Of another world

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

This is one of the things that make me feel uneasy about different monotheistic religions- or any ideologies that claim having The One Truth. If that truth calls for "cleansing" of the earth, or "a fresh start" - or just death to the infidels, then it is a most dangerous ideology there is. I'm not against any faith as such. People do beautiful things inspired by faith, but then those faiths are also mighty tools in the hands of the wicked... You just think about these suicide-bombers etc.

Claiming something to be a mystery, then, I find deeply unnerving. It's always the hiding place of power and intrigue. Open arguments can be looked at, together, mysteries are only for the "chosen" (normally self-chosen).

Friday night I listened to Salman Rushdie at the conference I went to. He was a very good speaker; many writers are not. He's also a thoroughgoing atheist, self-described. One of the things he said was that 'religion is the cause of savagry and tyranny'. He also said that his initial reasons for rejecting theism were architectural and digestive; he was trying to be comical, but also honest. Anyway, I think that his points are well made, regarding religion, as far as they go. Religions, however, are not the catalysts of savagery and tyranny, but the vehicles. It is humans who are savage and tyrannical, be it in the name of a religion, a politico-economic system, the rebellion against one, or what have you. It's humans who do the evil, not the religions and other such excuses they try to hide behind. I do grant that religions do have within them material that allow for radicalist, reactionary applications. But it is still the humans who are putting these into practice. So the question for me always returns to this: What is it in humans that brings them to do such evil whilst equally capable of such glory as symphonies?