Blaming Religion for everything, but which one are you blaming?
August 15th 2007 01:16
Blaming Religion for everything, but which one are you blaming?
It never ceases to amaze me how quick some people are to look for a one word scapegoat for all the problems of the world. It is simple enough to do, just find out the religion of one idiot and use it to tar them all with the same brush. Prejudice and bigotry are wonderful devices for the unscrupulous that have no real answers but certainly know how to stir the pot. The film ‘The Blues Brothers’ has a classic discussion by the Nazi who are digging up dirt on the two brothers. “…and he’s a Catholic,” says one of the Nazis as if this is the final straw of condemnation.
It would be forgivable if such prejudices were accidental or due to complete ignorance yet I suspect in many cases it is not. Finding fault with one person in a group is the best way to find fault with entire group. It is a tactic as old as time and is used to build support in good old fashion power struggles. The identity of the enemy is not as important as having an enemy to heap scorn upon. “Look what these Muslim did to the Twin Towers?” was translated into a clash of civilizations by a number of fundamentalist Christian leaders in the USA. Few make the same accusation against all fundamentalist Christians after the Oklahoma bombing. The ‘Red Brigade’ is not considered to be a result of some evil Italian trait but often Italians are all accused of inherently supporting the ‘Mafia’. Simpleminded fools may accept the argument of evil races but more often people who do not believe it is so are happy to promote suspicion.
Pick a religion and you will find that it is comprised of human being with same imperfections as every other religion. Weak and angry people are part of the world as much as the dishonest and the power hungry. Anti religious groups are cursed with the same kind of people and have had similar scandals. It is always like the old Chinese proverb that says ‘when you point your finger at someone, you point three back at yourself’. Some people try to avoid this reality taking the Scientology method of attacking and never defending. What ever you have done wrong accuse the opponent of something worse. If you have been a thief, accuse the opponent as being a bigger thief; if you have killed accuse the others of being savages who kill; if you start a war then accuse the other of having no concept of humanity. The idea is to create a sense of blame and anger toward someone without having to engage their arguments logically. Grievances are just complaints that should be crushed and the people who make them should be shown no mercy.
It should be of no surprise that there are fanatical Buddhist Monks that promote violence. Such people exist in Sri Lanka and one such person assassinated the President because he was not Buddhist enough for his liking. Does this mean that every Buddhist is a dangerous fanatic? Absolutely not. Nor does the fact that LTTE is the inventor of the suicide bomber mean that it is a direct result of Hinduism. The struggle is over land and separatism but religion is brought into the picture by clever and evil leaders that know how to twist words and quote out of context. Context changes everything and when you have a cult type of oppression over people there is no way for questioning the imposed meaning. To question is to invite death.
Few people see them selves as being unscrupulous with good reason. Only a few people are absolutely unscrupulous to the point of seeking out every misdemeanor of one religion to justify their own warped opinions. By continually heaping blame the warped opinions are never held up for scrutiny and logical dissection. It is a perfect fortress for any power hungry self appointed guru. This is also true for anti religious zealots who try to associate all religion as being the same and all equally to blame for everything that has gone wrong with the world. Such accusations cannot be proved but they do not stop people from expect others to accept them on face value alone.
There is question that few people seem to ask about the whole notion of guilt by association and that is: who are they actually accusing? In the USA alone there are thousands of different fundamentalist Christian religions, each one claiming to be the true and legitimate voice of truth. There is broad disagreement on the fundamentals of what is fundamental to their faith. The fundamentalists are in fact spin-offs of other more main stream religions and they took their bat and ball to start afresh. Hinduism has its varieties from Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence to his Hindu assassin who believed non-violence was a dangerous concept that must be stopped. Christianity had people who turned to the Bible to justify slavery at the same time there were two religious order dedicated to abolishing slavery. Collective guilt and guilt by association is gross hypocrisy because it also implies collective innocence and innocent by association. If that is case then how lucky we all are to have been born to be right in all things.
