The bad side of religion.

QUOTE from Lord Chesterfield: "When a man seeks your advice he generally wants your praise."

LEARNING about bin Ladens early religious training.

I've been reading TIME Magazine's special report, THE END OF  BIN LABEN. It reaffirmed what I've felt for many years - that too much religion can be a bad thing. Religion can be such a positive factor in the lives of most people. But too much blind faith can be bad news, whether that religion be Christian, Islam, Hindu, Judaism, Buddhism, or whatever. As I was reading about bin Ladens early indocrination in Islam theology those thoughts came into my mind.

When he was a teenager, a friend of his recalls, bin Laden would pray seven times a day, instead of the required five. And he would fast two days a week in imitation of the Prophet Mohammed. For entertainment, bin Laden would assemble a group of friends at his house to chant songs about the liberation of Palestine.

His dad was the principal contractor in renovating the Moslem holy sites of Mecca and Medina in the 1970s. At this time he worked for his father so he had a direct connection to Islam's holiest places. One result was he became more than ever self-righteously concerned with the rigid observance of Islamic
rules, beliefs, and rituals.

His life changed in 1979 when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. That was the year that bin Laden's destiny would change. He was prompted to launch an ambitious plan to confront the Soviets with a small group of of Arabs under his command. This group would become the nucleus of al-Qaeda, which he founded in 1988, (al-Qaeda means "the base" in Arabic). The purpose of al-Qaeda was to take jihad (holy war) to other parts of the globe and eventually to the U.S. He believed we were leading a Western conspiracy to destroy true Islam.

Bin Laden's brother-in-law said that bin Laden was driven not only by a desire to implement what he saw as God's will but also by a fear of divine punishment if he failed to do so. So not defending Islam from what he came to believe was its most important enemy would be disobeying God, something he would never do.

This last paragraph explains why I say too much religion is a bad thing. I wish people wouldn't be so blind and would do more thinking and questioning about religion. Take the good that religion has to offer but don't be so stupid as to think that your religion is the one and only right one and everybody else is going to hell. We saw in Iowa last November what that kind of thinking can do  when Christian fundamentalists voted out three Supreme Court justices. These three had voted in favor of giving equality and justice to all Iowans but that didn't fit the religious beliefs of these blind, unthinking, unquestioning fundamentalists.

 My final thought is a question. "Did God create man, or did man create God?"

FOOD FOR THOUGHT ABOUT RELIGION:

We have just enough religion to make us hate but not enough to make us love one another. (Jonathon Swift)

Religions revolve madly around sexual questions. (Remy de Gourmont)

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. (Napolean)

The man who is always worrying whether or not his soul would be damned generally has a soul that isn't worth a damn. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)