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God's Warriors
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
I recently watched a series on CNN called God's Warriors and I have to say it was an eye opener. Spread over three days, Christiane Amanpour was the reporter tasked with presenting this series. During the course of these three nights we are plunged into the world of fundamentalist religion. Each night was dedicated to a different religion. Day one being Jewish warriors, day two, Muslim warriors, and day three, Christian warriors.
I was flabbergasted by some of what I saw. I realize that this was an exteme viewpoint and that it might be the minority but it is an ever increasing viewpoint and in many respects they are still the most powerful. By "it" I mean fundamentalist/extremism, and "they" meaning the practitioners.
One thing that did not surprise me is that all of them were equally fucked up. There is a lot of attention in the United States on Muslim extremists because, let's face it, we don't really care for brown people. Especially brown people that don't believe in the same god that your standard issue judeo-christian American citizen believes in. However, Jews and Christians are just as fucking whacked out and dangerous. Any person can become a menace if they have a thought that is brought to an "ultimate" level of fanaticism, this level of danger increases exponentially when it is a viewpoint such as religion.
I have no idea when/if this series will be re-aired. I just happened to stumble upon it because I was up late and it came on. However, if you can manage it, I would very highly recommend you watch it.
It was not all bad, there were also some genuinely good people featured but it was funny how they were the ones being called "out there" or greeted with disdain by the more powerful figures of the church, the Jerry Fallwells and what-have-you.
I do not hate religion. Quite the opposite in fact. I think it can be a very beautiful thing, all of them have this same potential. However, what I hate is how religion has been corrupted and turned into a sad bastardization of what it could be. It seems that the ideals of these three religions have been perverted over time and as such, progress within them has actually regressed.
This is an inevitibility with such things. Religion is like the ultimate phone game. A story is passed from one person to the next, to the next, and down the line until what comes out at the end is not the same as what we started with. Sure, there are written texts to go along with them but each person offers their own interpretation of it and so it changes with each generation. The biggest problem is the inability of any of these religions to admit that there might be some mistakes somewhere. The Christian bible for example must be infallible and unchanging because it is the word of God.
Okay, let us assume that is true. That does not change the fact that it was written by man. Even if God was talking through the author is it not possible that this flawed human made a typo in his haste or missed some little bit from one of the tales. What if his fucking quill broke while taking dictation from God so a few minutes of dialog were not recorded?
That can not be accounted for by religion though. The Bible is the Bible and it is perfect. As commander Data said to the Borg Queen "Thinking oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind."
There is no evolution in religion. This is something that is simply not possible. I do not mean man from ape, or chickens from snakes or whatever. I mean as an organization. It is unbending and unchanging. Without evolution there is no growth, no growth leads to stagnation, stagnation leads to frustration, frustration leads to anger, anger leads to violence, violence leads to hatred.
I read a while back that some scientists thought they had found a "god gene." That is, some evidence that humanity is biologically predisposed to believe in a god figure. Perhaps that is why it seems that humanity is also predisposed to destroy.
Read Christiane Amanpour's Wikipedia page
Read Christiane Amanpour's CNN profile
richter
Fundamentalism
Please forgive my intrusion. Kris contacted me and asked me to respond. Firstly, the God of all three religions is the same God. All three are based on Judaism. Their roots are the same. They just stop at different points that are beneficial to their point of view. Judaism uses the Old Testament, Christianity stops with Jesus, and Muslim’s end with Mohammed. The Muslim religion, being the newest of these, uses Old Testament characters and Jesus in the Koran and the God that they back everything up with is the same one as the others. The institution of the churches themselves leads to fundamentalism but it’s the organization that also leads to the continuation of each church. It becomes a catch 22. Organization by itself leads to political agenda as evidenced by conservatives and liberals tugging for control of any organization. Control the organization, control their mission statement. This competition works within each church body and then finds its’ way to competing against other sects. This is a human nature statement more than it is a religious one. ‘If our point is correct, then we must push this point to these poor uninformed outsiders’. You find countries that use nationalism in much the same way as fundamentalists use religion to bolster their support. Generally, when ideas get agendized, the original intent of the idea gets subverted. Once the agenda is introduced, the clear intent is clouded. I remind you that fundamentalists are a most vocal and visible group. As humans, we know our propensity to sway our attitudes towards that type of sensationalism and fundamentalists realize that also which is why they vie for our attention. While nothing is truly gained by extremism, I will remind that the power of the human, one by one, to make good changes that has value every day is happening all around us and the spiritual beings that we want to become is well within our power. It holds then, that if we want to make the world a better place, we can make ourselves the instruments of that change.
Notes of Consideration
It is within the religious belief that people search for peace and love yet when the belief is fueled with judgment and fear all is lost. Where there is judgment and fear, discrimination runs rampant making it virtually impossible to embrace differences. Perhaps these fundamentalist groups are present to remind us of the destruction--restricted ideas and limited thoughts create. What we choose to do with this knowledge is up to us.
Fundamentalism
What I have found interesting in the issue of religious fundamentalism, is how it relates to the larger context of the effects of modernity and globalization on cultures/religions around the world. As we become more modern and secular, or, the more we evolve, we see how cultures, especially religion, plays a role in the resistance of evolution. All of us to some extent resist modernity, and as we become more gobalized, the more alienation we feel. Because nations have only assaulted our human rituals through violence, it is no wonder that there are extremists that are, in fact, God's Warriors.
