(Long Island, NY) I was recently shown some disturbing photos, purportedly taken at a “Religion of Peace” demonstration. The pictures were sent in by email and showed people wearing headscarves, carrying signs with charming slogans; “freedom go to hell”, “Islam Will Dominate The World” and other sectarian nonsense.
Reading these signs makes me angry. I wish I could teach these idiots a thing or two about the word “freedom”. I’d like to explain to these extremist wingnuts that it is far, far better to think for yourself, choose your own clothing, and have a real life.
I recently read a disturbing passage in a non-fiction book where an American soldier, while flirting with an Islamic woman, was informed by said woman, “God says pleasure with a man is evil,”
I want to pick these people up, shake them senseless, and airmail them to a deprogramming center someplace.
Before I get to the next step in this intellectual parade, however, I am given great pause by the sheer hypocrisy of it all. In fact, I am bowled over by the massive tidal wave of ignorance that I, and my fellow Americans, have regarding these issues.
I know exactly what you are thinking right now, and you’re wrong. I am not about to go on a tirade about equality, open-mindedness, and giving legitimate Islam a fair shake. No, not this writer. We already KNOW about all that, and give it plenty of thought. Or at least, we should.
No, what I am railing about here is the utter hypocrisy of Americans who gnash their teeth against the kind of oppressive lifestyles of extreme Islamic belief, but don’t give one iota of thought to identically oppressive policies held forth by mainstream branches of Christianity.
Africa is a nation literally drowning in AIDS. One report claims nearly 25 million cases in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Along comes the Vatican, instructing people—including Catholics in Africa—not to use condoms. The Vatican has instructed these people that condom use is a SIN. Africans and their AIDS epidemic? Too bad, according to the doctrines of the church. Yes, yes, I know there are moderates in the Catholic Church. I sympathize with them and hope they win out in the end. This does NOT change the fact that in the 21st Century, a major mainstream religion is teaching people HOCUS POCUS about condoms.
Folks, this is just as irresponsible as telling women that “pleasure with a man is evil”. I ask you, just who is the backwards, ignorant, religious extremist here? We are living in the bloody 21st Century, people. Does ANYONE really believe these things? Apparently, they do.
Everyone should be free to practice their faith in the privacy of their own homes, mosques, churches, synagogues, whatever. In my own not-so-humble opinion, religion becomes oppressive when it stops being about your personal choices, and starts becoming some man in a robe, an unusually tall hat, or a clerical collar dictating what God says is right and wrong for everyone. It’s the giving of orders I object to, on all sides of the equation. Religion is supposed to be a voluntary thing, last time I checked. Unfortunately, some Christians, followers of Islam, and even some atheists all want the rest of us to fall lock-step in line with their brand of thinking.
The war on terror will NEVER be over until we can render people like this completely powerless. And there is only ONE way to do that, folks.
That’s right, only ONE way. And it has nothing to do with guns, bombs, missiles, or flags.
If we, as a society, ignore these people and their petty demands, they lose their power. We don’t have to kill them. We just have to quit letting them have power over us by listening to a thing they say.
I’ll go one step farther here, the most controversial step; if these people are right about God’s demands, I want absolutely nothing to do with God. I’d rather take my chances in hell than spend an eternity kowtowing to the demands of a supreme deity so appallingly petty and small-minded.
The photos that inspired this article were sent via email, so I have no idea as to their actual origins, but I can tell you this. Much in the same way that the “religion of peace” (Christianity) went to war against people of Islamic faith back during the Crusades, today we have another “religion of peace” (Islam) going to war with the people it brands as infidels today. History is repeating itself, and we are doomed to repeat it, having learned nothing from the joint tragedy against “believers” and “unbelievers” on either side.
Trust me on this one, folks. Islam isn’t the enemy. Stupid, pig-ignorant buffons on both sides of the religious fence are the real enemy. Anyone who still believes that God–whatever he, she, or it may be–is interested in being the supernatural IRS of us all has missed the entire point. But I suppose we’ll never learn. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
