Search History Books
Instead Of 'Holy' Books
Chris Basten
From: Chris Basten
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Sent: September 18, 2001 6:31 AM
Subject: The 'whys?' of what happened
Cliff:
As I continue to pore through the internet, looking for meaning and sense from what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, I notice that the 'gods' of religion are focusing on the same thing that the world is: America. If America truly is the cesspool of filth that the Robertsons and Falwells claim it to be, why would God not notice the rest of the world? For instance, Sweden, from what I know of this country, appears to be very atheistic and secular in nature and yet it is one of the most peaceful nations on earth. If secularization is what brought "the wrath of God" on the United States, as the brethren proclaim, why wouldn't God or Allah attack Sweden for ignoring their holiness? And what about the Netherlands? Amsterdam is truly a city that lets anything go. Its "red-light district" is famous for drug abuse, prostitution, and sex performances in night clubs. Denmark has legalized prostitution. Latin American countries often run soap operas with nudity and sex scenes. Italy is the stereotyped nation of organized crime. Yet no airplanes were hijacked and crashed into their highly populated buildings to consummate God's holy wrath.
So as I sit here and question, America continues to be picked apart and scrutinized for being too consumeristic, greedy, and sexually immoral. As a result, the hucksters rush to their soapboxes to yell at us, fingers pointed to that ever-convenient Bible passage, about our moral decline as a nation. "God is angry." "God's protection is leaving this land." "We must submit to his Lordship and repent."
But common sense seems to say otherwise. If we want to learn about peace, why should we stick our noses into our Bibles? The Bible blatantly supports violence. No, I would much rather learn what peace is from nations that know how to live it. While these countries are not perfect, they indeed have much to teach us. Rarely do I hear of bleak, violent episodes in Scandinavia and yet these nations receive no publicity because peace just isn't newsworthy.
Religion is not the popular, trendy icon of power in much of Europe like it is America, the Middle East, and other portions of the world. Europe was ravaged by two World Wars and now seems to be uniting as a continent for the first time in human history. Could the abandonment of religious nonsense and cruelty be the answer? We might be wise to search the history books instead of the "holy" books.
Chris Basten
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