“Those who cannot attack the thought, instead attack the thinker.” (Paul Valery 1871-1945)
A true questioning spirit is always introspective in nature, not accusatory. Verified doubt is scientific and it lays the foundation for merit-based trust. The advantage of a questioning spirit is that it is the opposite of an inquisition. Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against errors and dogma. Voice of reason asks for the justification of each a religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof. This creates a conflict in the society as people wants to be in their comfort zones of tradition. It is falsehood alone which needs the support of religion. Truth can stand by itself.
The Judeo-Christian tradition began with the Hebrews but the goal was to extend the "faith" to the entire world over time. Judeo-Christian tradition has taken civilization back many years when scientific records and journals were destroyed in the name of being blasphemous. Christianity has a long history of persecution of non believers. And West has came through Dark ages through Renaissance, Reformation, Scientific Revolution and Age of Exploration. Despite major challenges to Roman Catholic dogma, however, enlightenment occurred in Europe.Today, Christian Theology - excluding those fundamentalist churches whose aim is to reassert doctrinal truths - has likewise softened many of its ontological claims, due to increased exposure to both scientific insights and the contrasting theological claims of other faiths.
Dissent is taken as disloyalty and infidelity in Islamic nation these days. And, such reformers are forced to exile and degenerated as declared a ‘blasphemer,’ ‘liberal apologist’ and an undercover [CIA, RAW, MOSSAD] agent. Like, Egyptian Farag Foda, who was killed by an Islamist group in 1992, or those of the Sudanese scholar Mahmud Mohammed Taha, who was hanged in 1985. Pakistan’s outstanding, moderate Islamic scholars, Javed Ahmed Ghamdi, has had to fly out of the country into a self-imposed exile. Ghamdi was facing a number of threats from certain puritan and violent Islamic groups. His sin? He stood out as a mainstream Sunni Muslim scholar who banked on reason and an interpretive take on the Quran, eschewing the myopic literalism of the puritan groups that espouse a violent, political view of Islam.
Today, progressive countries like Malaysia and Turkey are developing due to western education. And the Arab culture, the cradle of Islam is lacking any scientific development. A simple question of liberal mind : why are liberal Islamic (Malaysia and Turkey) or non Islamic nation moving forward while strictly Islamic nations are being left behind? And the answer lies in the concept: “the resignation of the mind.”
Koran should be openly, freely and publicly subjected to the kind of historical and philological scholarship. There are hundreds of [Koranic] psalms and hadiths urging Muslims to value war and to fight. It doesn't mean that all Muslims literally follow them. Instead of taking decision based on the logic, experience and prevailing circumstances, when we see through the eyes of a Koran only things go wrong.
When same book is quoted again in both ways to inflect war on non-believers (infidels) and proving Islam as religion of peace, something is wrong with the book only. The contradictory teachings are not discarded and taken with the matter of absolute faith had damaged the image of Muslims everywhere. The same religious text is interpreted in two different ways. Some interpret it to preach peace while others interpret it to preach hate and both the sections are convinced about their interpretations. When people are mere loyal to the words in the thousand old year book, there will be wrong done in the name of good also. Those defending religions has got fair share of rational education that led for this ability to question own’s logic, experience and prevailing circumstances.
When everyone wears their religion on their sleeves, making callous remarks such as comparing gods, and that "my god is better than your god", the kind of mockery and insults thrown around that is bound to warrant irrational responses, even if they are thrown about today by careless groups seeking to provoke. There is oft quoted verse “There is no compulsion in religion”. From the behaviour of most religious people, it seems that there is supposed to be compulsion on everyone to follow what the upholders of religion want them to follow.
Today, there is an urgent need for creating an environment in which people feel free to ask questions, and in which diverse reactions are tolerated, is essential to social debate and paves the road for the acceptance of diversity that is so desperately needed in all our societies. A firm ‘no’ to all forms of bigotry and discrimination – religious, ideological, regional and sectarian – is an imperative. Until theologists had to saw the questions raised by Blasphemer as a challenge, not as a threat, the problem of religious conflicts is not going to be solved.
