Violence in the name of religion is not the answer

By Letter to the Editor on February 27, 2018.

“Where have all the flowers gone…..” a well-known song from the 1960s ends.

When will they ever learn? Reading and watching the news and seeing the same scenes of man’s inhumanity to man replayed over and over, year after year, generation after generation, era after era, reminded me of that song and the eternal question; when will they ever learn not to listen to the siren song of self-righteous priests, mullahs or rabbis, or christian or muslim fanatics when they attempt to put their interpretations on what were supposed to be revelations of love, tolerance, justice, compassion, wisdom, kindness and generosity urging us to live at peace with one another and to earn our daily bread in the sweat of our brow?

How many of the worlds brutal conflicts, large or small, have not been in the name of one religion, or another? How often can they not be traced to have been the root cause of murderous campaigns of retribution, revenge, feuds, conquests, expansions, subjugation, empire building.

How often has some fanatic strapped a bomb to him/herself, blown themselves to bits, dozens of others, including children, with them, in the conviction —drummed into them by some priest or mullah or holy man — that they’ll go straight to Nirvana, Valhalla, Heaven, or whatever and that the world will change? It never does and the dupe is forgotten a generation later.

How often has some clan pounced on another village, city, country, because some mesmerizing “spiritual” leader or some bellowing nationalist fuhrer exhorted them, convinced them they were justified, superior, on some manifest destiny mission?

And yes, how often has some one cried out and asked “When will they ever learn?” only to find they never will, no matter how often they are assured the new, just society is just around the corner.

Ted Kohlmetz

Medicine Hat

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