Religions Unite or Divide?
11 May, 2008
Daisy Khan, a prominent blogger at Newsweek/Washington Post, claims that the best religions, such as Christianity and Islam, reject the ‘Us vs. Them’ and ‘High vs. Low’ notions of division of humankind, quite contradicting the obvious reality.
Undeniably, the human race stepped on to the earth simply as human beings. According to Abrahamic creeds (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), God had sent the first humans—Adam and Eve—to the world without a Scripture in their hands (e.g. without religion). They and their posterity were supposed to be only human beings and nothing else.
According to science, human beings evolved from a common human-chimp ancestor. A recent study estimates that the lineage of human beings diverged from chimpanzees—our closest relatives—about 4.1 million years ago. In this case too, human being appeared on earth as a single community without division of any kind, whatsoever.
The divisions of humankind—such as along religious, cultural, and national lines—are undeniably later human creations. Among them, religious divisions have historically been one of the most tragic to mankind.
Therefore, the innovation of religions did not reject or abolish the ‘Us vs. Them’ notion; but instead, has created it. Religions have divided the singular human race into many religious denominations, many of whom have aggressively and violently fought against others throughout history, causing terrible deaths, destruction and suffering to the human society.
To demonstrate that religions united, not divided the humankind—Daisy Khan has cited verses from the Quran (i.e. 23:53, 49:13) and the Bible (i.e. Gal 3:28).
Firstly, these verses do not quite tell the same story as intended. If Quranic verse 23:53 is read in conjunction with preceding and subsequent verses (23:52-56), the Islamic God clearly demands that all human beings must abandon their divisions of all kinds and come under his new religion, i.e. Islam. He threatens or admonishes those who would not do so. Motivated by such desire of Allah, the Muslim faithful has, throughout history, inflicted immense brutality and misery on those who rejected the Islamic creed.
Regarding Christianity, Gal 3:28 expresses a desire that all humans—Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female—should submit to Christ alone. The Christian faithful has shed so much human blood, for realizing this central desire, inherent in the Christian faith.
Secondly, these verses do not tell the whole story about these two religions’ position on the division of human beings along ‘Us vs. Them’ and ‘High vs. Low’ notions. For example, opposed to equality of human beings, Allah recognizes the Arabs higher over rest of the human race [Quran 3:110]:
“Ye (Arabs) are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah…”
Allah divides humankind into the free (masters) and the dumb and useless ones (slaves) [Quran 16:76]:
“Allah sets forth (another) Parable of two men: one of them dumb, with no power of any sort; a wearisome burden is he to his master; whichever way be directs him, he brings no good: is such a man equal with one who commands Justice, and is on a Straight Way?”
Similarly, Gal 3:28 recognizes the division of human beings into free ones and slaves, while wanting both to submit to Christ. Other verses of Jesus and St. Paul also recognize human beings as unequal entities, namely slaves and masters. Jesus instructed the people in debt to sell themselves and their family members into slavery for paying up [Mat 18:25]:
"But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made."
A number of St. Paul’s verses (Eph 6:5-9, Cor 12:13, and Col 3:11) also recognize bonded (slave) and the free man.
In fine, religions do not reject, but instead, create ‘Us vs. Them’ division among the otherwise singular human race—a reality we obviously live with today. Neither do religions abolish, but instead recognize and promote, the high-and-low, free-and-slave distinctions among otherwise equal human beings.
- The notion of equality of all humans that some in our society believe in and aspire to attain is obviously not rooted in ancient religious scriptures or doctrines. Instead, it is a fruit of rational thoughts of earthly human beings. Denying this most obvious fact does not elevate, but instead degrade, our sense of honesty and dignity.
