by Steven Carrigan
The Charlie Hebdo massacre changed everything. If I had met the Charlie guys in the pub I know I would have liked them. Their murderers became without challenge the most hated people on this planet. I know that they did not kill as many people as Hitler etc. But their most hated status is deserved. Hitler is dead. Others who share their faith leap to disassociate themselves and claim that theirs is a god of peace. This is a lie. It is no less a lie when Christians and Jews say it. All of their holy books are founded on hatred of others and the absolute necessity of inflicting genocide on those others. Other religions have learned to take cover. They work from within and do not murder people. The simple fact remains: ALL RELIGION IS EVIL
Both Israel and Hamas just want to confirm this never ending truth.
The truces solve nothing They just want to kill each other
Could this happen without religion?
Hello, Barry,
Thank you for your informed and informative comment.
I think, as editor, that I really need people like you submitting full posts:
submissionsauk@stevencarrigan.com
Regards,
Steven.
Hi, Steven
An Interesting post, thanks for writing it.
You end with a question, “Could this happen without religion?”.
My answer would be that it can and has. History shows that religion isn’t always a factor behind mass murder. For example, the countless deaths inflicted by the Stalin and Mao purges were not done in the name of god. However, the Paris murders were clearly motivated by religious intolerance as you correctly point out.
You raise another interesting issue, that of co-religionists seeking to disassociate themselves from such murderous acts. Study shows that an alarming number of people do not disassociate themselves from such violence – they support it.
In his book, ‘The End Of Faith’, Sam Harris quotes from a survey which was conducted among Muslims in 2002 after the 9/11 attacks. The question posed was, ‘are such attacks ever justified?’ The results were worrying. In Lebanon, 82% of respondents said that they were justified. The Ivory Coast returned 73% also saying that they were. Nigeria and Jordan polled 66% and 65% respectively. Bangladesh and Mali both registered approval ratings in the 50% range. Pakistan showed an even split, 38% in favour and 38% against. 23% either ‘did not know’ or declined to answer. (NB. Iran, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia were not polled).
So long as any number of people feel that killing religious opponents is justified, the world will continue to have big problems.
Barry
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