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
I recently watched a series on CNN called God's Warriors and I have to say it was an eye opener. Spread over three days, Christiane Amanpour was the reporter tasked with presenting this series. During the course of these three nights we are plunged into the world of fundamentalist religion. Each night was dedicated to a different religion. Day one being Jewish warriors, day two, Muslim warriors, and day three, Christian warriors.
I was flabbergasted by some of what I saw. I realize that this was an exteme viewpoint and that it might be the minority but it is an ever increasing viewpoint and in many respects they are still the most powerful. By "it" I mean fundamentalist/extremism, and "they" meaning the practitioners.
One thing that did not surprise me is that all of them were equally fucked up. There is a lot of attention in the United States on Muslim extremists because, let's face it, we don't really care for brown people. Especially brown people that don't believe in the same god that your standard issue judeo-christian American citizen believes in. However, Jews and Christians are just as fucking whacked out and dangerous. Any person can become a menace if they have a thought that is brought to an "ultimate" level of fanaticism, this level of danger increases exponentially when it is a viewpoint such as religion.
I have no idea when/if this series will be re-aired. I just happened to stumble upon it because I was up late and it came on. However, if you can manage it, I would very highly recommend you watch it.
It was not all bad, there were also some genuinely good people featured but it was funny how they were the ones being called "out there" or greeted with disdain by the more powerful figures of the church, the Jerry Fallwells and what-have-you.
I do not hate religion. Quite the opposite in fact. I think it can be a very beautiful thing, all of them have this same potential. However, what I hate is how religion has been corrupted and turned into a sad bastardization of what it could be. It seems that the ideals of these three religions have been perverted over time and as such, progress within them has actually regressed.
This is an inevitibility with such things. Religion is like the ultimate phone game. A story is passed from one person to the next, to the next, and down the line until what comes out at the end is not the same as what we started with. Sure, there are written texts to go along with them but each person offers their own interpretation of it and so it changes with each generation. The biggest problem is the inability of any of these religions to admit that there might be some mistakes somewhere. The Christian bible for example must be infallible and unchanging because it is the word of God.
Okay, let us assume that is true. That does not change the fact that it was written by man. Even if God was talking through the author is it not possible that this flawed human made a typo in his haste or missed some little bit from one of the tales. What if his fucking quill broke while taking dictation from God so a few minutes of dialog were not recorded?
That can not be accounted for by religion though. The Bible is the Bible and it is perfect. As commander Data said to the Borg Queen "Thinking oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind."
There is no evolution in religion. This is something that is simply not possible. I do not mean man from ape, or chickens from snakes or whatever. I mean as an organization. It is unbending and unchanging. Without evolution there is no growth, no growth leads to stagnation, stagnation leads to frustration, frustration leads to anger, anger leads to violence, violence leads to hatred.
I read a while back that some scientists thought they had found a "god gene." That is, some evidence that humanity is biologically predisposed to believe in a god figure. Perhaps that is why it seems that humanity is also predisposed to destroy.
Read Christiane Amanpour's Wikipedia page
Read Christiane Amanpour's CNN profile
richter
Fundamentalism
Please forgive my intrusion. Kris contacted me and asked me to respond. Firstly, the God of all three religions is the same God. All three are based on Judaism. Their roots are the same. They just stop at different points that are beneficial to their point of view. Judaism uses the Old Testament, Christianity stops with Jesus, and Muslim’s end with Mohammed. The Muslim religion, being the newest of these, uses Old Testament characters and Jesus in the Koran and the God that they back everything up with is the same one as the others. The institution of the churches themselves leads to fundamentalism but it’s the organization that also leads to the continuation of each church. It becomes a catch 22. Organization by itself leads to political agenda as evidenced by conservatives and liberals tugging for control of any organization. Control the organization, control their mission statement. This competition works within each church body and then finds its’ way to competing against other sects. This is a human nature statement more than it is a religious one. ‘If our point is correct, then we must push this point to these poor uninformed outsiders’. You find countries that use nationalism in much the same way as fundamentalists use religion to bolster their support. Generally, when ideas get agendized, the original intent of the idea gets subverted. Once the agenda is introduced, the clear intent is clouded. I remind you that fundamentalists are a most vocal and visible group. As humans, we know our propensity to sway our attitudes towards that type of sensationalism and fundamentalists realize that also which is why they vie for our attention. While nothing is truly gained by extremism, I will remind that the power of the human, one by one, to make good changes that has value every day is happening all around us and the spiritual beings that we want to become is well within our power. It holds then, that if we want to make the world a better place, we can make ourselves the instruments of that change.
Notes of Consideration
It is within the religious belief that people search for peace and love yet when the belief is fueled with judgment and fear all is lost. Where there is judgment and fear, discrimination runs rampant making it virtually impossible to embrace differences. Perhaps these fundamentalist groups are present to remind us of the destruction--restricted ideas and limited thoughts create. What we choose to do with this knowledge is up to us.
Fundamentalism
What I have found interesting in the issue of religious fundamentalism, is how it relates to the larger context of the effects of modernity and globalization on cultures/religions around the world. As we become more modern and secular, or, the more we evolve, we see how cultures, especially religion, plays a role in the resistance of evolution. All of us to some extent resist modernity, and as we become more gobalized, the more alienation we feel. Because nations have only assaulted our human rituals through violence, it is no wonder that there are extremists that are, in fact, God's Warriors.