Nov 09
Shameful CNN article
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/09/iftikhar.fort.hood/index.html
Somehow this nonsense got published on CNN. He handpicked a quote from the Koran to prove that it is a peaceful book conveniently ignoring all the death to infidel commentary in it. A couple of the comments after the article sum up my feelings…
The first step in ending this senseless violence is to come to the realization that mindlessly worshiping an imaginary being without question is beyond ignorant. Every religion has its share of nuts who kill/murder/maim in its name and Islam is no different. All 3 of the Abrahamic religions are full of contradictions and examples of violence.
For those who need some “religious” philosophy in their life, convert to Buddhism, Taoism, etc., you won’t find one word that can even be remotely misconstrued to incite violence or cause suffering.
“Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.” – Albert Einstein
and
“Murder has no religion” Sure. However a hell of a lot of religious people commit murder in the name of their god.
Islam is the most violent of the three major monotheistic religions. Like all holy books the Qur’an has passages that encourage peace but holding those passages up as evidence for the non-violence of Islam is just quote mining. A reader is much more likely to stumble on passages encouraging violence.
But the fundamental issue is that if you get people to believe in completely ridiculous ideas like the ones taught by religions then you can get them to believe anything. If you can get them to believe anything then you can get them to do anything.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:50 am
So would the world be that much worse if it was full of Buddhists instead of atheists? It’s different to read you advocating any religion, even if it’s a “well if you must” thing.
Interesting article and comments Steve.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Note that those comments weren’t made by me, they simply are views I agree with. I still think that “faith” or believing something for no reason is inherently dangerous so presumably any religious conviction passes that test. However I understand that people do have certain spiritual needs so I like that comment because it offers a non-violent alternative to the craziness that most Americans endorse.