Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Stop Killing Each Other For God's Sake:
Over history more people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason. This is not exclusive to any religion but seems to be the most common denominator of them all. Am I the only one who has a problem with this?
Let's Assume that I believe in God( my actual beliefs are irrelevant to this conversation). I have a fundamental problem with the concept that God wants me to kill anybody. I would think that a being powerful enough to create the universe wouldn't require me to hand out justice in this fashion. I would also think that it wouldn't want me to kill simply because someone holds different views to my own. I may not agree but I can at least understand why someone would kill to protect their land, or country, etc, but this religious killing baffles me. Is it just a convenient excuse for killing? Might not the punishment of being refused the light of God upon death for all eternity be sufficient punishment for any crime. Should not our main focus be to stop the monstrous acts commited by criminals. This has nothing to do with religion.
A God of Love would not be pleased by religiously motivated killing. He would wish us to find understanding and care for each other as was supposed to be the founding priciples for most religions. He would wish us to evolve to the point where there would be no killing.
Whether you believe in God or not all life is sacred. I for one would rather never be in a position to decide on a humans life or death as I have nowhere near the wisdom to make such a judgement.
We must kill to eat and thus to survive. This doesn't mean that we must enjoy it. It also doesn't mean that we have to kill humans. Killing of humans must be done only as a very last resort for survival and the act of killing represents a failure in our ability to evolve. Monstrous humans must be dis-armed and made safe for the rest of us. In very few instances must this involve killing. In fact the arguement could be made that there is never any real reason to kill other than as an on-the-spot self-defense or defense of another.
The world must learn to heal itself. When the factors which create monsters in the first place are eradicated the prevalence of deviance will go down significantly. When justice is equally applied and violent criminals are made safe the sress levels that create the violence will disappear.
We are on the threshhold of doom or blossom. How we approach these issues will determine the fundamental course of the next 200 years as without major changes in our evolution we are not likely to survive as a species.
Whether you believe in God or not, its time to change the very nature of the way we think about things.
Over history more people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason. This is not exclusive to any religion but seems to be the most common denominator of them all. Am I the only one who has a problem with this?
Let's Assume that I believe in God( my actual beliefs are irrelevant to this conversation). I have a fundamental problem with the concept that God wants me to kill anybody. I would think that a being powerful enough to create the universe wouldn't require me to hand out justice in this fashion. I would also think that it wouldn't want me to kill simply because someone holds different views to my own. I may not agree but I can at least understand why someone would kill to protect their land, or country, etc, but this religious killing baffles me. Is it just a convenient excuse for killing? Might not the punishment of being refused the light of God upon death for all eternity be sufficient punishment for any crime. Should not our main focus be to stop the monstrous acts commited by criminals. This has nothing to do with religion.
A God of Love would not be pleased by religiously motivated killing. He would wish us to find understanding and care for each other as was supposed to be the founding priciples for most religions. He would wish us to evolve to the point where there would be no killing.
Whether you believe in God or not all life is sacred. I for one would rather never be in a position to decide on a humans life or death as I have nowhere near the wisdom to make such a judgement.
We must kill to eat and thus to survive. This doesn't mean that we must enjoy it. It also doesn't mean that we have to kill humans. Killing of humans must be done only as a very last resort for survival and the act of killing represents a failure in our ability to evolve. Monstrous humans must be dis-armed and made safe for the rest of us. In very few instances must this involve killing. In fact the arguement could be made that there is never any real reason to kill other than as an on-the-spot self-defense or defense of another.
The world must learn to heal itself. When the factors which create monsters in the first place are eradicated the prevalence of deviance will go down significantly. When justice is equally applied and violent criminals are made safe the sress levels that create the violence will disappear.
We are on the threshhold of doom or blossom. How we approach these issues will determine the fundamental course of the next 200 years as without major changes in our evolution we are not likely to survive as a species.
Whether you believe in God or not, its time to change the very nature of the way we think about things.
# posted by Wil Smith : 2:00 p.m.
