What Am I Missing?
Tue., June 6, 12:33 PM
Maybe I’m missing something here. The hardest thing about having been taught to use logic is understanding people who don’t use it.
I was listening to the History Channel explaining about Islam and the Koran. I need to understand better. It seems to me that we can’t begin to come to any kind of agreements with Muslim governments until we recognize something about how they think. I know that Islam, being newer than Judaism or Christianity, may echo some of their precepts. For example, “The true believer desires for his brother what he desires for himself” doesn’t differ greatly from the version I learned: “that which is hateful unto you, do not do unto another.” Surely we can find some avenues of accord.
There is a separation of theology, because Islam accepts Jesus Christ as a prophet, but rejects the concept that he died for the sins of others. According to Islam every individual is accountable for his own soul. I understand how Christian ideals can ease a tormented mind, but I tend to agree that we are answerable for ourselves. In my own mixed philosophy, I believe that G-d will forgive my mistakes, but I am responsible for my own karma.
Here’s where I start losing the thread. If each person is responsible for his own soul or spirit, why is it necessary to go out and kill those who don’t believe as you do? Don’t you believe that divine justice, however you perceive it, will deal with the “infidel”? Unless – and I fear this is so – you are using his so-called sins as a reason to seize something belongs to him. This is not religion, it’s politics. In my opinion, using religion to justify bad politics is a far greater sin than forgetting to say one’s prayers at the appropriate time.
Discussion of the sins of politics leads us, once again, to Mr. Dubya. With no understanding of constitutional law, our esteemed leader is backing an amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Such marriages are wrong, as I understand the reasoning put forth, because that’s not the way we’ve always done it. I’ve written before that they are complicating a simple matter. My friend, Dichroic, mentioned some very logical reasons why an amendment is inappropriate, pointing out that even we can understand it, we hetero women married to hetero men.
In case you don’t care to go back and read the whole thing, let me repeat what I said about this issue: I’ve always felt that intolerance is caused by fear of the unknown. I won’t speculate on what is in your private life to make you feel so scared.
Sometimes I think that being trained to use logic is a curse, one we’re destined to carry alone. And sometimes I think that, numbered among the deadly sins should be the waste of the minds the Almighty gave us.
