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| Former Sen. Rick Santorum's bellicose rants against Iran and the 'Marxist cancer' he sees in the Americas have made him a fan-favorite among Evangelicals, 05/19/11. (photo: AP) |
28 January 12
rom
time to time, I read about condemnations of religion coming from
non-religious groups, especially concerning the all-too-common violence
perpetrated in the name of religious gods. Indeed there is plenty to
condemn.
Altogether too many religions sects of both major and
minor religions, despite verbally professing a desire for peace and
justice in the world, are actually pro-war, pro-homicide and
pro-violence in practice (or they may be silent on the subject, which
is, according to moral theology, the same as being pro-violence).
Obvious examples include those portions of the three
major war-justifying religions of the world: fundamentalist Islam,
fundamentalist Judaism and fundamentalist Christianity.
I use the term fundamentalist in the sense that the
religious person, who ascribes to a fundamentalist point of view,
believes, among other dogmatic belief, that their scriptures are
inerrant and thus they can find passages in their holy books that
justify homicidal violence against their perceived or fingered enemies,
while simultaneously ignoring the numerous contradictory passages that
forbid violence and homicide and instead prescribe love, hospitality,
mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation.
