The statement means different things to different cultures,
for sure, but it holds a special place in Christendom. To utter such a phrase would have lost you
your basic right to life in earlier times.
THINK: a barbecue for one. Some still
favor such a notion.
Nowadays any psychopath armed with a smart-phone, an Instagram account, an AK47 and some twisted scripture can be expected to press their agenda on a world stage in real time. Beheadings are just the beginning.
Nowadays any psychopath armed with a smart-phone, an Instagram account, an AK47 and some twisted scripture can be expected to press their agenda on a world stage in real time. Beheadings are just the beginning.
So how do we come to terms with the notion of God and those
who consistently misread Holy verbiage in order to press their neuroses like a
red hot branding iron onto the forehead of everyone else.
For shiite sake, are you kidding me?
That’s the usual response you get from most thinking people in the West. In history class, we were taught about the Reformation with a capital R. There’s a reason for that. It was a pretty big deal back then. It set the tone for the modern world we enjoy today. Without the Reformation there would not have been a Renaissance nor an Age of Enlightenment. Science would have been left to the trifling of alchemists and hairstylists.
That’s the usual response you get from most thinking people in the West. In history class, we were taught about the Reformation with a capital R. There’s a reason for that. It was a pretty big deal back then. It set the tone for the modern world we enjoy today. Without the Reformation there would not have been a Renaissance nor an Age of Enlightenment. Science would have been left to the trifling of alchemists and hairstylists.
So why do they hate us?
That’s the essential question in dire need of a definitive answer. If I am to hazard a guess, I’m thinking it has something to do with primacy and place. Mankind is a species of greedy bastards. It’s in our DNA. We shouldn’t apologize for it as it is the same stuff that puts us at the top of the food chain. However, it has to be marshaled and managed. Think: space exploration.
That’s the essential question in dire need of a definitive answer. If I am to hazard a guess, I’m thinking it has something to do with primacy and place. Mankind is a species of greedy bastards. It’s in our DNA. We shouldn’t apologize for it as it is the same stuff that puts us at the top of the food chain. However, it has to be marshaled and managed. Think: space exploration.
For Westerners, codified laws do that for most of
us. It is the thing that civilizes and
socializes and contextualizes our very existence. That said, it’s easy to see how some people
get carried away with their beliefs--but
day-emn!
It is another cruel irony that the thing that civilizes some
of us can also serve as source material of still others to take up arms and
commit atrocities on their neighbors in fealty to that belief system.
God help us, indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment