What More in the Name of Faith?
The turn of the 21st century finds a world in which hatred, torture and murder are propagated in the name of religion, in the very name of God, of Yahweh, of Allah. People who believe differently send each other to concentration camps like the ones in Abu Ghraib and Guantanimo Bay, and the torture centers of Saudi Arabia. People who call themselves good Christians, Muslims, and Jews are finding new standards of ugliness, intolerance and treachery, all for the love of God.
Not since the 15th century has more damage been done by people with pious words and powerful weapons, articles of faith and bad intentions.
I'm finally coming to the conclusion that it's not religion itself that brings such misery. I don't see a lot of devout Buddhists committing atrocities, or Quakers flaying non-believers. It's the greedy, the power-hungry, the literally insane and the simply rotten-to-the-core who have become the false prophets, poisoning their faiths with the same kind of evil that's been around in one form or the other, forever.
It doesn't matter which religion they choose, or which side of the fence they're on. Randall Terry is not significantly different from Osama bin Laden, James Dobson from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. They are all here to sow hatred, to destroy lives, to make the rest of us miserable at best, at worst, slaves. They would use faith, the well of love and understanding that many humans draw on, for the ugliest of goals: to control or destroy.
The tool that all these enemies of humanity invariably use is the idea of absolute, proprietary truth. The notion that they have the real answer and all others are phonies. This absolutism is the kernel of evil that pollutes so many faiths today.
As readers may know, I listen, often with fascination, to the Salem Radio Network. This supposedly Christian company owns stations in hundreds of cities nationwide, often more than one in a market (usually one purely "Christian" and the other with national hosts like Bill Bennett and Michael Savage, pushing a Christian Conservative agenda). The level of ugliness that is delivered by these "religious" phonies is astounding. Last evening, Michael Savage was explaining how the only solution left to "real Americans, the conservatives, the faithful" is to put liberals and secularists into education camps. This was NOT said in jest, or even exaggeration. He has said many times that liberal judges, homosexuals, undocumented immigrants, or simply non-believers (Mr. Savage purports to be a Jew) should simply be dealt with by "a couple in the back of the head," referring to bullets, execution-style. Apparently, the killers of Judge Lefkow's family or the judge in Atlanta, people like Erik Rudolph and Tim McVeigh, are listening. How different are the screeds of the Islamist fanatics who behead Westerners?
Every faith on earth has sane, moderate believers--devout people who take the commandments to love, to help the poor, to heart. Unfortunately, they have lacked the courage, the faith, to let their twisted brethren know that their perversions will not be tolerated, that they may NOT call themselves good Catholics, or Jews, or Muslims, while preaching hatred. Governments that allow religions exemptions from taxes must identify those groups that call themselves "of God" while grasping for political power will no longer have the free ride. I doubt that the US administration that gets so much of its power from these false-faith players would have the courage to stand up to them, but it's past time we start letting the purveyors of misery in the name of Faith know that their time is running out.
Not since the 15th century has more damage been done by people with pious words and powerful weapons, articles of faith and bad intentions.
I'm finally coming to the conclusion that it's not religion itself that brings such misery. I don't see a lot of devout Buddhists committing atrocities, or Quakers flaying non-believers. It's the greedy, the power-hungry, the literally insane and the simply rotten-to-the-core who have become the false prophets, poisoning their faiths with the same kind of evil that's been around in one form or the other, forever.
It doesn't matter which religion they choose, or which side of the fence they're on. Randall Terry is not significantly different from Osama bin Laden, James Dobson from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. They are all here to sow hatred, to destroy lives, to make the rest of us miserable at best, at worst, slaves. They would use faith, the well of love and understanding that many humans draw on, for the ugliest of goals: to control or destroy.
The tool that all these enemies of humanity invariably use is the idea of absolute, proprietary truth. The notion that they have the real answer and all others are phonies. This absolutism is the kernel of evil that pollutes so many faiths today.
As readers may know, I listen, often with fascination, to the Salem Radio Network. This supposedly Christian company owns stations in hundreds of cities nationwide, often more than one in a market (usually one purely "Christian" and the other with national hosts like Bill Bennett and Michael Savage, pushing a Christian Conservative agenda). The level of ugliness that is delivered by these "religious" phonies is astounding. Last evening, Michael Savage was explaining how the only solution left to "real Americans, the conservatives, the faithful" is to put liberals and secularists into education camps. This was NOT said in jest, or even exaggeration. He has said many times that liberal judges, homosexuals, undocumented immigrants, or simply non-believers (Mr. Savage purports to be a Jew) should simply be dealt with by "a couple in the back of the head," referring to bullets, execution-style. Apparently, the killers of Judge Lefkow's family or the judge in Atlanta, people like Erik Rudolph and Tim McVeigh, are listening. How different are the screeds of the Islamist fanatics who behead Westerners?
Every faith on earth has sane, moderate believers--devout people who take the commandments to love, to help the poor, to heart. Unfortunately, they have lacked the courage, the faith, to let their twisted brethren know that their perversions will not be tolerated, that they may NOT call themselves good Catholics, or Jews, or Muslims, while preaching hatred. Governments that allow religions exemptions from taxes must identify those groups that call themselves "of God" while grasping for political power will no longer have the free ride. I doubt that the US administration that gets so much of its power from these false-faith players would have the courage to stand up to them, but it's past time we start letting the purveyors of misery in the name of Faith know that their time is running out.
posted by Nittacci at 9:50 AM
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