“Scrutamini scripturas. These two words have undone the world.”
-John Selden-
I am told of an ancient Hindu malediction on those who interpret scripture to their own advantage. Perhaps there is an equivalent in Islam and Christianity and Judaism, but I’m unaware of it. There should be, even though the practice of picking and choosing and procrustean tailoring of religious texts to produce a desired outcome seems universal.
The blowing up of innocents preparing for a holy season isn’t something one associates with holiness, although some people that regularly become viciously hysterical at any hint of disrespect for their traditions have no problem finding justification in that tradition for any mayhem that suits their unholy and murderous inclinations.
So it is that those who love Allah the merciful and compassionate can blow up 28 people who love Allah the merciful and compassionate as they go about preparing for the dawn of Ramadan and yet be driven into rabid frenzy at the suggestion that anyone ever thought that their religious tradition had a history of violence.
Hindus and Christians, Jews and Muslims have from time to time been able to justify brutality through selective quotation and rationalization as easily as an Old West gunslinger might claim self defense after shooting someone three times in the back and indeed, mankind’s ability to claim victimhood to justify aggression has outpaced his instincts toward civilization.
If I believed that there was some supernatural entity with expectations for mankind, I would feel as sorry for God as I am for the human race.
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2 comments:
I saw Christiane Amanpour talking about her "shock" that bin Laden has been authorized (by whom?) to now kill 10 million more infidels. Organized religion is an amazing thing... isn't it?
Some Republcan bimbo was on Bill Maher the other night and when asked how she could reconcile the Christianity she professes with the demand for torture and the unconcern with over a hundred thousand innocent lives lost.
She mumbled something about Jesus coming back as a warrior with a sword. Reza Aslan, a CBS correspondant, replied saying that any religion could be used to justify anything anyone wanted to do and I agree - and so does history.
I would go so far as to say that God was invented to justify the actions and demands of that oldest of professions, the holy man.
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