Hence, I will end my essay on the necessity of blasphemy with words of Rational Fool who concludes correctly about religions : It's disingenuous, therefore, to claim any religious origin for scientific advancement. Crediting Islam with Algebra, or for that matter, Christianity with the Copernican revolution, is like crediting the Czar with the Bolshevik revolution.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Ten Issues - 5
1- Who pays the price for paid news? : In mid-June, the Election Commission of India directed Chief Electoral Officers of all states and Union Territories to enforce the law against "paid news" during elections. The institutionalised racket has been running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Ammu Joseph brings you up to speed.
2- Lokayukta stand on illegal Bellary mining has put Government of Karnataka in trouble. Santosh Hegde, the Lokayukta (ombudsman) for Karnataka gives first hand account to Tehelka Magazine.
3- Why you must read this censored chapter: Raman Kirpal reports, When the truth about the flouting of tribal rights in the Red Corridor struck home, the government dropped a whole chunk of damning material from a report it had itself commissioned.
4- Living with the Enemy: Applying the ideas of Holocaust survivor Jean Améry to present day Rwanda, our author argues that reconciliation after genocide is just another form of torture.
5- How Goldman gambled on starvation: Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions. What does it say about our system that we can so casually inflict so much pain?
6- Why You Shouldn’t Leave the Web to the Web Guys : Here are a few simple rules that will help you get the most out of your web development and digital strategy.
7- “10 Ways to Run a Banana State” ; Kopach, a columnist for the independent portal Okno.mk, published a list translated at Global Voice Online.
8- Size of the Public Domain : The basic take away from the analysis was the finding that, based on library catalogue data. A take on copyright issues.
9- Narayana Hrudayalaya: A Model for Accessible, Affordable Health Care.
10- The Narcissism of the Small Difference: In ethno-national conflicts, it really is the little things that tick people off. Check conclusion of article here only :
One of the great advantages possessed by Homo sapiens is the amazing lack of variation between its different "branches." Since we left Africa, we have diverged as a species hardly at all. If we were dogs, we would all be the same breed. We do not suffer from the enormous differences that separate other primates, let alone other mammals. As if to spite this huge natural gift, and to disfigure what could be our overwhelming solidarity, we manage to find excuses for chauvinism and racism on the most minor of occasions and then to make the most of them. This is why condemnation of bigotry and superstition is not just a moral question but a matter of survival.
Thought of Day : When an ordinary farmer unable to feed his family commits suicide, it is not even a footnote. When a model, no matter how faded, kills herself, it is in headlines on all television channels. That is corporate media for us.
2- Lokayukta stand on illegal Bellary mining has put Government of Karnataka in trouble. Santosh Hegde, the Lokayukta (ombudsman) for Karnataka gives first hand account to Tehelka Magazine.
3- Why you must read this censored chapter: Raman Kirpal reports, When the truth about the flouting of tribal rights in the Red Corridor struck home, the government dropped a whole chunk of damning material from a report it had itself commissioned.
4- Living with the Enemy: Applying the ideas of Holocaust survivor Jean Améry to present day Rwanda, our author argues that reconciliation after genocide is just another form of torture.
5- How Goldman gambled on starvation: Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions. What does it say about our system that we can so casually inflict so much pain?
6- Why You Shouldn’t Leave the Web to the Web Guys : Here are a few simple rules that will help you get the most out of your web development and digital strategy.
7- “10 Ways to Run a Banana State” ; Kopach, a columnist for the independent portal Okno.mk, published a list translated at Global Voice Online.
8- Size of the Public Domain : The basic take away from the analysis was the finding that, based on library catalogue data. A take on copyright issues.
9- Narayana Hrudayalaya: A Model for Accessible, Affordable Health Care.
