Religion: A Catalyst for Murder
Recently I was surfing the web looking for stories for my radio show. I came across a short story… a headline really. It read: “CAUTION — This is an adult web site but this is a video of a young Muslim kid cutting off his first HEAD and it shows it all.” I followed the supplied link (crudely encrypted for obvious reasons) and found the site. I clicked on the play button and watched a scene shot somewhere in the middle east. A young boy, probably no older than 10-12 years of age was holding a knife, the camera holding a fairly tight closeup of him. The boy is saying something illegible, obviously in another language other than english. Then the camera zooms out to show that the boy is standing over the right shoulder of a bound man lying on his left side and being held down by other men. The bound individual has a blindfold tied tightly over his eyes. There are spectators, only voices though. They sound like they are encouraging the boy to do something. The boy kneels next to the bound man as one of his captors pulls his head backward, exposing his neck. The boy places the blade of the large knife against the throat of his hapless victim and begins sawing through his throat and neck while others cheer him on. As the blade continues its journey through the victim’s neck, the adult captor holding his head is prying it back, making it easier for the blade to saw through…
I had to stop. I couldn’t watch any more of this despicable, inhuman, religiously driven murder. As I write this, the vision of what I did see is tormenting me… I have seen a lot of horrifying things in my life, but this is, by far, the worst.
I no more care for islam than I do christianity. But, while these two religions argue amongst one another as to who’s skydaddy is the right one, neither of them can lay claim to sanity or living in reality. Neither can they gloss over the barbarity of their religions, past, present, or future. I have said this before, and I will say it again, and again, and again, and again… religious FAITH is the most dangerous man-made weapon on this planet. FAITH brought down the Twin Towers, FAITH kills abortion doctors, FAITH demands compliance in the absence of evidence, reason, logic, and science. And, more than anything else, FAITH doesn’t like to be questioned. Blind obedience. Period.
I have to ask… How much FAITH is required to commit murder? How much FAITH should children be infused with before they have shown they are worthy of a god? How much FAITH is enough to kill for a delusion? ANSWER: Just enough for a person to overcome what little reason and humanity they may have left. And, before the christians go off on a tangent over the “love” of jesus… The history of christianity is just as fuckin’ bloody and violent as the islam of today. And, there are christians right now, who are doing everything they can to strengthen their FAITH just enough to prove how worthy they are of god’s kingdom. Just ask those who’ve killed for their christian skydaddy!
Religion is a catalyst for murder. IF you don’t believe me, then follow this link and follow the video link from there. But, I WARN YOU!!!! You will never be the same, especially when you realize that FAITH IS THE REASON for it, and RELIGION IS A CATALYST FOR MURDER!
April 9, 2011 at 6:11 am
This turned my stomach. But Lana pulled me back to reality by uttering the skeptical question, “How do you know this had anything to do with religion?”
April 9, 2011 at 7:43 am
I just posted a response to a comment on my blog where basically someone made a similar argument — people don’t need religion to be cruel to each other and religion may not be the source for every barbarous act committed in a conflict that outwardly involves religion. I agree that religion is not the source for all evil in the world and it might not explain every evil act even in a conflict that clearly involves sectarian conflict.
I will not view this video — to some extent, this video is an attempt to incite violence no matter which side has made it available or what their motivations might be. But it seems evident to me that no sane society would encourage a boy to commit murder, irrespective of the reason for such an execution! And I believe the insanity that would lead people to such a brutal act has its roots deeply within the dungheap of religion. The murder itself is appalling enough, but to force a boy to commit it is the most barbaric aspect of this.
RJ is quite right — religion is a catalyst for barbarism in all its most egregious forms!
April 9, 2011 at 7:59 am
Ron,
You bring up a valid question. And, I will try and answer it accordingly. The video appears to have been produced in the middle east. Specifically where? I do not know. But, given the fact that this murder is being committed outdoors, in plain view of multiple people, I think it can be safely assumed that wherever it was filmed, the act is a socially acceptable form of “justice”. The fact that a child is being encouraged to commit the murder, and is wearing some sort of ceremonial head bandanna in the video, gives additional support to my claim that religion is most likely the culprit. I will add that I do not speak the language used by the people (animals) in the video, so I cannot determine what is being said. But, given the atmosphere of what seems to be a delightful act to the participants, I can, once again, safely assume that it is an acceptable practice to have a child openly murder another human being. I dare say that the chances of a religiously inspired motivation NOT being the catalyst for this atrocity are very, very, very small in my estimation.