I have noticed that many atheists, nonbelievers and secularists spend a good deal of time rebutting the irrationality of the religious. Here in the US and abroad the majority of attention is given to Islam, Christianity and Judaism (in that order) but I have always maintained that all religion regardless of it’s inherent passive neutrality is just as capable of producing extremism as are other religions.
All religion, despite its apparent passiveness, is just as capable of extremism, hatred, intolerance and violence as any other religion. Many people believe that religions such as Hinduism are exempt from this extremism and I have been doing some work illustrating the falsehood behind these notions. I have found some very depressing evidence of religious extremism all over the globe and from every religion imaginable. Hinduism is apparently more than capable of producing its own form of extremism; I read a case of some extreme Hindus killing another Hindu for having killed a cow and then stating that the life of a holy cow is worth more than that of a Hindu and then sited quotes from Hindu religious texts. Hinduism is also built upon a very decrepit caste system and there is unbelievable chauvinism within the religion. I just wanted to throw Hinduism into the mix for a change so here is a good article I found, it’s a little old but sadly there is not much coverage of Hindu extremism in the media, which is very biased and potentially dangerous. The article is from The Washington Times:
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040113-085244-4546r.htm.
(If the above link does not work use this one: http://hinduextremism.blogspot.com/)
28 comments:
Good info. Thanks!
Interesting article. The link didn't work but your new blog did. Wonder why that link is dead now?
Good point about Hinduism. I wonder if their imaginary friend is more powerful than Pat Robertson's. Hehe.
Extremism is dangerous in all religions, and even atheism is suseptible to this kind of violence which history has proven. Hinduism tends to be forgotten about because we aren't involved in conflict with Hindu countries at the moment, but there is cruel violence that goes on between the various sects of Hinduims in India that we rarely hear about.
I just posted an article about religious violence on my blog which got the attention of a couple people and is already a big argument. All these major religions claim to be religions of peace, yet when they come into the picture a simple discussion can turn into heated debate and division. One guy wants me to see HIS way telling me at the end of a comment that "He wants you back." Christians, Islam and Hindu all believe that their way is the RIGHT way and they are not content to let there be differences in the world and still peacefully co-exist.
JF,
I’m glad you found it informative.
Rusko,
Yeah I don’t understand the link issue, the link that I provided was the URL that I used to read it and put it on the blog. I made the new blog because I didn’t want my post look really long and I couldn’t link to the actually article so I figured putting it on a new blog and linking to that would work. There will be nothing else put on the Hindu extremism blog its sole purpose is for the article. As far as their imaginary friend being more powerful than Robertson’s I would doubt it, it is just that their imaginiary friend or friends are conceptualized differently.
Stardust,
You are completely right, any world view that begins to assume that it contains the absolute and infallible truth is headed for disaster especially when their world view is not based on illogical views and does not fully embrace the scientific method.
You are right about the reason we don’t hear much about Hinduism, another reason is that they are our allies in the “war on terror” and we neglect their extremism for political reasons.
I stopped by to check out that thread you have that caused some reaction and I left a post to that Jim guy, I hope he comes back to read it for his position is absolutely indefensible.
Thank you all for stopping by and leaving posts, religious extremism regardless of religion is a determent to the progress of humanity and should be acknowledged and reformed.
For more examples of religious violence throughout history, specifically christian violence, see my collegue's blog at http://skulltwister.blogspot.com
I believe he mentions that Hitler was in fact christian.
I’ll definitely check it out. It is true that Hitler was a Christian here is a quote directly from him:
“The national government…will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality.” – Adolph Hitler
Pretty scary he also said: “Belief is harder to shake than knowledge.”
The resemblance of the Nazi political party and our current administration and evangelical Christian leaders is stunning.
“Of course the people do not want war. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it is a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism.” – Herman Goering, Nazi leader
“After the Christian majority takes control, pluralism will be seen as immoral and evil and the state will not permit anybody to practice it.” – Pat Robertson
By the way in my response when I say that I would doubt their imaginary friend being as powerful as Robertson’s I meant to say WOULDN’D doubt it, I have bronchitis and I am not in a clear state of mind….darn it!
Great quotes! Thanks JD!
I hope you don't mind, jdhurf, but I used that Pat Robertson quote on my blog. It's kind of funny that I was almost done with that post when I saw that quote, which was such a good fit for it!
Justinother,
That’s right there is no way to make a full compromise with differing religious ideologies, it just cannot happen. That small difference will become huge as you say and when you add extremism to the mix and the fact that many of the religious texts of the various religions call for execution and eradication of differing views and infidelity you have a very big problem.
Does not play well with others,
I do not mind at all, I am glad that my posting quotes helped you in any way. That’s one of the advantages of blogging, it is a great way to exchange ideas and information….that is what I am all for. I’m going to have to check out your blog.
Thank you both for stopping by and leaving comments.
You are certainly correct that all religion can produce extremism. It is important that we don't lose sight of this in our focus on Christianity and Islam.
Hi there, JDHURF, my friend. Hello to everyone else as well.
Nice blog; very nice indeed. It's cool to acknowledge that any religion can become extreme; I think people tend to forget that. I get along great with my brother (we're Jewish), but when he starts disrespecting Muslims and Palestinians, I get furious.
