Disclaimer: This message was not meant offend or condemn anyone or their beliefs.
Ex·trem·ist n. One who advocates or resorts to measures beyond the norm, especially in politics and religion. The Puritans of early America, while commended for their ethics and values, were intolerant towards almost all other people. Native Americans, unconverted men, and slaves were all unworthy to the Puritans. In fact, they moved to foreign, uncharted land just to get away from the members of the English Church. The Puritans were, in many senses of the word, extremists.
Today, there are many more extremist groups. Groups like the Al Qaeda and West Borough Church go to extreme tactics to get their message across. Some are even willing to kill for their cause. And we can wonder, how does it get so far? Just imagine being so involved in a movement that you're willing to die for it, because you believe in it that much. You hear about it on the news: the tragic events, the plans for preventative action, the failures, the deaths. But it seems, no matter how many people are caught or how many single events are stopped, too many people are still found dead. For every man that is stopped, there is a new man who joins the cause. So maybe instead of trimming the leaves we should uproot the whole tree. Its not the people, its the idea. And the one thing all of these groups have in common: religion.
Don't get me wrong, religion can be a good thing. God gives people hope. Everyone needs something to fear, to believe, to love, and to respect. Sometimes religion is the only source of hope, faith, and sustenance in a world that has a habit of beating people down. Without structured religion, our world would not have evolved into the thriving, global society we have today.
But religion is extreme. It's an ancient theory in a modern world. It's asking you to believe whole heartedly in a concept that has absolutely no proof or conclusive evidence. And somewhere along the line, somebody figured out that this abstract concept could be twisted to fit the mold of any new deranged idea. Maybe some do believe that their god wanted them to kill other human beings. Maybe they do feel justified in hating others on the sole basis of who those people are. Or maybe not. Maybe they were driven to it by conditions like poverty, starvation, and oppression. Maybe they do know what they're doing is wrong and they knowingly use religion as a cover for their actions.
The real problem isn't religion, it's that we aren't allowed to question it. Our global society has made religion untouchable. No one can draw attention to the problem without being heavily criticized and inviting conflict upon themselves. Religion has become a war. One nation cannot question an aspect of a religion without it being considered an attack on the whole faith. It's a fight where questioning a viewpoint becomes an attack on all of its people. It's a battle between right and wrong, but no one seems to understand that there are no winners. There is no right and wrong.
Ex·trem·ist n. One who advocates or resorts to measures beyond the norm, especially in politics and religion. The Puritans of early America, while commended for their ethics and values, were intolerant towards almost all other people. Native Americans, unconverted men, and slaves were all unworthy to the Puritans. In fact, they moved to foreign, uncharted land just to get away from the members of the English Church. The Puritans were, in many senses of the word, extremists.
Today, there are many more extremist groups. Groups like the Al Qaeda and West Borough Church go to extreme tactics to get their message across. Some are even willing to kill for their cause. And we can wonder, how does it get so far? Just imagine being so involved in a movement that you're willing to die for it, because you believe in it that much. You hear about it on the news: the tragic events, the plans for preventative action, the failures, the deaths. But it seems, no matter how many people are caught or how many single events are stopped, too many people are still found dead. For every man that is stopped, there is a new man who joins the cause. So maybe instead of trimming the leaves we should uproot the whole tree. Its not the people, its the idea. And the one thing all of these groups have in common: religion.
Don't get me wrong, religion can be a good thing. God gives people hope. Everyone needs something to fear, to believe, to love, and to respect. Sometimes religion is the only source of hope, faith, and sustenance in a world that has a habit of beating people down. Without structured religion, our world would not have evolved into the thriving, global society we have today.
But religion is extreme. It's an ancient theory in a modern world. It's asking you to believe whole heartedly in a concept that has absolutely no proof or conclusive evidence. And somewhere along the line, somebody figured out that this abstract concept could be twisted to fit the mold of any new deranged idea. Maybe some do believe that their god wanted them to kill other human beings. Maybe they do feel justified in hating others on the sole basis of who those people are. Or maybe not. Maybe they were driven to it by conditions like poverty, starvation, and oppression. Maybe they do know what they're doing is wrong and they knowingly use religion as a cover for their actions.
The real problem isn't religion, it's that we aren't allowed to question it. Our global society has made religion untouchable. No one can draw attention to the problem without being heavily criticized and inviting conflict upon themselves. Religion has become a war. One nation cannot question an aspect of a religion without it being considered an attack on the whole faith. It's a fight where questioning a viewpoint becomes an attack on all of its people. It's a battle between right and wrong, but no one seems to understand that there are no winners. There is no right and wrong. 
I really liked your post, and especially the last two paragraphs. It's such a shame that some people use religion as an excuse to justify things they do to harm others. Religion is such a touchy subject, because like you said, what's right and wrong is relative to who you're asking. I think the picture you added really summed up the point well. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so right when you said that there is no in between in terms of religion. People either have to believe the whole doctrine of the faith or are deemed non believers. It is a shame that it is so cookie cutter and there is no in between when religion is one of the most personal things there is
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post, it was a very interesting read. I also liked how you used comparisons to real world, relate-able examples. Overall, it was well written and it could definitely spark and interesting discussion!
ReplyDeleteWow. Great job on expressing your feelings on such a sensitive topic. I agree with you and Maya that religion should not be used to justify some really horrible things but that maybe people truly believe it is for a good cause. I also really liked your tree metaphor.
ReplyDeleteThis was really amazing. The last paragraph really connected all your thoughts beautifully! This was a really interesting and compelling read! Great job :)
ReplyDeleteI really like your post, Ankita. It is a shame that people can make an excuse for any action with religion. You are right - the Puritans were quite extremist. I really like how you trace the extremism of the Puritans to extremist groups today, such as Al-Qaeda. And the picture that you included with Jon Stewart's quote is very true. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteAnkita, I'm really thrilled you decided to blog about this. You can look at the events surrounding a certain category of religion and see flaws that other people who have similar beliefs have never really contemplated; they've just accepted them as fact. You handled this mature topic in an appropriate way!
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