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What’s the
conflict?
The history of the conflict is
probably as old as the history of the religion – and the
history of both is aged the same as the history of mankind
itself. It means that mankind right after coming into being,
started following (and violating) a set of rules, which was
later named religion. According to many religious books, the
actual motive behind the very first human murder was the
religion. A man had killed another man because he was
unwilling to accept the woman that was going to be his wife
according to the set rules of the religion. The killer lived
and reproduced – and according to the religious stories, is
the father of all mankind (and of all religious personalities,
of course). The deceased is believed to be a “believer”
who was going to be married according to the religion and the
killer, according to the today’s interpretation, was a
“disbeliever” who lived – to reproduce.
Kill them all
Ever since, countless trees have been
cut down and utilised for making weapons and tools of murder,
animals have been slaughtered to feed the armies and the
result is that this land has been fertilised by decaying
corpses of men, women and children killed in the name of
religion on countless occasions. Countless men have fought,
killed indefinite numbers of other men and eventually have met
their demise – all in the name of religion and expansion.
The giants
Despite that there are more than a
hundred different religions in the world. Only a handful of
them could become popular. Numerically, Christianity is the
largest religion of the world followed by Islam and Hinduism.
Judaism and Buddhism are among other numerically popular
religions. Atheism is not a religion; it’s a school of
thought, a mental approach and a set of principles. Otherwise
it would probably be the second or the third largest religion
of the world.
God(s)
Apart from Buddhism, all the rest of
the religions have the concept of Non-human, supernatural
“beings” called god(s). In Buddhism, there’s no God. So
there’s no fear, no worship and no efforts to please god(s).
It focuses on the “self” and the betterment of one.
Ironically, the world’s most peaceful religion that has no
history of widespread violence whatsoever does not have any
god(s). That probably is the reason for Buddhism being such a
peaceful religion. It is probably because they don’t believe
in a god and don’t have to kill others in the name of god,
religion, or holy war.
Mythologies
Hinduism has totally different
mythology and is believed to be one of the most ancient
religions of the world. Hinduism is somewhat similar to the
ancient Greek mythology with concepts of many gods, each of
who is believed to be responsible for a particular part of the
world, life or nature; e.g. god or goddess of fire, luck,
water, love, wealth and so on. This concept of the division of
“labour” among gods is quite interesting as it corresponds
to and on a different scale, is somewhat identical to the
common governmental system, through which, most of the
countries of the world are being administered – a system of
ministers and secretaries. Hinduism brings a long list of
do’s and don’ts with it. Despite all restrictions, it
offers pretty broad relaxations regarding enjoying life.
Music, dance, yoga and sex are a few of the most popular
aspects of Hinduism, that have captured the attention of the
western culture, and people are becoming increasingly
interested in Hinduism due to these. Practices like Astha,
Kama Sutra and Tantra have captured the attention of many of
the followers of Hedonism.
Big Three
The other three major religions are
so closely woven, knitted and tailored that they all overlap
each other in many disciplines. Judaism, Christianity and
Islam, all emerged and prospered in almost the same
geographical region – The (ever troubled and disputed)
Middle East. They all have the same concept of the God, the
devil, the Angels, Prophets, messengers, books, quotes,
saints, dooms day, life after death, judgement day, heaven and
hell and so on. And still there are intolerable hatred,
irresolvable differences and unidentifiable distances.
David’s Stars
Judaism could not become as widely
accepted as Christianity and Islam merely due to certain
“don’ts” and “cant’s” quite commonly found in the
religion. Yet, it has proven itself as a “well-maintained”
religion. Despite certain mutual differences, the basic
religious string of Judaism has kept its followers tied
closely together. Jewish sectarianism has never been an issue
for the followers. Instead, you wouldn’t find many people
that are aware of any sects within Judaism. This has been
possible just because they have worked more on “likes”
than “unlikes” and thus have successfully eradicated or at
least suppressed any “dislikes”. They were living pretty
isolated until the breakout of the World War II. Turkey, which
was regarded as the main representative of the Muslim world,
allied with Germany. This alliance gives an impression as if
only the Muslims were fanatic enough to be Hitler’s allies.
Although it did protect Muslims from Nazi attacks during WWII
but turned Jews and the rest of the world against Muslims as
Germany was slaughtering Jews like animals – and Muslims
were their allies. Muslims had proven to the world how cruel
they could be, by allying with the most horrific killer of the
modern history. Anyhow, already outnumbered Jews were
slaughtered like sheep in a slaughterhouse, but still
survived, so as to keep the David’s Star raised.
