It has happened again. I wonder what this world is turning to. A
British soldier, Drummer Lee Rigby was murdered yesterday in East
London, U.K. All these maniacs killing in the name of religion baffle
me. How can a mere mortal fight for God or take His defense? Killing
fellow human beings on behalf of God who forbids taking lives is one
of the dumbest things anyone can do.
In the first place, how does this help anything or cause? It does not give them any support among rational, right thinking people. Anyone in their right minds will detest and denounce these barbaric acts. It gets worse when religion; any religion, is their motive. I don’t know of any religion (maybe there is), that approves of taking innocent lives in order to fight a cause. Islam by definition means peace. How can a religion that stands for peace be used as camouflage for destruction of innocent lives and property? Christianity does not condone harming others as well. To “be your brother’s keeper”, love your neighbors as yourself and so on, are tenets on which the faith rests. I have limited knowledge of other religions, but again, I am not aware of any, which has the destruction of innocent lives and property as its main goal, purpose or objective.
In this, as well as all other cases of acts of terrorism, I see men taking advantage of the docile and the gullible in order to further their warped ambitions or intentions. People who would tell others to go blow themselves up while they are perpetually running away from the law and doing everything they can, to stay alive. One great weakness of religion is the ability of the leaders (or those purporting so to be) to feed on the minds of their followers; men and women who cannot think for themselves, but dogmatically swallow everything they are told; hook, line and sinker. God gave us brains for at least one reason: to think. He even allows us to choose whether to follow Him or not. But these agents of their own deity would have none of that. No wonder Marx called religion the opium of the masses.
They tell their followers to do things they would not do themselves and to carry out instructions they would never follow. It is always do as I say, never as I do. That is the main problem, but those who can use their heads know better than to adhere to these evil, self gratifying injunctions. Creating a listing of these weird, selfish injunctions is enough to make a book. How about asking your congregants not to go to the hospital when they fall ill, but stay home and pray, even though you rush to your medicine cabinet at the slightest sign of an ailment?
This day and age, one of the best favor anyone can do themselves is to beware of religion and religious leaders; people who preach hatred and mass murder in the name of religion. The most effective kind of leadership is one that leads by example. If you are being led by anyone not leading by example, something is not right. Your leader says to fast, but they goes feasting. They ask you to give your meager savings for “God’s work” so that they can fly around in private jets. They ask you to sacrifice yourself in the process of killing people en-masse, but they run from cave to the mountains; change residence and assume identities all the time in order to escape death. Think for a moment. Plenty is not right. If it is good for you, why not them? Why should they live in opulence at the expense of you and others? Why should they live while you get killed?
The perpetrators of the latest act are British, of Nigerian descent. I have been careful not to address their origin or nationality because it is of no consequence. I am aware that some people might now be looking at their Nigerian co-workers and neighbors in a new light, as if, “can he do it?” It is a normal human reaction, but meaningless and baseless at best. Next time a British born white does it, what will they say? Timothy McVeigh was a white American. We have a slew of other home grown terrorists. It is therefore puerile to attribute evil to any race. It is more productive to objectively join hands to uproot evil wherever it may be found. I hope these East London murderers face justice speedily while Rigby’s soul rests in peace.
