It’s Time That Idiots Stop Using God As An Excuse To Kill People
Barely a day goes by that we do not read or hear about some Religious Extremist killing people in the name of God. Well I have got some news for the low life's committing these acts in the name of the Creator. God is all powerful. If he wants someone dead, they are gone. He doesn't need some jerk who is following the directions of another jerk who has read something by yet another jerk that claims to speak for God or interpret His Will to get the job done.
Is it any wonder that religious people are often portrayed as faith obsessed murderers on fictional television shows and in the movies? During a recent season of the SHOWTIME series Dexter, religion played a huge part in the plot. To be fair, the show did make an honest effort to show both sides of the coin. They had a character who was transformed by his beliefs from a criminal to a saint. However, the villains of that season were the Doomsday Killers who provided their own interpretations of the Biblical Book of Revelation and went about trying to rein in the end of the world.
As a Christian, I am glad they chose people associated with Christian beliefs as the bad guys. I can't imagine too many people believing that a couple of Hasidic Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Shintoists or even Wiccans were running around Miami chopping people up to fit into scenes that were designed to bring about or laud the coming of the end of the world. And can you imagine what the outcry would have been if they choose Muslims, Islamists, Islamic Extremists or Islamic Fundamentalists (or whatever other politically correct term you prefer) as the bad guys? The PC Police would never let it on the air and no one wants a Fatwa issued against them.
Christianity (the general term covering many religions) is an easy target for the entertainment industry and who can blame them for that? While we're all busy criticizing Islam and Muslims, we forget about things like the Inquisition, church and faith sex scandals, and the fact that Christians in many places around the world have been as busy trying to wipe out Muslims as Muslims have been trying to kill Christians. You might recall that little skirmish in Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism, for example. The Christian neighbors of people they lived in peace with for years were suddenly slaughtering Muslims by the dozens without regard for sex or age.
Those that murder in the name of God do not just seek out people with different beliefs as their targets. Extremist factions in Christianity have been as busy killing other Christians just as frequently as Muslims have been killing other Muslims for a long time. Every time the media goes crazy because a bomb goes off in a Muslim Mosque that was planted by Muslims from some other Mosque or group, I want to remind them of 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland. People will answer that criticism by saying that those problems are more political than religious. Well, the same is basically true about Muslim violence against other Muslims. Once you remove the religious veneer all you have left are political power struggles.
Nothing I can write, say or do is going to stop the idiots that kill people in the name of God, use their church as a cover for an assortment of ungodly activities or as a means of fleecing their flock from doing so. The same is true of those that try to rein in the extremist elements of other religions. The only way to stop religious Zealots from murdering in God's name or to end the ability of scam masters and deviants to hide their evil acts under the banner of their adopted faith is by taking away their cover.
If we're serious about stopping these kinds of idiots from doing what they are doing we must stop referring to them by their religious affiliations. Every criminal has a motive. If the criminal happens to associate themselves with a particular faith and their motive is religious purity, their actions are still illegal. The same goes for religion teachings. If a teacher of a particular religion interprets their faith in a way that encourages people to kill or mistreat others in the name of establishing religious purity, that religion has to be considered lawless and no religion at all.
I would no more defend a religion that permits a priest to molest children, than I would one that condones violence against members of other faiths or shows favor to its members based on sex. For example, I would never recognize the right of any religion to encourage the beating of women just because they failed to walk ten steps behind their husbands, wanted to work or even drive a car. I cannot accept any religion that quietly tolerates cheating by husbands, while wives are condemned, ostracized, exiled or even murdered at just the accusation of adultery.
Religious freedom and toleration in the USA should never be interpreted or used in a manner that allows us to accept the murder or abuse of people in the name of God as acceptable at home or abroad. The cowards of the Congress and whatever weak-willed President who happens to be in the White House at any given time could make a good start of ending terrorism worldwide and at home by showing some guts on diplomatic fronts in matters such as these. They could, for example, start by breaking diplomatic relations with and forbidding travel to or from nations that use their alleged religious affiliation as a cover to accept and spread teachings of violence, discrimination against women and overall intolerance against anyone and anything that does not follow their narrow religious view of the world.
When it comes to taking a personal stand against terrorism and intolerance disguised as religious teaching, the best weapon most Americans have to fight these evils is their right to vote. Sadly, you would be hard pressed to find anyone to vote for that would even consider what I have suggested doing. Apart from that, we can certainly make sure that we are (to the best of our abilities) part of the solution and not a part of the problem by avoiding and condemning those that use religion as a cloak to commit evil. In the words of Martin Luther King, 'When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love."