…And Jesus said
Christianity right from its
introduction, had to face severe opposition, but because of
some great warriors, thousands of saints and priests and
consistently organised preaching campaigns, it has become the
most popular religion of the world, with its followers in
every part of the world. There are many reasons for
Christianity’s widespread popularity. A few of which are:
Uplifting of certain restrictions on
embracing the religion.
Giving more rights to common people.
Giving more powers to the priests and
the church.
Providing more relaxations in
practicing the religion.
Amendments – A Step Forward
By giving the church the right to
explain, improve, enhance and amend religious laws, the
greatest positive change was made thus making Christianity a
worldwide religion. There are still a few issues under
discussion, like homosexuality and allowance for priests to
get married, which will be resolved in due course of time,
thus making the religion more moderate and flexible.
Magical Mohammed
Islam, in the end, is although a
relatively new religion as compared to the Christianity and
Hinduism, yet it has acquired worldwide fame and acceptance in
just 1400 years becoming the second most popular religion of
the world. Unlike Christianity, Islam has been regarded as a
strict religion. Despite quite a few strict “don’ts” and
“cant’s” sufficient attractions were included in the
religion. Priests were allowed to get married (and make lots
of babies of course), marriage after divorce and multiple
simultaneous marriages (for men only) were allowed. Religious
duties, like prayers and meditation were strictly introduced.
Strict and horrific punishments were introduced and
implemented. Due to all these religious reforms and
enhancements as well as certain other factors, Islam rapidly
became popular.
As the objective of this article is
discussing how religion has affected us – individually and
collectively, I shall continue with my points about religion.
Religion – Taking Birth
Most religions of the world have
emerged from the Middle East, a region where the literacy rate
is still well behind many parts of the world, (Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Iraq and Syria have a combined average
literacy rate of 63.66%, compared to Israel: 96%, Sri Lanka:
91%, China: 86%, Greece: 97%, even a poor country like
Bulgaria has a literacy rate 98.4%).*
* According to the UN figures
released in the year 2000.
The I.Q. problem
So estimating the mental capacity of
the inhabitants of a region where education is a far-fetched
idea and almost half the population is illiterate in this
modern era is not hard. One can also easily imagine the mental
and intellectual state of people of this region thousands of
years ago. Critics say that inventing a religion in such an
atmosphere, where people’s prime concern was food shelter
and water, was not hard. Whosoever had an IQ level a little
higher than others, invented a religion – and the rest,
average or below average people became his/her followers.
There were no or little intelligent discussions and
superstitious people who already used to be too ready to
believe almost anything, became the followers of the new
religious leader. It can also be supported by the argument
that this region of the world has produced no prominent
inventor or scientist. Stories came into being and with the
passage of time, with some added exaggeration, became fairy
tails.
Land of the Giants
You can easily find stories of
genies, fairies, angels, flying people and carpets, sound
operated doors. Some daring storytellers added stories about
giant humans and there are many examples of 60 ft characters
in such stories. People, who created such stories, obviously
didn’t know that the science would become so advance that
the scientists would dig out millions of years old fossil
skeletons of dinosaurs. Although dinosaur skeletons have been
found and preserved in many places but there has never been
any evidence of a 60 feet tall human fossil or skeleton. This
can easily explain and maintain the credibility of the other
famous stories found in the religious books and publications.
1000 years old…
Another interesting phenomenon found
in the religious stories is that of the age of the early
prophets and contemporary religious personalities. According
to the books, some lived to be a thousand years old. Keeping
in mind that the invention of time-keeping system and machines
occurred only a couple of hundred years ago, one can easily
analyse the level of truth in such claims and stories as there
was no “time” due to the fact that there were no means for
the measurement of time. By time we mean minutes, hours,
weeks, months and years. As there was no system for measuring
and saving time and history, the stories about people,
thousand years of age are mere lies and exaggerations.
Interestingly, these stories are found in Judaism, as well as
Christianity and Islam.
Supermen
Another interesting factor involved
in most religions of the world is “supermen”. Religious
personalities and saints are believed to be capable of
executing extraordinary tasks and accomplishing goals beyond
normal human powers. It could either be due to the ordinary
intelligence level of the followers or the extremely
superstitious character of the people. Even if these
spellbinding stories are true, it still doesn’t make those
religious leaders, prophets or saints the ones they claimed to
be. Instead, they could be regarded as expert artists capable
of showing illusions, just like many of today’s
illusionists. David Blaine, for example, is showing
spellbinding illusions now days, but it only makes him an
illusionist, not a prophet or a saint.
The points rose in the above three
paragraphs are only three small examples of blunders found in
the religious books. The full details of such blunders,
however, would require a fully dedicated book.
Now I shall discuss Islam, a religion
that intends to keep killing human beings.
The Killer Religion
Over the past few years, Islam has
emerged as a “killer” religion. People practicing this
religion seem to have a problem with the whole human race.
