Monday, August 27, 2018
Killing In the name of God
Killing In the name of God
Would you kill for your country? Would you take someone elses life when commanded by God? Would you kill to uphold your sacred values shouting "Give me liberty or give me death!"Ill give you a minute to answer that, but many people I know would, without hesitation, answer definitively and indefatigably "yes!" Well, thats exactly what two men did this morning in Paris, Franc shouting "the prophet has been avenged!"
Let me declare straight away, I will NEVER be a part of a group, religion, or philosophy that justifies killing in the name of their creed or cause. Im sure many of you are nodding in agreement with that statement. But, that may be because its so easy to state, "my religion would never allow that or tell me to do that." or "my organization, while being very firm in our beliefs, would be tolerant and allow someone else to believe as they will." While, in everyday practicum, I believe that most main-stream spiritual organizations and enlightened religious leaders today would not incite their followers to do such a thing, I am not so comfortable with their disciples and devotees.
"Yes, Kurt, but these terroristic killers in France today were Muslim Extremists. Thats quite a different thing than the innocuous groups found in the good ol US of A." And in that oft-heard answer lies the real danger. Its always the "other guy" that does the bad stuff - the "evil" people of the world, the "false religions, " and the "extremist organizations."
History is rife with examples of "justified" killing by those whose common sense is muted and warped by intense beliefs.
1. When one thinks of a Buddhist, images of a peaceful, soft-spoken, bald-headed devotee comes to mind. But, up until the 1850s human sacrifices were still practiced "to sanctify and cleanse" their cities with the blood of "innocents."
2. In India, until the 1800, the Thuggee sect - in order to appease the goddess Kali killed 20,000 people a year, many innocent women and children.
3. Of course, when discussing religious demicide, many people turn to the Medieval Inquisition when the Holy Roman Catholic Church which attempted to stamp out "heresy" by torturing and killing hundreds of thousands of "heretics."
4. On our own shores, the Puritans who came to America in the name of religious freedom, created a religious police state where doctrinal deviation could lead to flogging, pillorying, hanging, cutting off ears, or boring through the tongue with a hot iron.
The centuries between then and now sometimes give us a false sense of security and a feeling that "we are smarter now" and "that could never happen these days." That perhaps is the scariest sentiment since, not only is religious and philosophically- justified killing taking place today, it is being fueled by a system of communication that instantaneously informs us of these killings (broadcast media and the internet) and ratchets up the volume of those communiques to hyperbolic levels.
Timothy McVeigh, during the months and years before he took the innocent lives of 168 people and injured over 600 more, filled his head with anti-government rhetoric found in such philosophies espoused by the "sovereignty movement" and numerous militia groups found around the country. His hatred of the United Nations, federal taxation, and gun control made him hand out leaflets with titles like "U.S. Government Initiates Open Warfare Against American People" and "Waco Shootout Evokes Memory of Warsaw 43." I hear friends and family spout off conspiratorial rhetoric like this all the time on their Facebook and Twitter posts and they have never done anything violent. But, McVey did.
Sometimes people hold up their scripture and holy writ to justify their actions. By the way, lest you think its just found in holy books that are read "right to left," crack open your own bibles and read verses found in Numbers 25 and 1Kings 18:40. (People in my area code might be well to consider the infamous Mountain Meadow Massacre when doing any soul searching about this.)
Because fervent political, religious, and philosophical beliefs can, in the hearts of well-meaning people, boil to such a point where well-meaning but confused people ignore all common sense and join a militia to overthrow their own government, lie in wait to kill a doctor or nurse as they walk into their abortion clinic, or walk into a Paris newspaper office with Kalishnikovs blazing - all in the name of something they believe to be right and good - its well to ponder the questions I answered at the beginning of my comments.
By the way, my answers are no, no, and no. How about yours?
