I realise that I criticise religion a lot, but I do think it is important to recognise the distinction between religion as a manifestation of people's desire to be good and to form communities, and the cynical oppression and manipulation of those same people by hypocritical and elitist orders that have appropriated faith to their own financial, political or social agendas.

So, I have decided to compile a list of things that I like about religion:

1. Jesus

There is hardly any historical evidence of his life, even in the New Testament Bible the Gospels that tell of him were written decades after his death, the earliest being that of Mark (AD 70) and the latest being that of John.  But that doesn't matter.  The myth of Jesus is extremely beautiful.  That there was a man, a Jew, who looked at the religion and state of his time and saw hypocrisy - saw the priests living in high luxury and demanding money for their services.  So he, as a Rabbi (teacher) took the ideals of religion to the excluded; the poor, the prostitutes, the mad, the sick, the lame.  He preached of kindness, of justice, of love.  He eased the suffering of those around him and turned none away.  He could make a handful of loaves and a handful of fishes seem like a feast, he could make water as intoxicating as wine.  He was kind, and fierce, and challenged the status quo, and eventually was put to death by the rich - the priestly classes of the Jewish order and the Roman rulers for doing so.  Later other rich hypocrites would use his memory as the emblem of their church, which is sad, when you think about it.  Still, the idea of Jesus is a great and beautiful one.

2. Mevlevi, or 'whirling dervishes'

Sufism is the 'mystical' aspect of Islam, and the Mevlevi is an order of Sufi who believe in performing their 'dhikr' (remembrance of God) in the form of a giddy dance.  This dance embodies the motion of objects such as planets, but also the spiritual journey of man from ego to the nirvana like 'perfect'.  It seems to me a pretty cool way of demonstrating your faith, and is probably fun too.  As children we used to spin around in the playground until we fell over dizzy, the Mevlevi do this as their worship.

3. Meditation

The practice of meditation has been shown to have beneficial effects on the mind, see this article in the New Scientist. Buddhists and Hindus have long been practicing it as part of their attempts to overcome the pitfalls of human fallibility and desire.  I think it is a very useful exercise.

4. Scientific progress

I know, it seems ironic when you have such shameful episodes as books being burnt and censored, or modern creationists claiming the Earth is 6000 years old, or Galileo being forced to recant that the Earth goes round the Sun by the Catholic church. But the fact of the matter is that because the Church and the Priests of various religions have had so much money and so much power, they have also had a lot of access to knowledge and experiment, and by being removed from the struggle of manual labour etc. many ordained individuals have had the luxury of freedom to explore ideas that have led to scientific discoveries.  Gregor Mendel, for instance, was a monk who wrote on genetic inheritability amongst pea plants. An idea that feeds into Dawkins' Selfish Gene, and bolsters Darwin's own Origin of species.  Islamic astronomers took the findings of the ancient Greeks and kept them alive and developed them when Europe was in the thrall of the dark ages.

5. Architecture

The buildings that have been made in glory to the various Gods of the world are in many cases extraordinarily wonderful.  From the Pyramids erected to the memories of the 'living Gods', Pharoahs, to the Notre Dame cathedral, or the Hagia Sofia, or the now demolished Buddhas of Bamyan.  The idea of there being a greater being than man has led to some beautiful and grand works.

Last update : 13-06-2009 11:19

Just what is the Taliban's problem?

This psychotic, misogynist, fanatical bunch of bearded maniacs seem threatened by anything that even vaguely challenges their flat earth religious hysteria.  Their Sharia law an inhumane justification for intolerant, savage behaviour.

So, they blew up the Buddhas of Bamyan, because they perceived them as false idols, depicting as they did the object of another culture's reverence.  So they indiscriminately slaughtered 8000 Hazara people, ostensibly for apostasy (not believing the same version of Islam as them, the Hazara being Shia and the Taliban being Sunni).

And now it appears that they are throwing acid in the face of children.  For what reason?  For being female and having the audicity to want to go to school.

This piece in the International Herald and Tribune details the situation.

RAWA is an independent political/social organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for social justice in Afghanistan.

Last update : 14-01-2009 18:51