on Religious Persecution

Religious Persecution is alive and well.

Where?

Why virtually anywhere you care to name, including this great bastion of democracy that took the brave steps of entrenching protections against religious persecution into its constitution, namely the USA.

The thing most people don’t consider about religious persecution is that it is the religious who are doing the persecuting as much as it is the religious who are being persecuted. Sure, they often persecute believers of religions who dare differ from theirs, but they also persecute people who dare to abandon theirs, to switch to religions other than theirs, and even those people who have never ascribed to any religion at all.

The religious are the persecutors.

That is an undeniable fact.

The religious are the persecutors. Though they may sometimes be the persecuted, they are always the persecutors.

Yes, there are radical atheists who vocally proclaim their lack of religious belief. However I have yet to see a bunch of atheists inciting others to mass murder. Not now, in our present time, or ever in the annals of history. Not even in the history of the USSR, which promulgated some of the toughest reforms against organized religions.

Do you think I’m referring to the current persecution of Christians by Islamics?

Think again.

Think back in history and recount the crimes against humanity committed by Christians. What a sordid series of atrocities virtually without end. How many hundreds of millions has Christianity murdered and tortured during its course? How many thousands of precious and unique cultures has Christianity not only destroyed, but utterly obliterated from written history?

What Christianity has done to humanity must surely count as some of the worst examples of religious persecution.

And now think back into the present and recount the crimes against humanity currently being committed by Islamics. I am certain you don’t need my guidance to find the appalling evidence of Islam’s excess.

What Islam is doing and has done to humanity must surely count as some of the worst examples of religious persecution.

Yet religion remains at the root of countless other less obnoxious persecutions against individual freedom and liberty. In the USA same-sex marriage has just been declared constitutional. What has the holdup been in allowing loving couples to love each other openly and with the full and equal protection of the law? That holdup would be religion.

Does religious persecution still exist? Undeniably. However its perpetrators remain the same as they have since our most ancient of histories – other religions.

Lest you think I exaggerate try standing up in public view anywhere in the USA, where Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion are constitutional guarantees, and say “I am no longer a Christian.” I wonder who will persecute you for such a pronouncement?

I don’t really wonder at all…  Do you?

{PS. So what do I believe?  Am I religious, or am I not? I don’t know the answer to that with any certainty, however I do know I don’t subscribe to belief in any singular all-powerful deity.  But if you’re interested in what I believe you may find some of the answers here.}

About C.G.Ayling

Musing misuser of words, lover of lyrical literature, author, occasional contrary thoughts. An honorable man’s name, in memoriam.
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4 Responses to on Religious Persecution

  1. Julie Pritchard says:

    I believe Religion should be left at home it is a personal choice.
    I believe Philosophy should be taught in school.
    I had a catholic up bringing I am of no faith now.
    I know Religion is a ticking bomb in a radical hands.
    Crusades were the first religious terrorists.
    I know Compassion does not have a colour.
    All religions creates corruption
    Religion takes away free thinking and is replaced by judging.
    All religion is designed to in still fear.
    I see beauty in a sun rise, wild flowers, a smile from stranger. Conversation face to face over food.
    Leaving your home going into the world with a mind full of good intentions and a heart full of love and remember to live in the now not past or the future. Simple things in life like Love and Love does conquer all.

    • C.G.Ayling says:

      Thank you for taking the time to reply, Julie.
      I agree with you, however I limit my agreement to organized religion. As you said in your opening line, religion is a personal choice. Personal and organized religion are very different, at least they are in my opinion.
      Thanks again! ~ Charles

  2. Lydia says:

    “I wonder who will persecute you for such a pronouncement?”

    This is why I’m so open about my life. I’m at a place where the negative consequences of being queer and an atheist are limited. I can be honest about who I am. A *lot* of other people in this world can’t be.

    I feel obligated to stay out of the closet so that I can make this world a slightly better place for them. It’s much easier to hate an idea than it is to hate a living, breathing person.

    I figure that me being open is helping to change hearts and minds one person at a time.

    • C.G.Ayling says:

      Well said, Lydia.
      Most human humans {and yes, I do believe there are inhuman humans} have difficulty treating someone to whom they are actually talking as less than human. Sadly that difficulty often seems to slip away when the person is not physically there, as evidenced by how unique individuals suddenly don the collective “they”, or “them” as soon as they are no longer right in front of us.
      Social media does little to teach people essential manners. What a pity that every other person out there suddenly becomes a “them”, not an “us”.

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