Religions Side Effects
Just last week another not-so-uncommon suicide bombing “killed more than 30 people and wounded at least 50” in Islamabad, Pakistan. What was the motivation behind this attack? I let you take one guess, religion. The bomber was targeting the funeral of a Shiite man. You see the two largest denominations of Islam are the Sunnis and the Shiites, both are of the Muslim following but differ in certain details regarding the prophet Muhammad. Not surprising this slight difference in belief has caused the deaths of many innocents.
Why doesn’t this surprise us? Religion has been the fuel behind many conflicts yet we hardly ever take the time to question the logic behind it. It’s almost as if we use religion as an excuse to hate each other and upset the balance of what could be a peaceful world.
There have been many wars in mankind’s past that have been affected and cause by religion. The Korean War had its roots in religion when 300,000 Christians were forced to flee. In the Civil War slave owners thought it was their “god given right” to own slaves. During World War Two Hitler used the 'Jews Killed Jesus' thing to rally his cause. All of the wars could have most likely been resolved or at least ended quicker had we thrown our ridiculous religious intolerances out the window.
Even today we are in a “war on terrorism”, which is more a war on Muslim fundamentalists than anything. To have a war on “terrorism” makes no sense. Terrorism is a simple side effect from Muslim fundamentalists intolerance for non-Muslims. Sam Harris the Author of “The End of Faith” states: “If Osama bin Laden were the leader of a nation, and the World Trade Center had been brought down with missiles, the atrocities of September 11 would have been acts of war. It should go without saying that we would have resisted the temptation to declare a war on “war” in response.” What Harris is implying is that terrorism is caused by religious intolerance, it isn’t terrorism itself that is the problem, the intolerance is.
We live in a world where most people have faith in a divine being. People’s thoughts and actions are premeditated and filtered through their belief system before the logic of the situation is analyzed. This world has witnessed prejudices, murder, war, and other terrible events any of us would call “crimes” had the causation not had been religion. Today prejudice does not come from the color of a persons skin (we have gotten over that ridiculousness), but now it comes from a persons belief system. We are threatened by weapons that could destroy our earth, simply because we don’t share the same “faith” as others.
Now I am completely aware that this is a very unique and complex situation. We will never see the end of religion, it has been around for nearly as long as we have and will be until our species is extinct. Some people simply need faith, they need something that makes sense to them to explain why they are here and have some comfort knowing that death is always around the corner. What I would suggest as a potential step towards a more tolerant society is that we focus more on morals from a common sense standpoint. Just because some people aren’t Christians doesn’t mean they can’t be “Christ-like”. I know plenty of atheists who are kind-hearted, charitable, loving people. The point is that we can be a kind society with our religious affiliations set to the side. I’m not saying that people should stop believing, but that they should try believing in their own space and be open to living amongst a diverse society of varied religions.
I’m not trying to disprove or belittle religion in any way. I feel that everyone should have the freedom to believe whatever he or she wishes to believe in. Whether a certain religion has more evidence or proof behind it shouldn’t play a role either. It just doesn’t make sense for us to continue fighting each other over this. I simply am stating from a common sense and logical standpoint that religious extremists (mostly the violent ones) are harming the world more than helping it. We need stop fighting over faith.
*Info taken from NY Times Article “Pakistan Bombing Kills More Than 30” by Pir Zubair Shah
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Religion has been a precursor to violence since before recorded history. Violence in its name has long outlived racism, sexism, and any other prejudice that has plagued our world. I agree completely with you. People should be allowed to worship their divine being in whatever way they wish. If the current conflict between (for example) Islam fundamentalists and, well really the rest of the world, does not stop, there’s no telling what will happen to our world. There are people like the extremists who would do anything to spread the word of their own religion, and believe only they are correct. They aren’t afraid of killing, or prison, not even death; and it’s terrifying. It begs a solution, but is there really anyway to convince people so set in their beliefs that not everyone has to believe in exactly the same way they do?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that a state of peace and tolerance needs to be established between conflicting religious groups, especially in the Middle East. It is not in any way OK that innocent civilians are dying because of suicide bombers, something that is far beyond their own control. I do not think, however, that a change in attitudes regarding religious differences among the people there could solve the problem. As much as this conflict seems to be rooted in religion, I think it is something a little different. I don't think that the Sunni and the Shiite Muslims are in conflict simply because they don't share the same faith. These hatreds have stemmed from history and developed prejudices that have been passed down through generations. I wish it was as simple as a stereotype or prejudice that developed because you know someone follows a different religion because if that were the case, it would be surmountable like race prejudices were. Unfortunately, this conflict is far more complicated.
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