Get A Grip On Reality and Religion
Deborah Venable
09/21/06
The
firestorm ignited on September 12th isn’t going away quickly. I’m talking about those “awful, hurtful”
words uttered by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg, during a
lecture entitled, “Faith, Reason and the University.” Though they were not even the pope’s own words, he is being held
accountable for having said them at all, as an “enemy of Islam.” The quote, now over six hundred years old,
is this:
“Show me just what
Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and
inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” -- Manuel
II Paleologus, Byzantine ruler in the 14th century.
Muslims
all over the world immediately rose up to condemn the words and their modern
voice, but I have yet to hear anyone, Muslim or not, deny with any credence the
truth in the words. In fact, with the
violence that has ensued (blamed on the pope), comes a reasonable verification of the truth of the words. Death has been called for and carried out on
members of the Catholic Church, and violence has not been quelled by an apology
from Pope Benedict.
Is
all this stuff new? Certainly not. Religious fanaticism has always bred
violence in the world. The upsurge of
rampant secularism has taken advantage of that fact – not to the benefit of the
moral high ground or world peace, though.
The God haters will continue to thumb their noses at any spiritual
influence, while men will go to their graves, (and take as many innocents with
them as they can), arguing the validity of their faith over the faith of
others. That is a fact. That is evil incarnate.
Many
here in America are saying that Islam is no different that Christianity in that
respect. I would change one thing
before partially agreeing with them – radical Islam is no different than radical Christianity in that
respect. Until we start to truly
understand both, we are destined to fail in the pursuit of peace.
The
key here is that for some reason or another prideful people of faith will
always take license to intimidate through the threat of violence and death
those who do not share their beliefs.
With radical Islam, the threat is straightforward and directed at the
earthly life of humans. With radical
Christianity, (while history is replete with the same sorts of examples – death
to living humans) – it is much more apt to be directed at the afterlife. Organized Christianity threatens those who
do not believe as they do with everlasting death.
I
know I’m going to tromp a lot of toes here, but I have never hidden the fact
that I find fault with organized religion.
The fact that we are now embroiled in a war, on a worldwide scale, which
can be laid at the doorstep of radical organized religion, cannot be
ignored. The negative impact on
humanity due to secularists obtaining more than a toe-hold in human thought due
to this fact does not move us any closer to a real solution.
Recently,
Rosie O’Donnell, (entertainer extraordinaire and terrorist apologist) raised
some hackles of Christians in this country by stating that radical
Christians are no better than the people who flew planes into the towers. She went on to say that, "Radical
Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America
where we have separation of church and state." This is an excellent example of secularist
rhetoric.
So
you might be asking, do I agree with her?
No, I do not – for one reason only:
Christians, even the radical ones, do not represent a religion built on
hate and domination to the same extent that radical Islam is. You won’t see modern Christians calling for
death and destruction or submission based solely on the belief in Christianity. There are wider issues of freedom and human dignity,
self-preservation, individual responsibility, and peaceful existence that
drives most Christian thought. If, for
instance, the pope, or heads of all the other organized Christian faiths
suddenly took to their pulpits and said that all Christians must kill all
people of other faiths or insist on their submission to Christianity, their
congregations would laugh them out of their pulpits. Christian teaching tells us that Christ died for the sins of ALL
humans. We are given a choice to
believe in Christ for our own salvation, but we are NOT given a command to
carry out God’s judgment on our fellow human beings. That – dear Rosie, is the very big difference.
Are
there false prophets in Christianity?
Sure there are, but our faith was not built on one.
Will
we ever unify to beat this enemy now threatening our peace in America and all
over the world? Not as long as people
refuse to think beyond the organized hype to their individual responsibility
for the outcome. God will not judge us
as a group, but He has certainly blessed us a country. Those who believe that America is not worth
saving as the hope for humanity that she is need to get a grip on reality. All faiths and cultures that chose America
as their home need to stand up and defend her against the false prophets from
within as well as those attacking her from without.
Get
a grip on the fact that we must either defend ourselves or submit to those who
have no respect for us.
Get
a grip on the fact that although God will not judge us a group, our enemies
will not make that difference.
Get
a grip on the fact that the United States Military fights from a different
rulebook than Islamic terrorists do.
Get
a grip on the fact that our soldiers do not hide behind women and children,
they make great sacrifices for their preservation.
Get
a grip on the fact that the president does not like war, but he is committed to
defending the cause of freedom and human dignity against interlopers from a
violent philosophy. And he warned us in
an address right after September 11th with these words:
“The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.”
Our
president is Christian by his own declaration.
If he shared the values of radical Muslims, with the power he has,
people in this country and the world would not be whimpering over the “American
bombing of innocent Muslim communities” in the Middle East – anyone who disagreed
with him would have been hunted down and killed, and there would be very few
pockets of radical Muslim extremists left in the world. In fact there would be very little left
standing in those regions from which our attackers were spawned and took their
marching orders. The number of innocent
and guilty Muslims slaughtered would be in the millions at least, and our own
country would not be accommodating to anyone that did not share a radical
Christian faith.
Wake
up! Get a grip! That’s the difference, Rosie and everybody
else who dares stare truth in the face!
Where
are all the religious leaders (with brains) who will dare to define these
differences to their congregations before all religion becomes a “radical”
experience?
Secular
rule only succeeds in removing the moral barometer of the human spirit needed
to maintain true human freedom, so that would not serve humanity, now or in the
future, in a positive way either.
If
President Bush, his administration and the American people were all the
monsters that our enemies as well as the ignorant misguided believe we are,
these people would not have a voice for their hatred. They also would not have an easy scapegoat to lay all the blame
for religious wars on, and they wouldn’t have America to kick around any
more.
Get
a grip on reality and religion - and at least be able to accurately define the
differences.