The tiresome Reverend Terry Jones of "International Burn The Quran Day" notoriety that he failed to carry out is apparently not content with his original 15 minutes of fame and is announcing an "International Judge The Quran Day". Yes, he is putting the Quran on trial. He is "accusing the Quran of murder, rape, deception, and being responsible for terrorist activities all over the world". He must not be familiar with the people-living-in-glass-houses-should-be-careful-with-stones concept. I have read the Bible and know it sanctions wholesale slaughter as well as murder, rape, deception, and slavery in various scriptures. I have not read the Quran but since it is another book originating from the same general region in the Middle Eastern desert and also claiming to be written or dictated by the creator of the universe one would expect the similarities to be greater than the differences. So I would expect the Quran to be well stocked with barbarisms and customs common to that era in the same manner as the Bible.
If religion did not enjoy such immunity from objective examination and was required to match extraordinary claims with extraordinary evidence the Rev. Jones wouldn't get 15 seconds, much less 15 minutes. Like John Lennon, I hope someday to live in a rational world where no one wants to kill or die over what they believe. I have no problem with people believing whatever they want to believe providing they do not inflict those beliefs on others. However, most of us would find it hard not to attempt to convince others to share our beliefs. Given the twin facts that beliefs can have profound consequences and religious beliefs have a special exemption from the necessity to provide evidence for beliefs, people have been happily killing each other over those beliefs for thousands of years. Observational evidence seems to indicate that the more religious a culture or region is the more dysfunctional it is. Consider the blood-soaked region where the Abrahamic religions were born. Consider the American south where the murder, crime, teen pregnancy, heart disease and stroke rates and many other markers of societal ills rise in tandem with religious piety. It would be interesting to see comparison studies done but the aforementioned taboo on objective analysis of religious beliefs makes it a near certainity those studies won't take place anytime soon. So the good Reverend Jones can continue to add his poison to the toxic mix. And on we will go, despising those others, those enemies of the True God, believers in the false god, doomed to spend an eternity in torment for picking the wrong god to believe in out of the thousands that humankind has invented. Heaven help us all!
The Bible sanctions rape? Can you reference a scripture for me? Truly, I'm very curious...to my knowledge, I've never read a scripture that does such. I know you're right on the other 3 things you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteGenesis 19: 1-8 tells the tale of two male "angels" (angels have gender?) who are hosted by Lot in the city of Sodom. The men of Sodom apparently took quite a fancy to the angels and surrounded the house and demanded that Lot "bring them out unto us, that we may know them". Lot was horrified and offered them his daughters instead. "Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man. Let me, i pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye unto them as is good in your eyes".
ReplyDeleteDeuteronomy 21: 11-14 describes proper treatment when you have captured a pretty woman in war. You can take her but if you decide later you don't like her you can just let her go "whither she will" but you can't take money for her because "thou hast humbled her".
Numbers 31: 16-35 tells a tale of war and slaughter. Moses sends the Israelites against their enemies and they do the proper killing and burning but spare the women. "And Moses was wroth with the officers" and said, "Have ye saved all the women alive?" He then commanded them, "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him but all the women children (32,000 virgins) who hath not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves". The Lord even got his cut of the booty, including the virgins.
The Bible is deeply misogynistic and chilling in its attitude toward women. Much of it reads like the Taliban wrote it, which is essentially what happened. That mindset is alive and well in the lands that have kept alive that deep contempt of women for all these hundreds of years.