At the time when I am writing this Benazir’s home coming parade has been ripped asunder by blasts which will soon give the final toll of nearly 140 dead, leaving the hearths of several families extinguished and creating a chasm of grief in several hearts. It will probably emerge that some ‘extremist’ faction of some obscure but threatening organization performed this barbaric assault over a democratic leader, whose biggest crime probably was the fact that she is a woman In due course of time the global media will bring forth the ‘moderates’ and tell how Islam is a peaceful religion so on and so forth (add to the ranks of these ‘peaceful’ religions Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism and the other odd-thousands like them) and that it’s the policies of Mr. Bush and his unwilling dictatorial side kick Mr. Musharraf have caused ‘tensions’ to build up in the Pakistani society.
So far, so vindictive but what they conveniently overlook is the reason why this is happening in first place as Blaise Pascal eloquently put it “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction”, there is a lot of undeserved respect to these obscure figments of a violent, xenophobic, possibly drug addicted mind (take for example the book of revelations if that doesn’t scream LSD after every page then nothing does).
Yes, I think that without doubt that what we are seeing in the current social tapestry of the world is nothing new and probably most of it is the product of the religious mind whipped into a frenzy with the help of violent, xenophobic, misogynistic leaders. Why don’t we shudder at the sight of the ‘extremists’ and the so called ‘moderates’ picking up an ancient fabrication, filled with violent verses and then asking us to take our ‘morals’ from there? Which in the end means basing our society on it? Have the ‘moderates’ read what’s in there? Women being systematically subjugated and treated like property and the vanities of a god who uses copious amounts of brimstone to bring order for petty crimes, like picking sticks on the day of the Sabbath to feed one’s family? If you think that your religion doesn’t profess such things, then think again, each and every one of them is like the product of a violent, xenophobic, misogynistic mind and you are proclaiming to the world to take it’s morals from such a text?
Such books should be given to children as horror stories not for the purpose of moral guidance, true their might be some pacifist passages amongst numerous violent one’s but which one’s should we pick and choose to believe? If this is the case why believe at all? Like Richard Dawkins once said filling the world with Abrahmic religions is like flooding the streets with guns don’t be surprised if they are used.
Furthermore religion itself subjugates the person’s ability to rationalize and instead punishes independent thinking, labeling it as an impurity, this blind belief is a fundamental aspect of this grotesque system. So why be surprised if children are taught by decent, gentle, mainstream religious instructors who lined them up in their madrasas (or some other equivalent in some other equally repugnant religion) making them rhythmically bob their heads while learning every word in a holy book teaching them that service to god is the greatest virtue and that they will get paradise for martyrdom in ‘his’ service? Why be surprised at all isn’t it an obvious ambush?
Hence no matter how idiotic are Mt. Bush and his side kick we mustn’t forget the real reason this happens in the first place, the real reason why so many good men and women are prompted to give up their poverty ridden lives for a promised paradise. The only way out to apparent to me is the capability for rational thought present in, if not all, our minds most of us (I don’t think that the extremists retain their rationality)…..
At the end I just want you to sit back and think about it;
“The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.” think what it means, think how profound the implications are. In the end all this mind numbing vastness is only bearable through love and I definitely think that these chauvinisms we are harboring are hindering our progress towards this goal.