Islam has been noticeably violent religion over the centuries.
According to Koran, God has, on several occasions, commanded
the Muslims, addressing them as “the believers” or “the
faithful” to kill (and eventually outnumber) the
“disbelievers” or the “unfaithful”. Disbelievers and
the unfaithful are the terms used for the non-Muslims. By
commanding the killing of all the non-Muslims in the name of
God, Koran has given proof of the religion (Islam) being a
torturous, violent and murderous religion, in which, killing a
human being merely on the basis of their belief is one of the
most rewarding deeds. Yet, some are leaving no stone unturned
to prove this religion of brutality, a religion of peace.
Looking at the circumstances of early
Islam, one gets a clear picture of the religion. If, in doing
so, one takes into account it’s leader Mohammed’s life and
background into account, a few interesting facts can easily be
noticed.
Sixth century Mecca
Mohammed was born in the late sixth
century era, in a family that had no religion and despite the
fact that there was Judaism and Christianity his family was
into worshipping numerous statues that had the status of gods
in that society. His father had reportedly died before his
birth and his mother and grandfather both had passed away by
the age of 8. It indicates pretty depressing circumstances
around an 8-year old. He didn’t get any education and was
illiterate. According to the history, when he reached the age
of 40, he introduced a new religion in a multi-religion,
multi-gods society. With a few enhancements like permission of
marriage for priests and multiple simultaneous marriages for
all men, certain principles and rules were the same as
Christianity and Judaism. Due to certain attractions in the
religion, people started converting to Islam.
www – (we want women)
The prime attraction of this religion
can easily be identified by looking at the number of wives of
Mohammed (11) and Ali (6). Higher scores had been achieved in
regards to the number of wives in later years, Yazeed Ibn
Ameer Muaviah (9), Haroon Rasheed (17) and today, King Fahad
of Saudi Arabia has 94 wives whereas Prime Minister of Kuwait
at the time of Iraqi invasion in 1989 had 70, his elder
brother, Ameer-I-Kuwait, had 130 wives. Take a deeper look at
the history, you’ll find Muslims always hungry for women.
This was probably one of the most significant attractions of
Islam. Islam very quickly became very popular in male
chauvinistic societies. Take a look at the Muslim countries
today; you’ll see men dominating every walk of life with
little or no contribution of women. Women don’t have any
right in either Islam or the Islamic states. They are kept
indoors, just to please men.
Do it man – Beat ‘em up!
Islam is probably the first and the
only religion of the world that allows (even commands) torture
on women; and commands men to beat women with a small wooden
stick for their insolence. Even an adult woman is not
considered a full witness in the courtroom in an Islamic
state, her witness is worth half that of a man’s.
Women in a Muslim society seldom get
to choose their life partner. Men can choose as many as they
want; they often get to select from a few given choices. Men
have been insistently asked to keep making babies, obviously,
without the consent of women.
One way of cruelty
Islam is a one-way religion. It
means, one can only enter the religion – to never be able to
give it up. There is a serious penalty for the one who intends
to give up the religion. The penalty is death. It is a strong
rationale of Islam being a religion of oppression and
brutality. If it weren’t, there wouldn’t be such horrific
penalties for the ones who didn’t think of Islam as the
ultimate religion and wanted to give it up.
In the name of God
One of the most popular concepts
about the religion is the concept of “God”. The main
concept of Islam revolves around pleasing God and keeping him
happy. Islam commands to kill non-Muslims under the guise of
Jihad or holy war, in order to please God. If God, who is
believed to be the creator of everything, takes pleasure in
humans being killed by deception and slaughter in the name of
holy Jihad, why did he create them in the first place?
Tools of colonialism
Religion and language have been the
two strongest tools of colonialism. Religious missions have
worked closely together with the world-famous conquerors in
order to spread certain religions. The same tactic had been
adopted in case of Islam. It was a tool, used successfully by
certain conquerors, they have passed away; have left killings
and death for us. We should now take a step forward to leave
all those atrocities behind. We have to think beyond the
religion, on human grounds, because that’s what we were born
as. We have to forget all the hatred and ferocious preaching,
to achieve a better tomorrow – for our loved ones and
children. Let’s give them love, ethics and humanity – not
hateful religion and hatred.
The objective – Peace, not war
The objective behind this article is
not criticism on one or more religion(s), intention is to
create a higher level of awareness among people, especially
young people that are ready to kill or die in the name of
religion. Whereas the fact is that the religion is nothing but
a tool for gaining power and worldly benefits, a building
built on countless oblivious stories. So let us sit down
quietly in solitude and think – are we going to keep
slaughtering people and blasting bombs in the name of
religion? Combat hatred with love, you can make this world a
much better place.
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