Gandhi was shot by a person who knelt to honor him then stood up to kill him for preaching non-violence as a Hindu concept.
It would be forgivable if such prejudices were accidental or due to complete ignorance yet I suspect in many cases it is not. Finding fault with one person in a group is the best way to find fault with entire group. It is a tactic as old as time and is used to build support in good old fashion power struggles. The identity of the enemy is not as important as having an enemy to heap scorn upon. “Look what these Muslim did to the Twin Towers?” was translated into a clash of civilizations by a number of fundamentalist Christian leaders in the USA. Few make the same accusation against all fundamentalist Christians after the Oklahoma bombing. The ‘Red Brigade’ is not considered to be a result of some evil Italian trait but often Italians are all accused of inherently supporting the ‘Mafia’. Simpleminded fools may accept the argument of evil races but more often people who do not believe it is so are happy to promote suspicion.
The KKK can quote the Bible and the American constitution better than anyone. Quoting and understanding are two different things.
Torture, Invasion and Assasination are condemned in the Bible but Bush can do it because he claimes to be a good Christian. I wonder which Bible he has been reading.
Few people see them selves as being unscrupulous with good reason. Only a few people are absolutely unscrupulous to the point of seeking out every misdemeanor of one religion to justify their own warped opinions. By continually heaping blame the warped opinions are never held up for scrutiny and logical dissection. It is a perfect fortress for any power hungry self appointed guru. This is also true for anti religious zealots who try to associate all religion as being the same and all equally to blame for everything that has gone wrong with the world. Such accusations cannot be proved but they do not stop people from expect others to accept them on face value alone.
By preaching hate toward other religions Chick made a small fortune.
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Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
I hate religion as a WHOLE, all promote Dogma and are utterly useless when every single one of them is merely a path to the exact same Divine. They all also encompass the same values and rules.
I appreciate christians and church of england because its catholisim without the guilt. I honestly feel catholic priests are doing the devils work. Very few catholics understand the true principles. If all priests were like Father Bob ('Speaking in tongues' with John Saffran) then we wouldnt have a problem.
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Thenumber one rule of any religion or ideology is that you don't have to subscibe to it. You can take your bat and ball and belive what you want. It is your free will to do so.
I think it would be wrong of me to enter into religion bashing when the whole point of my post was in the opposite direction.
Comment by Louie
Climate Forum
Climate Red
randomthoughts
Phil's Wellness Tips
Interesting post, thank you
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Thanks for your comment.
It is those damn bad people again.
We should do something about them.
Good thing I am not one.
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Cinema Three
In the end GWB is probably responsible for a lot more innocent deaths than Bin Laden, but he wears a suit and calls himself a christian so he gets away with it.
Maybe if Bin Laden converts...
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Thanks for your comments
People have seen plenty of power hungry monsters who are willing to wear the cloke that suits the audience. Terrible people willalways try to associate themselves with nobel causes and respected groups in order to tapintothat demographic.
Hitler wore a uniformbecause soldiers were respected in Germany at the time. Appart from killing Jews he also target Gypsies for extermination who were Christians.
Bin Laden uses religion the same way and so does GWB.
However it is not what they claim to be that matters. It is how they behave.
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
You are a very special person indeed. That was simply not an option at my primary school, if you didnt get right into it, you were going to hell. If you didnt try and convert people, you were evil. It was only years later I find out that is the number one rule, so Im a little bitter that I had to believe otherwise as a kid. I take full responsability however, and now at least I know what I believe.
Its not exactly religion itself I have a problem with, more the power it creates and how easy it is to abuse it.
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
I cannot give answer to your childhood recollections about the enviroment you grew up in. I was not there.
I do have a reasonable understanding of what brainwashing is in theory and its limitations. You can go to the Rick Ross website for more information on the subject.
However I do get the impression that you have chosen, through your own free will, to follow what you wish to believe. How you justify that choice to yourself is always up to you.
In the end everyone can decide what they want to believe but it is the reality of consequences that tests those beliefs.