THE HANDSTAND

OCTOBER 2002

the word of god - a reply

People seem to think that religions are a kind of smorgasbord of ideas where everyone can pick and choose what he likes and leave the rest on the table. It doesn't work that way--the fundamentalisms that drive world events today are sufficient evidence of this fact.

Take a serious look at the problem: Judaism is the basis of Christianity and Islam. Judaism presents a God who approves of genocide, theft of land and houses, slavery, burnt animal sacrifice, and rape. The "morality" this God commands applies only inside the Jewish tribe, and consists of a list of ten "shalt nots" including "obedience" to one's parents (the punishment for continued disobedience being death by stoning), along with an unbelievable catalog of ridiculous rules that can never be followed. Because no Jew can follow all these rules and rituals, he remains forever guilty of disobeying God. The Talmud is a legalistic attempt to get around these rules for Jews, and to apply the Torah's moral double standard for non-Jews. The Torah and Talmud are Judaism, the religion of tribal supremacism and exclusivism that produced Zionism. Jews cannot logically claim to be Jews while rejecting or "reinterpreting" the clear message of their scriptures--this is contradiction.
 
Now Christianity and Islam, in as much as they accept the validity of the Torah, are as tainted with genocide and anti-humane attitudes as is Judaism. The inventors of these religions, Paul and Mohammed, tried to moderate the Torah's racism, authoritarianism, and viciousness, but succeeded only partially. All three religions fall far short of the average person's natural moral sensitivity and intellectual capabilities.  Yet these religions dominate our world. We have today billions of human beings who think that understanding the Cosmos and being a moral human being means choosing one from among these three old, nonsensical, anti-humane ideologies.

Now what do otherwise intelligent people do about this? Instead of using their own minds to figure it all out, they just choose one of these religions; but they ignore or evade those aspects of the religion of which they do not approve or which they do not understand. They choose hypocrisy over honesty and the stress and effort of thinking. So today we have Jews who claim to believe in universal brotherhood, Christians who claim that God didn't know how badly things would turn out and that only really bad people will go to hell, and Muslims who won't stone adulterers, don't stop everything and pray to Mecca five times a day, and don't forgo receiving interest.

What is the price of this intellectual dishonesty? Why these otherwise intelligent people stand back and gasp in horror when less "sophisticated" people who actually read and believe their holy scriptures demonstrate all the sick attitudes and actions to be found in those holy scriptures! They condemn "fundamentalism" and "radicalism" without ever condemning the holy scriptures that are the root of these "aberrations"!  They fail to deal with the causes of human suffering and violence. Human culture remains mired in contradiction and confusion.

There is no hope for this world apart from complete mental honesty--the willingness to face the facts and respond appropriately. To tolerate contradictions between one's personal beliefs and one's religion is to surrender one's mind and perpetuate said religions and their ill effects. Every sane and sensitive human being should not only "disapprove" of aspects of their own religion, but discard that faulty belief system entirely and create a working philosophical understanding of the Cosmos. We must find or create a philosophically, scientifically valid theory of the Cosmos and a valid ethical theory to guide our own lives and our societies.

The alternative is for mankind to remain utterly medieval and to fight religious wars for the rest of our existence.
 
Henry Lindner©2002

A Crusader Fortress........Montfort, Galilee,built 12thCentury

RESPONSE FROM Nashid Abdul-Khaaliq <nkhaaliq@yahoo.com>

There is so much in Quran that addresses major evils in human society and dignifies the excellence of all human beings. I don't have the time nor the space to quote here. My only advice for you is before you condemn and lump Islam in with other religions and what they preach please study it for yourself.

Unlike people in the west , Muslims know about Christianity and Judaism. We can make a distinction between the noble teachings of Christ and Moses, from ugly actions of people using their names. But it is sad that too few in the west can do that about Muhammad and Islam.In defense of religion I boldly will proclaim that religion has been in the forefront of teaching and protecting the highest standards of human exellence.More than any secular leader or philosophy , (the Muslim)religion has done more to advance the excellence of human beings than any scientist, philosopher or secular leader.

Rather than being "an opiate of the masses", I would say incorrect religious understandings has been the true "opiate of the masses". Religion as truely taught by Muhammad, Jesus, Moses and other great prophets of God has been the greatest liberating force for all humanity. I plan to address the following (with)Quranic verse in another post as a reply to Dr. Lindner at a later date. I have the highest respect and admiration for Dr. Henry Lindner but I differ with him whole heartedly on his views regarding religion. I believe his views are based on ignorance and reading scriptures literally without understanding their higher meanings. But we can disagree without becoming disagreeable and my respect and admiration for him will never diminish.

               Islam and Extremism  

 by Patrick O'Donnell

In recent years, culminating in last year’s devastating terrorist attacks in New York and Washington., Islam has tended to receive a very bad press in the West.  It cannot be denied that religious fundamentalism formed a large part of the motivation of those who carried out last year’s attacks in America.  The same is true of the recent spate of terrible suicide attacks against civilians in Israel.  All these atrocities are inexcusable and must be condemned out of hand. However the question must also be posed whether Islam as a religion , a culture and a civilisation should be held accountable for these events.

When one looks at the historical record in a fair and objective way, the image of Islam in the West as narrow, intolerant and fanatical  does not stand up to scrutiny.  Islam since its beginnings has been built on five pillars or principles.  First there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet.  Second there is an obligation to pray five times a day.  Thirdly each Muslim is expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, birth place of Mohammed , at least once in a lifetime.  Fourthy each Muslim is expected to practice fasting, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan. Finally each Muslim is required to contribute at least 2.5 per cent of  income as alms for the poor.  It can be seen clearly that none of these five principles provide any justification, let alone any obligation, for any fanaticism or extremism.  On the contrary they are comendable and admirable and deserve to be repected by  sincere people of all religions and none. 

Next, when we consider how Islam treated minorities in countries where it ruled as a poltical power we can see that its record is on the whole praiseworthy, if not entirely free of blemish.  Islamic rulers regarded Christians and Jews as “People of the Book” ie people who shared certain beliefs and values with Muslims. They were allowed to practice their religion more or less freely albeit subject to certain restrictions.  They were also allowed to carry on their businesses and trades without excessive interference by the political authorities.  If we contrast this for example with the way Jews were treated in Christian Medieval Europe the difference could not be more striking.  Jews were almost universally reviled and despised, forced to live in ghettoes, subjected to all kinds of restrictiones and penalties and  were periodicly the victims of repression, sometimes culminating in murder.  All this was regarded as justified on the grounds that the Jews bore a collective responsibility  for the killing of Christ and were therefore fully deserving of whatever treatment was meted out to them.  Indeed it is only a few short years ago that the Catholic Church formally declared that the Jews as a whole were not resonsible for the death of Christ.  Indeed it is clear from the historical record that the terrible fate that  befell the Jewish people under the Nazis did not come out of a vacuum but was the culmination of a long process stretching back centuries.      

We should never make the mistake of judging Islam as a whole by the actions of certain extremist individuals and groups.  It is worth bearing in mind that a great number of mainstream Muslims spoke out against what happened on 11 September of last year.  Islamic civilisation has made an invaluable contribution to culture and learning over the centuries and there is no reason why it should not continue to do so in the future provided that recent terrible events are put in their proper perspective.

Patrick O'Donnell© 2002