Vjack and melloncollie thanks for stopping by and leaving comments.
"I stopped by to check out that thread you have that caused some reaction and I left a post to that Jim guy, I hope he comes back to read it for his position is absolutely indefensible."
JD-- I appreciate the long comments you made on my blog and they seemed to touch a nerve because Jim DID come back, but instead of addressing your comments, he went off on a salvation tangent and I kept having to delete him. I had to warn him a couple of times. I dont like to delete comments, however, I will not have my blog become a tool for his persistent and long evangelizing. So...he wrote a blog post on his website about me deleting him complete with link to my blog! (This is the problem...christians just don't know when to stop!) He accuses me of being close-minded...I am a freethinker, but when it comes to imaginary floating sky daddies, my mind IS closed.
This is the second person now who has gotten defensive enough to post my blog link on their blogsite...and therefore they are HELPING me spread my "seeds of doubt" without me having to go anywhere. :-) I refrain from posting on christian blogs...but if they come to my blog...well...they are in my territory and they are going to hear it.
Thanks for stopping by so often and for the support...everyone else too!
I posted on his blog for you. I will not sit back and watch as my views and views of like minded people become distorted and attacked with falsehood and deception. Jim would do well to study up on debating and how to present ones views to others. When he threw those false accusations at you it seems like he is partaking in actions which are described in psychology as “displacement” or “projection”, as an ego defense mechanism he projected his actions onto you and displaced his frustration at not being able to rebut some of our posts by attacking your personhood. This is obviously wrong, dishonest, immoral and completely out of line; you had every right to delete his posts.
Thanks JD. This is my first time to run into someone so fundamentalist in blogland with this Jim guy!
The thing is, I didn't go to his blog, he found me. LOL! Aren't I so lucky??? Now he is on Freethoughtmom's blog trying to bring up MY blog in the middle of a thread about raising children...now that is desperate! It appears from what he wrote on his post about me that he goes from atheist blog to atheist blog or something. He is not interested in topics that are being discussed...he is merely looking for converts.
He says this is a public internet domain, which it is in general, but these are individual blogs and we do have options to make it private and to control comments. Therefore, it is by out hosptitality that we allow people to view our blogs and make comments and it is to our discretion like newspaper and magazine editors to weed out what we deem offensive to us.
Anyway...thanks again!
I should add that I deleted those comments on my blog that Jim posted because they were harrassment, not discussion...it takes a lot to offend me.
Great post, and excellent comments and quotes!
So as far as all religion producing extremeists, I learned today that there are Pagan radicals that are trying to gain control of the country. I was also told that Paganism is the fastest growning religion in the US.
Anyone know of any examples of Pagan radicals? Seriously...
It was a Wiccan woman who told me this, and she said, "Just give 'em 10 years."
JD- Just wanted to say thanks again, if you haven't seen my last post I left to you on my blog. That guy is soooo annooyying isn't he? I see he and fried brain left you a long rebuttal, but they are just on a "fishing expedition" thinking that since you are so mad you are taking their xian bait. How arrogant of him to think he knows best for everyone in blogland! He has no respect for others to go to atheist blogs and persistently bugging people. Maybe he is just trolling. Who knows. But I won't put up with it on my blog. I see he doesn't get many comments on his blog. One here and there. Probably because he is SO PREACHY. Anyway...thanks again JD!
One more comment. Muslims, Hindus and Christians all have their violence, but by far, christian EVANGELIZING AND KNOW IT ALL-NESS is by far the MOST ANNOYING!
Cassandra- Pagan radicals? I guess there could be. There are radicals in about every kind of group when people take what they believe to the extreme.
But I have never yet been preached or evangelized to by a wiccan!
JD...I have been reading your ongoing discussion on the xian guy's blog and I must say I admire your patience!
Stardust,
Quote: "Muslims, Hindus and Christians all have their violence, but by far, christian EVANGELIZING AND KNOW IT ALL-NESS is by far the MOST ANNOYING!"
Amen.
Damn, you get A LOT of comments!!! I'm glad you made a xanga so you can make comments! The picture you used for your profile pic was actually my profile pic for a while. Love ya!
Yeah, I doubt I’ll put much on the xanga site I only wanted to be able to post on your site and Thomas’s. It’s a cool picture, love ya too!
HI JD..our "friend" is over bugging Freethoughtmom on her blog if you want to take a look.
Elizabeth is right, you get tons of comments! Maybe if you had web banners, you'd be rich. That was DDB's idea. Love!!!!!!!!!!!
You've got it all wrong. Most of your "article" on the Hindu faith is factually wrong. Not that I am surprised -- most Americans tend to be rather dumb-witted. Why do you think almost 60% of all your PhD graduates are foreign-born. Many of them Indian (Hindus)!
The Hindu faith is perhaps the most non-violent, docile religion on earth. The Hindus never launched any jehad or crusades.
The report that you have quoted in your post is about a small group of illiterate (and hence ignorant)people breaking the law. The key point here is: Hindu traditions and Indian laws DO NOT endorse violence. The same cannot be said of Islamic, Christian, or even atheist societies. Just look at how communist (and atheist) China treats its people.
Of course, every society has its problems, especially in an era where television and the Internet help carry rogue Christian, Muslim, and atheist influences to far off places.
Atheists and communists can be extremists too.
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