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7/07/2005 Every night I go to sleep listening to the BBC World Service on NPR. I find that this keeps me up to the minute on what's going on, as I usually wake up if breaking news is occuring that they report on. It was in this way that at roughly 3:00 this morning that I heard of the first bomb going off in the London Underground, as well as each successive bomb thereafter. Generally I reserve my tirades for a couple of friends, my journals that I keep on politics, etc but must admit my frustration publicly this time. The fault for this lies with religion. I'm not singling out Islam, though it may very well have been and in all probability was Islamic extremists. Religion is an ancient notion used to explain the unexplained and to quell the upheaval of the lower classes. We now have science which is based on reason, logic and constant experimentation. We also have capitalism unfortunately, which is a profoundly more effective way of controlling the lower classes and ensures the dominance of the few. The mark of religion is unmistakeable throughout history. It is punctuated by oppression, theft, ignorance, genocide and terrorism. Today we have fine examples in the Islamic extremists, Israeli zionists, and the quaintly named American Taliban (referring to the Bush admin and it's ultra-right, born-again Christian agenda). As nice as it would be, I can't blame religion for all of the world's problems, but to deny that it is one of the few major sources is folly. As long as science, compassion, education and humanity are ignored we will never move beyond these sorts of acts. A world ruled by religion and money will always create volatile situations in which violence is the rule of thumb. My condolences to those affected by today's attacks as well as all of those affected by the terror of religion.
posted by Nathan Hall at 7/07/2005 02:28:00 PM link |
