We’ve noticed with the recent events in France that religious extremism does not work and people are starting to get sick of it. They are either turning extreme to another Religious faction or they are ‘waking up’ and realizing that Religion is a means for misrepresented belief. A belief outside of themselves which we can say from politics, from Dogma, is control. It’s easy to control people if you get them to doubt something. If you get them to believe that if they don’t believe something then they will go to Hell. I know many people that are part of a Religion ‘Just in Case’. But I digress… I think believing in something is helpful. If it is helpful for you to believe in Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, Krishna or the New England Patriots… by all means. Believe in it, but don’t bend the rules to your benefit. That’s not fair. If you’re going to be a Christian then follow the 10 Commandments. ALL of them, not some. People seem to bend the rules all of the time and they just use the excuse of ‘I’m a sinner’. Get where I’m going? Religious extremism has been around longer than you can imagine. History shows us that the Christians were just as brutal at one time. First it was the destruction of the Pagans, then the Saxons, oh yeah… can’t forget the Crusades now can we? I could go on and on about Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Muslim, etc. and I could give you plenty of examples of horrible violence. All in the name of Religion. Like I said in the beginning… we just saw it in France.
I had mentioned that some people turn to extremes, I’ll use this recent tragedy as an example. Some are quick to jump on the bandwagon that ALL Muslims are bad. Not all Muslims are bad, just like not all Christians are bad. There is good and bad in everything. What we can learn from this is that it has opened our eyes to ‘what does not work’ and fix it or we can do like we’ve done for centuries and start another war. That seems to be our easy solution to everything. Makes me ill. Why does it make me ill? Because there was a time in my life where I believed this mentality, I was part of the system. Believe me… I was in the Marines. My mentality was ‘Kill ’em all. Let God sort ’em out.’ Sometimes you have to experience extremes, both left and right, to find your own center.
My hope for humanity is that we will all look within. If we believe the story of Jesus, we know that he was a compassionate man. He believed in turning the other cheek and that two wrongs do not make a right. I challenge you to be ‘Christ like’ and leave behind the old ‘Christian’ Dogma that has been shoved down out throats for centuries. Time to take back your power!
Namaste,
David
