Sunday, October 12, 2003
Impressing Who?
An Iranian lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, has received a Nobel Prize for Peace. She had been a judge until fanatical religious Muslims forced her off the bench. She said in an interview with NPR that one of her most important accomplishments occurred last year when she helped pass a law that protects children from being tortured.
What?
What did she do?
What kind of a country is that?
What kind of a people needs to be told that they should not torture children?
Iran has been populated for 10,000 years! They are a "Cradle of Civilization". And it took the residents of Iran ten thousand years to decide that maybe they should not torture children. Even the law passed was worded "with reservations" in case torture may be indicated on religious grounds. It's bad enough that the Iranians still practice amputations, public floggings, stonings, and hangings for civil infractions. But the torture of children is way past my understanding. I have always believed all people are the same.
We all eat, sleep, dream, work, play, cry, laugh, and love. And worship.
And Worship.
There's the rub.
Human sacrifice, blood drinking, cannibalism, temple whoring, inquisition, witch burning, genocide, genital mutilation, mind control, manipulation. . . all are done in the name of God. All done for the sole purpose of basking in God's glorious appreciation. All done for the power God will bestow. All done by Man, still trying to gain some semblance of control over his own destiny.
Maybe we are all the same, but to different degrees in accordance to our proximity to Eden. For surely the closer man is to God's Direct Contact, the more bizarre is man's behavior.
In the 50's and early 60's, we in the western countries philosophized about God in a matchbox, God being dead, God, for some reason, removed from his creation. Just like the children of good parents who are allowed to become independent from the womb, westerners were able to strive toward a more adult understanding of God. They began to see the purpose of religion as a praise of God. Nothing more. To worship, not envy, God's omnipotence. Give praise, freely and without reservation. And like all real gifting, seek nothing in return.
But those of the middle eastern religions still desperately try to maintain a connection to the Direct Contact. Their corrupted interpretation of that Contact has kept their worship infantile. They seek to be like God, to control God, to sway God, to impress God.
Torture children? I don't think God is impressed.
Try this as an experiment. Sit quietly. Open your heart. Think only one thought for only a moment. Think "Thank you, God." Don't ask for anything. Just thank Him. And go on with your day.
An Iranian lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, has received a Nobel Prize for Peace. She had been a judge until fanatical religious Muslims forced her off the bench. She said in an interview with NPR that one of her most important accomplishments occurred last year when she helped pass a law that protects children from being tortured.
What?
What did she do?
What kind of a country is that?
What kind of a people needs to be told that they should not torture children?
Iran has been populated for 10,000 years! They are a "Cradle of Civilization". And it took the residents of Iran ten thousand years to decide that maybe they should not torture children. Even the law passed was worded "with reservations" in case torture may be indicated on religious grounds. It's bad enough that the Iranians still practice amputations, public floggings, stonings, and hangings for civil infractions. But the torture of children is way past my understanding. I have always believed all people are the same.
We all eat, sleep, dream, work, play, cry, laugh, and love. And worship.
And Worship.
There's the rub.
Human sacrifice, blood drinking, cannibalism, temple whoring, inquisition, witch burning, genocide, genital mutilation, mind control, manipulation. . . all are done in the name of God. All done for the sole purpose of basking in God's glorious appreciation. All done for the power God will bestow. All done by Man, still trying to gain some semblance of control over his own destiny.
Maybe we are all the same, but to different degrees in accordance to our proximity to Eden. For surely the closer man is to God's Direct Contact, the more bizarre is man's behavior.
In the 50's and early 60's, we in the western countries philosophized about God in a matchbox, God being dead, God, for some reason, removed from his creation. Just like the children of good parents who are allowed to become independent from the womb, westerners were able to strive toward a more adult understanding of God. They began to see the purpose of religion as a praise of God. Nothing more. To worship, not envy, God's omnipotence. Give praise, freely and without reservation. And like all real gifting, seek nothing in return.
But those of the middle eastern religions still desperately try to maintain a connection to the Direct Contact. Their corrupted interpretation of that Contact has kept their worship infantile. They seek to be like God, to control God, to sway God, to impress God.
Torture children? I don't think God is impressed.
Try this as an experiment. Sit quietly. Open your heart. Think only one thought for only a moment. Think "Thank you, God." Don't ask for anything. Just thank Him. And go on with your day.
