Exhibit B
Lest anyone think that I'm unfairly critical of Christianity, let me use this entry to dispel your concerns. In fact, if I didn't live in a country that was overrun with Christians, I doubt I'd pay all that much attention to the religion. It's kinda like the bank robber in the 1930's who was asked why he robbed banks. His answer? "That's where the money is."
However, from time to time other religions become annoying and worthy of rational attention, and today's lucky winner is none other than that religion of peace and enlightenment --- Islam. I mean, the American Taliban of the Christian right are certainly frightening enough, but at least they don't totally control every aspect of government (especially large numbers of people with guns and few restrictions on how they use them). In the Islamic world, superstitious maniacs not only run the whole shootin' match and have guns, but they've also got almost unlimited funds due to the fact that they just happen to be lucky enough to be sitting on huge reserves of fermented dinosaur juice (for those of you who went to government schools, I'm referring to oil).
Plus, these folks can be offended at the drop of a hat. You thought the Reverend Lovejoys of the world were bad when they carp and moan about titties on TV? Well, it could be worse. At least they don't organize a mob, burn down the TV station, and behead the inhabitants. In Sodomy Arabia, home of the Wahabi sect of Islam, that would probably be considered a mild response. In fact, Islamic intolerance of any viewpoint other than their own is even beginning to get some coverage in the press -- no doubt to the dismay of the multiculturalists and assorted other lefty whiners who seem to believe that the only country in the world that can ever do anything wrong is the USA. But, as someone once noted, facts are stubborn things, and a critical analysis of Islam can only lead one to the conclusion that a large number of its adherents are indeed firmly stuck in the 12th century.
This reality, however, is often misinterpreted by many of our citizens as "proof" that our superstition is better than their superstition. From talk radio bigshots to local wannabes, you can't escape this bizarre conclusion that there's some kind of inherent superiority in christianity that makes it oh-so-different from those primitives in the Middle East and elsewhere who get so frightfully worked up when their holy book is allegedly used for less-than-holy purposes. Yet, were it not for a remarkable twist of history, we'd be doing the same thing.
So the next time anyone goes down this road, please take the time to remind them that the only thing that really differentiates our superstition from their superstition is a period of history generally referred to as the Enlightenment, i.e. an 18th century movement in Europe that rejected, among other things, the divine right of kings, as well as the whole notion of divinity and state as a single entity. It was this period that led to things like naturalistic science (sorry Kansas, but without naturalism it just ain't science), critical inquiry, evidence-based research, and above all the notion that humans are, just like any other life form on the planet, a product of the ebb and flow of evolution -- i.e. not a special creation of some divine watchmaker. Were it not for the aftereffects of this movement, we'd still be stuck in the 12th century too.
But doesn't Christianity have a better track record than Islam with regard to human rights and other such things? Recently, yes -- but let us not forget that the kinder, gentler form of Christianity we see in the world today is a very recent development. In fact, without the Enlightenment and subsequent schools of thought, modern Christianity would still very much resemble the bloodthirsty European variety that launched the crusades and presided over what historians refer to as the Dark Ages (and for those of you who were educated in government schools, "Dark" doesn't refer to a pronounced lack of electricity).
In other words, it has been movement away from strict and unquestioning belief that has tamed Christianity, and it is the retention of strict and unquestioning belief that makes Islam so damned volatile. Ideally the day will come when we take this movement away from superstition to its logical conclusion and recognize that in the beginning man created god in his own image and not the other way around. But in the meantime, this is why the American Taliban scare me so much. Just replace the crescent with a cross, and you've got the same kind of irrational fanaticism.
However, from time to time other religions become annoying and worthy of rational attention, and today's lucky winner is none other than that religion of peace and enlightenment --- Islam. I mean, the American Taliban of the Christian right are certainly frightening enough, but at least they don't totally control every aspect of government (especially large numbers of people with guns and few restrictions on how they use them). In the Islamic world, superstitious maniacs not only run the whole shootin' match and have guns, but they've also got almost unlimited funds due to the fact that they just happen to be lucky enough to be sitting on huge reserves of fermented dinosaur juice (for those of you who went to government schools, I'm referring to oil).
Plus, these folks can be offended at the drop of a hat. You thought the Reverend Lovejoys of the world were bad when they carp and moan about titties on TV? Well, it could be worse. At least they don't organize a mob, burn down the TV station, and behead the inhabitants. In Sodomy Arabia, home of the Wahabi sect of Islam, that would probably be considered a mild response. In fact, Islamic intolerance of any viewpoint other than their own is even beginning to get some coverage in the press -- no doubt to the dismay of the multiculturalists and assorted other lefty whiners who seem to believe that the only country in the world that can ever do anything wrong is the USA. But, as someone once noted, facts are stubborn things, and a critical analysis of Islam can only lead one to the conclusion that a large number of its adherents are indeed firmly stuck in the 12th century.
This reality, however, is often misinterpreted by many of our citizens as "proof" that our superstition is better than their superstition. From talk radio bigshots to local wannabes, you can't escape this bizarre conclusion that there's some kind of inherent superiority in christianity that makes it oh-so-different from those primitives in the Middle East and elsewhere who get so frightfully worked up when their holy book is allegedly used for less-than-holy purposes. Yet, were it not for a remarkable twist of history, we'd be doing the same thing.
So the next time anyone goes down this road, please take the time to remind them that the only thing that really differentiates our superstition from their superstition is a period of history generally referred to as the Enlightenment, i.e. an 18th century movement in Europe that rejected, among other things, the divine right of kings, as well as the whole notion of divinity and state as a single entity. It was this period that led to things like naturalistic science (sorry Kansas, but without naturalism it just ain't science), critical inquiry, evidence-based research, and above all the notion that humans are, just like any other life form on the planet, a product of the ebb and flow of evolution -- i.e. not a special creation of some divine watchmaker. Were it not for the aftereffects of this movement, we'd still be stuck in the 12th century too.
But doesn't Christianity have a better track record than Islam with regard to human rights and other such things? Recently, yes -- but let us not forget that the kinder, gentler form of Christianity we see in the world today is a very recent development. In fact, without the Enlightenment and subsequent schools of thought, modern Christianity would still very much resemble the bloodthirsty European variety that launched the crusades and presided over what historians refer to as the Dark Ages (and for those of you who were educated in government schools, "Dark" doesn't refer to a pronounced lack of electricity).
In other words, it has been movement away from strict and unquestioning belief that has tamed Christianity, and it is the retention of strict and unquestioning belief that makes Islam so damned volatile. Ideally the day will come when we take this movement away from superstition to its logical conclusion and recognize that in the beginning man created god in his own image and not the other way around. But in the meantime, this is why the American Taliban scare me so much. Just replace the crescent with a cross, and you've got the same kind of irrational fanaticism.
posted by DrJDG @ 11:46
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