"Pretty Hate Machine"

No, this isn't about Nine Inch Nails' first album, but the title is apt as a perfect definition of religious belief.

Worse than the ignorance exhibited by Islam's and Christianity's most devout followers is the hate they exude, justified only by ancient texts. The only problem is that there is only one planet that we know of so far where humans could survive. And even if different groups could live far from one another, they would still be itching to murder, merely because another belief system exists.

Again, as in the Dark Ages to the recent past, religious belief is in conflict with human decency.

Why do Christians and Muslims hate homosexuals? While they use the Bible to justify homophobia, discrimination, and even murder, their leaders merely want power and conformity for its own sake.

James Dobson has nothing in common with the thousands he commands, he's a psychologist. What connects him to his followers is a campaign for hate. And Pat Robertson was a crude businessman, who, according to internet sources, which I'm not so sure of, never read the Bible in his life. What connects him to the unthinking proletarians is hate, which he uses to lobby for his own sake.

For a historical model, I will use the Russian Revolution to describe what could very well happen, not only to non-Christians, but the followers of these very megalomaniacs. In my HIST102 "West and the World" class, we came to the conclusion that authority is the only thing these men want.

Soon after (almost immediately) the Bolsheviks forced all remaining Cossacks (The "White Guards," as opposed to the "Red Guards," pro-Bolshevik forces stationed in villages and cities; The Cossacks are Tsarist forces) to retreat, those who managed the bureaucracy for the Bolshevik revolution were deemed too dangerous, running a risk of betraying the Bolsheviks and those suspected were shot with decree, but without trial.

This same thing can very well happen if the men described above, their allies, and their many underlings gain power in the United States. Not only are obvious minorities a target, but also opposing liberal Christians. This was the case as Bolsheviks cut off the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionaries factions from public support and again revolted against the Provisional Government, headed by Aleksandr Kerensky.

Hate is a powerful machine. So long as hate exists against anything foreign, that foreign idea/concept/thing is then used as a justification for any and all tyrannies the citizens must face, inflicted by, of course, Die Fuhrer [the Leader].

Even more than political ideology, no matter how much anti-"Bourgeoisie" propaganda was spewed by Bolshevik press, religious belief has produced more hate than anything else in human history. [Are examples necessary? If anyone requests, I will supply examples.]

Sam Harris, in his book End of Faith, describes how moderate religious belief gives credence and living space for extremist beliefs. On the outside, if one fails at finding nuances, religion appears docile, harmless. But enter into a Christian summer camp, examine the behavior of even some "moderates" towards homosexuals, and you will see that religion grows hate.

Islam, Christianity's bastard child, has made more "progress" on the front of hate: Much of the Middle East is engulfed in flaring religiously-inspired hate, and Iran has even had a religious dictator throughout the late 70s to early 90s. Christian hate, however, is slightly less blatant, and has conformed to the democratic system as a most efficient way to gain power quickly. The sea of blood will come after they have attained their goal.

Homosexuallity

Today was the day a silence. A day in which high schoolers and college student spent a day silent to mimic the silence of Homosexual youth in our country. I was silent most of today. I live in a strongly religious area. So many times i was asked why i was celebrating a 'sin' and i couldn`t help but think about Nazi Germany. Our President is a christian that brings his rellgion into his politics. It reminds me of how Hitler was convinced that Jews were the cause of all of Germany`s problems. It seems that bush temds to push blame off onto congress the senate and other various people. asfter this it slowly trickles down and the youth are who get blamed and our opinions don`t count.
85% of all high school students report that there sexual identity is 'undecided' meaning not straight. so in a way bush is pushing the blame off to those of us who aren`t straight. It makes me wonder, are we destined to repeat the past?

Talking to a friend of mine last night

I was talking to a friend of mine and we eventually got onto the topic of religious belief. She is an active church member and I am, well, atheist. "God never leaves me without direction; If God wanted me to; I live, but this world is meaningless to me." I told her that I detected an indifference to human suffering and a dangerous passivity in her thinking. I told her about that attitude in context of WW2 Europe, saying, "If people felt that way in WW2, Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin and their successors would still be in power." I also told her that that was the prevailing attitude during the Bubonic Plague in the 14th century.

The point is that this is the only life we know we have and we cannot afford to be as passive as that. "It isn't some bizarre wish to die." But in a sense it is just that. Of course, there is no wish to bring others with them, like in Islam, but such an indifference is a burden on the rest of us who want something better here and right now. Only 60% of the electorate voted in the 2004 elections. The passive 40% are indirectly responsible for George W Bush because they could have taken advantage of the rights that our country provides and prevented this madness.

Furthermore, this passivity has an odorous air that smells sharply of indifference to human suffering, as well as one's own suffering. Boy would any megalomaniac be happy if his people were Christian sheep! Disarmed with such passivity, there would be no move to improve the lives of human beings upon this earth. During the time of the Bubonic Plague, there have not been any scientific or technological advancement for roughly 500 years. Why? This passivity and secret wish to die, which was all any serf or peasant could hope for during that time, instead of making an effort, however small or however misguided or however ineffective. to improve their quality of life.

Even more striking is an indifference to the politicized nature of her religion. She expressed a political indifference to the theocrats who so tarnish the religion which she shares. It greatly surprised me that she feels that she has no stake in fighting for whatever shred of integrity her religion might still have.