10- The Narcissism of the Small Difference: In ethno-national conflicts, it really is the little things that tick people off. Check conclusion of article here only :
One of the great advantages possessed by Homo sapiens is the amazing lack of variation between its different "branches." Since we left Africa, we have diverged as a species hardly at all. If we were dogs, we would all be the same breed. We do not suffer from the enormous differences that separate other primates, let alone other mammals. As if to spite this huge natural gift, and to disfigure what could be our overwhelming solidarity, we manage to find excuses for chauvinism and racism on the most minor of occasions and then to make the most of them. This is why condemnation of bigotry and superstition is not just a moral question but a matter of survival.
Thought of Day : When an ordinary farmer unable to feed his family commits suicide, it is not even a footnote. When a model, no matter how faded, kills herself, it is in headlines on all television channels. That is corporate media for us.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Islam and Muslims
Does an innocent Muslim has to share blame of terrorist activity if it was done in the name of Islam ? Absolutely not. And people shouts that Islam is the religion of peace and these persons are doing this for their own greed and evil motives. This is where I didn't agree a bit with all of them. Then, you have to see countless videos on youtube with people proclaiming their religion as best and elimination of Jews from the earth in the name of Islam. The point of difference is that these so called terrorists don't act barbaric for their own good but perform it voluntarily for bringing reign of Islam. Don't even get me started over hate teaching education to next generation.
Of course, one has to distinguish between Islam and Muslims. The source of the problem is in Islamic doctrine, and not in cultural accretions. Stereotyping all Muslims as backward thinking is wrong way to have an opinion on Islam. Islam became rigid in hands of Mullahs that want to define every walk of life through religion only. The identification with Islam have became in such an ethical orientation flow pattern, which is largely about the theological concepts haram - the Forbidden - and halal - the Permitted - structured. These prohibitionists made a serious miscalculations: they reacted to their failure by demanding the laws be tightened even more.
It is the fear of understanding the other and eventually becoming the other. For if Muslims understood their motivations, they would have to accommodate their worldview in themselves and that would be very problematic indeed for Mullahs army dictating Koran. Mullahs calls for punishment or at best, forgiveness, but never understanding.
When Mullahs ban a popular addiction (sex, alcohols) that millions of people want, it doesn't disappear. I have not even started about books, painting, kite flying or any other entertainment stuff. Instead, it is transferred from the daily life into the hands of criminals. Even the attempts done on moralistic approach fails because they were, beneath all the blather, a war on human nature.
We must not forget that too much divine power in a priest’s hands would corrupt him as much as that in any other individual’s hands. Zealous priests who can preach deliverance cannot rule.
Of course, one has to distinguish between Islam and Muslims. The source of the problem is in Islamic doctrine, and not in cultural accretions. Stereotyping all Muslims as backward thinking is wrong way to have an opinion on Islam. Islam became rigid in hands of Mullahs that want to define every walk of life through religion only. The identification with Islam have became in such an ethical orientation flow pattern, which is largely about the theological concepts haram - the Forbidden - and halal - the Permitted - structured. These prohibitionists made a serious miscalculations: they reacted to their failure by demanding the laws be tightened even more.
It is the fear of understanding the other and eventually becoming the other. For if Muslims understood their motivations, they would have to accommodate their worldview in themselves and that would be very problematic indeed for Mullahs army dictating Koran. Mullahs calls for punishment or at best, forgiveness, but never understanding.
When Mullahs ban a popular addiction (sex, alcohols) that millions of people want, it doesn't disappear. I have not even started about books, painting, kite flying or any other entertainment stuff. Instead, it is transferred from the daily life into the hands of criminals. Even the attempts done on moralistic approach fails because they were, beneath all the blather, a war on human nature.
We must not forget that too much divine power in a priest’s hands would corrupt him as much as that in any other individual’s hands. Zealous priests who can preach deliverance cannot rule.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)