Jesus.

I read Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The picture that she painted of Somalia is so scary that this story didn’t shock me – I already knew from Ali’s book that the extremists over there are aptly named. In their culture, raped girls are filthy and she would have been an abused pariah in abject poverty for the rest of her life had she lived. Believe it or not, it’s possible that she preferred death to that fate, but then again, if so, she might not have told the authorities of the attack.

I blame three things–ignorance, male chauvinism (which you will find in hefty doses in any holy book), and lastly, poverty. Funny thing is the first two usually lead to the last one.

I just wish that one day we as a people will rid ourselves of these awful religions. It would be a much better place without them. All they do is divide us. But really, they are manifestations of our inferior minds. We talk a good game about how intelligent we are in relation to other species, but in actuality we are vastly inferior. We are a tribal species by nature, so I guess we’re doomed.

I must first apologize, for my original post was a bit meandering and glory, I do agree with the idea that if it’s not religion than it will be something else that divides us. However, my major problem with religion is that, unlike say skin color or sexual preference, it is not magically endowed at birth. It is something that is taught. If your parents are Catholics, odds are you’ll be a Catholic, and it is very likely that your kids and they will be Catholics. It is a never-ending cycle, but as long as we exist on this planet we will have these religions which do no more than serve outdated views of male/female relationships and reconciling with the inevitability of death. At their core, that’s all they do.

Really, here I go being all meandering and ish, because holy books are all over the damn map one can pick and choose what ancient rules they wish to follow and which not to. Hence, the heinous acts like the one we are currently discussing. If we just follow a couple of basic laws everything would be okay. But when we wrap them up in a confused muddle of ancient books and deities things get a bit messy.

To say anything about these holy books is definitive is to say that pizza is a definitive representation of the four food groups. Ouch, my ass hurts after pulling that one out!

Here it is glory, religion is the blindfold. It is up to us to take it off. You can’t BLAME the blindfold. And religion is divisive by its very nature. Claims like “I am the Way the Light and the Truth. Nobody can come to the Father, except through me” do not suggest much tolerance or understanding towards those with differing viewpoints.

Also, there are a couple of questions I have about religion. Here goes:

Is religion ancillary or a manifestation of who we are as a people? In other words, are we hard-wired to “believe” or are religions merely pre-enlightenment philosophies?

Now, I do not feel that this discussion veers from the topic at hand as the purveyors of this act use holy texts as their justification.

I don’t have the answers you seek. Reasonable minds differ. My answer would be a mere opinion. Your statement, “the purveyors of this act use holy texts as their justification,” says exactly what I’m getting at. Heinous acts predate these texts. They can be accompanied with the words of a zealot… or not. Tolerant and peaceful societies should not turn a blind eye to acts like this, in the interest of protecting the helpless. But if we were to achieve the impossible and rid the earth of religion, what would our recourse be when, even after that task is done, disturbed people continue to rape, stone, and mutilate women and destroy the innocence of children? Intolerance towards people of faith would only get us so far. It’s troubling and dangerous that people in religious traditions teach intolerance to others. Yet it’s inspiring that there are many societies, especially in the West, where people who disagree about religion live with tolerance. Apparently, there are ways to get past the mindset of stoning “whores.” That’s the task – to find those ways.

In the west, for the most part, we have a laissez-faire attitude towards our religions. For a lot of people religion begins-and-ends on Sunday. They go in, sing a few songs, listen to the guy behind the podium pontificate, drop a few bucks in the plate, engage in some small talk in the lobby, go home. That’s it, no beheadings, stonings, or suicide bombers. Here’s a funny aside–terrorists should not be called religious fanatics, but more appropriately religious actualists. Like I said countless times about the holy books. For every do unto others as you want done to you there are hundreds of these: “Before your eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbor and he will rape them in broad daylight. You sinned in secret, but I will do this in the presence of all with the sun looking down.” (2 Samuel 12:11) “If a priest’s daughter defiles herself with a man, she disgraces her father; she must be burned alive with fire.” (Leviticus 21:9)

Now the question is, does such indolence Westerners have toward their God warrant a trip to the big party in the sky? I’m not necessarily a believer so I cannot answer this question. The point I am trying to make is that we are not nearly as devout here as others are elsewhere. The only times the blowhards really make a dent is when they trample on the rights of others (i.e. gay marriage and abortion). Which is a bit hypocritical as I haven’t seen too many preacher’s daughters burned alive.

Well, when I brought up religion (as an ASIDE, lol) I was thinking that pretty much all religions have some anti-woman issues (including innocuous-seeming Western Christianity). But I agree with glory — Islam isn’t at fault for this woman’s stoning. The people who sanctioned her stoning are.

But more than that, I take issue with the AU and the UN, and in some ways, the U.S. for leaving Somalia to its own devices. “Injustice anywhere” and all that.