Monday, September 26, 2011

Religious hypocrisy

"Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo", Ambrose Bierce

So I've been talking about how hyopcritic the Taliban are in that they use the very same things they decry as their own tools. Technology to them is a tool to win a war even though they refuse to let the population they want to control use any technology themselves. This got me to thinking, and I know at this point you know what is coming. Another rant about some social ill I wish to address. Well at the risk of disappointing you, I'll proceed with my thoughts on this subject.

Religion and politics should never mix. Fundamentally, the two are like gasoline and styrofoam (together they make a simple napalm). In and of themselves, both can be bad for their environment, but put them together and they are terrible. Don't believe me? Let's look at religiously controlling governments throughout history.

I believe the Vatican speaks for itself throughout the past thousand years. More recently, what does the world think now about the decades of sexual abuse of children that had been known to all but covered up and excused? What about the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition? Let's not forget the reason England broke away from the Catholic faith, for one man to get a new wife. How about the Hebrew state, and lack thereof recent history not withstanding? If you read the Old Testament, the Jewish people did some pretty horrific things in their past too. And Islam is not free and clear of my scorn either. Just look what Iran has done to their own people in the last few decades? And all Islamic militants have at least a religious undertone and goals to their insurgency and not purely political. Neither Judaism or Christianity at this day in age will force everyone to conform exactly to their beliefs like many Islamic countries do. Every major monotheistic religion has gone through a dark ages. Muslims, welcome to your time.

Let's look at where I am now. The Taliban are fighting for control of Afghanistan to set up an Islamic emirate under Sharia law. The Taliban abhor and ban technology, however they're well versed in the use of twitter. They make audio and video recordings to send out their propaganda. They believe in using 20th century weapons to fight for their cause, yet they beat their women with horse whips. At least that's keeping up some kind of standard. Al Qaeda wants to do the same as well as the multitude of other factional militant scum bag insurgent groups. Just look at Osama Bin Ladin. After he was taken out, among the things that were confiscated from his Pakistani ISI secured home was a laptop full of pornography. So much for that being un-Islamic.

Back home in the United States, we have politicians who espouse religious and moral values yet are caught up in sex scandals and assorted ethics violations. They pander to the uneducated Christian masses quoting selective Biblical based morality, yet they are most often guilty of major infractions themselves. One of our prospective candidates for President has had rumors of sex scandals (both hetero and homo) swirling around their office for years, yet they rail against homosexuals and advocate laws against them. Another candidate has a husband that to every person in the world seems gay, yet she calls homosexuality a sickness and does her best to legislate morality based on her sickening amateur non-psychiatric views. Politicians value the sanctity of marriage and vow to forbid gays and lesbians from legal marriage by amending the country's Constitution, but they philander on their own spouses and turn a blind eye to any heterosexual marriage that does not result in offspring. They espouse the precious nature of life itself by stopping women from having early term abortions for any reason what so ever, yet they gut the foster care and social systems of support for minor orphans or kids with no legal guardians other than the State. Priorities?

Let's look at the Bible for a second. In *some* versions of the Bible it speaks against homosexuality based on certain ancient customs in the Old Testament, yet Christians focus on this prohibition and forget the others. Should we stone to death our women who adulterer or go out in public during their menstrual cycle? Shall we shut down all Southern BBQ joints since pork is not allowed? How about shutting seafood restaurants for serving shellfish? Children should be beaten and executed for not honoring their parents. You should smite your neighbors for their planting two crops in the same field, wearing a garment made of two different fibers, and what about no longer keeping the Sabbath a holy day? Even the most devout of Christians rarely do absolutely nothing but worship God on our Sabbath.

Personal religion is good as I believe it gives a person something to believe in bigger than themselves. I'm not saying in order to have religion a person must believe in God, a god, or any god at all. Religion is necessary to believe in something bigger than themselves, such as science, art, or the compassion of the entire human race coming together in helping others. Alternately, a non-theological based religion such as the worship of money is also popular, but not as recognized. Organized religion is the root of all evil as the human condition is corrupted by power. Organized religion provides power in a control of its base by those in charge. Combine that with politics in government, and you have force by rule of law to enforce religious dogma and legislate morality. At this point, those in power believe they are above the law, and thus hypocrisy is born. Tell me fundamentalist Christians, WWJD? (what would Jesus do?) Yeah, I thought so...

"The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.", Andre Gide

More to follow.

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