History is littered with examples of religious conflicts that are nothing more than pretexts for power grabs, money grabs, land grabs, you name it. Thirty Years' War? Politics: who was going to control Germany? The Crusades? Who was going to control the Middle East, plus stopping the expansion of Arabs into Europe. The Partition of India? Who was going to control the newly liberated country? The Buddhist atrocities against Muslims in Myanmar (which are still going on)? Shoring up a dictator's power. And of course, the ongoing campaign against gays in the U.S. -- money and power. (Because these are people who need an enemy to justify themselves, and the Soviet Union is history. Just look at the timeline: the Soviet Union was tottering in the 1970s-80s, and guess when the "Christian" right started to become a factor in US politics.)
I know some Muslim guys. In addition to being big flirts, they're really nice guys. My Sikh doctor, aside from being terminally gorgeous, is completely charming. I've known too many real Christians -- and I'm including evangelicals -- to think that the likes of Kevin Swanson or Tony Perkins are real examples of the religion and what it's about. (There's this thing called the Gospels -- they should read them.) I've known Jews all my adult life, and for the most part, they've been a lot of fun to be around. I can't say that I know many Hindus or Buddhists, but I'd guess they're pretty much the same as anyone else.
And religion -- all religions -- offer a few basic lessons in common, which boil down to "treat each other with decency and respect" and "we're all in this together, so help each other out," which I take as the basis for morality -- and which is not something you're going to hear from the Family Research Council or ISIS.
So, it will hardly come as a surprise that I have no patience with comments that single out a particular religion as "evil," or even worse, condemn all religions as garbage. That's bullshit.
And I have to wonder what those who make those kinds of statements are trying to avoid dealing with.
2 comments:
As my late father once observed, "The only passage in the Bible that is never taken literally is the Golden Rule."
I suspect the parts that are never even read are the parts about help the needy, feed the hungry, etc. They're certainly the parts that are never quoted.
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