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Name: vbv
Date: Saturday May 10, 2008
Time: 21:57:47 -0700
Comment
Well written Mr Alamgir Hussain! You have hit the nail on the head perfectly! All religons promote such discrimination. If Islam makes arabs superior to others, Christianity the whiteman against other races, the jews think that they are the "chosen people " of their god Yahweh ,while hindus revel in the obnoxious 'caste system' making brahmins stay at the top of the heirarchy. It is a system created to exploit humans at large with the false sense of piety promoted by a handful of scoundrels who want to rule over the rest with unrestricted/unrestrained power in the name of religion with no responsibilty and enjoying all the wealth created by the 'submissive and gullible' populace all to themselves. It is sheer corruption on a magnitude that can never be surpassed. It is time that people realise the harm that religion has done to our society and become rational and civilised beings and not a slave to dogma and bigotry! It is not that religion which gives morality to us humans ,it is our own conscience and our innate ablility to understand and discriminate good and evil. Like the noble laurate ,physics professor Steven Weinberg said " Good people do good things and bad people do bad things , but it takes religion to make good people do bad things" .
Name: ZuK
Date: Saturday May 10, 2008
Time: 23:01:24 -0700
Comment
Well, what could I add: the only true freedom of religion is freedom FROM religion.
Name: Jalal
Date: Saturday May 10, 2008
Time: 23:11:57 -0700
Comment
Who does not have a religion? Something that you strongly believe in and willing to die for if someones try to take it awy from you. Everybody has a religion...be it Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Shntoism, Communism, Universalism, Materialism, Rock and Rollism, footballism etc Zuk, what you believe in and would like to defend it...that is your religion. You can't escape from it.
Name: vbv
Date: Sunday May 11, 2008
Time: 01:36:31 -0700
Comment
To Jalal: Universalism, Footballism, Materialism,or Rock and Rollism are not religions ,built on dogmas that claim be the"word of God", "absolute Truths that everyone should comply with and unquestioningly submit to,or else*#!!!!",put the superstition and irrational fear of "God' in the hearts and minds of people that the mullahs/priests/godmen can get away with even murder/rape/cheating/robbing with the sanction of "religious" scriptures, spread intolerance and persecute people who don't agree with your "religion" or even kill the apostate as sanctioned by the scripture or the so-called "prophet". After all who are these prophets ? Lunatics and psychopaths hearing voices to boost their egos and coceit! Some self-appointed middlemen of some supercillous, imaginery, arrogant, vengeful ,violent megalomaniac called "God/Allah/yahweh/Bhagavan?etc. who live off in comfort and unrestrained luxury off others hard labour,or simply by brigandery and plundering (like Muhamad). Communism/Fascism/ Nazism/Maoism/PolPotism/ Idi Aminism/Castroism are all totalitarian idealogies drawing influence from monotheistic and intolerant "religions" like Christianity/Islam - they are new forms of religions and like the established organised religions show intolerance to dissent, and expects everyone to fall in line and conform and abjectly comply to its irrational dogmas and bigotry! What about monotheistic God?Yahweh?Allah? - they have all the negative traits of a Hitler/Muhamad/Mao/PolPot/Kim Il Sung(of North Korea)/Idi Amin,etc -vengeful, they want to be pampered by humans praising and extolling them or else it is the "Eternal Fiery Hell for You" ,never mind even if yuo are the worst criminal and psychopath: all is forgiven and you are rewarded because of you "Faith" in the imaginary, supercilous, megalomaniac Deity called God/Yahweh/Allah or whatever! More human blood has been shed in the name of 'religion' and more wars have been fought to impose a particular religion ,of which islam and christianity are typical examples documented in the nearly 2,000 years of human history till date with jihads and crusades , 'holy wars' and wars to further other totalitarian idealogies like the intolerant monotheistic religion such as communism, fascism, nazism, Maoism, PolPotism, etc.! Should we still subscribe to 'religion' and such other intolerant totalitarian regimes rather than secular, modern democratic system which guarantees individual liberties and freedom of thought and conscience?
Name: antimod
Date: Sunday May 11, 2008
Time: 07:54:37 -0700
Comment
According to hindu puranas God appeared as fish ,then as tortoise, then as boar, then chimera- lion like human , then waman-the dwarf man, then parashuram- the wild man, then Ram- the intelligent man, then Krishna- the intellectual, then Buddha- the enlightened man, all these forms to protect the earth. The last yet to appear is the Kalki who will restore the lost righteousness. Now where is Adam or Eve. What one can see is the Darwinian evolution from marine(the fish), amphibian(the tortoise),terrestrial mammal( the boar), Half man half beast (may be the missed link),early man( the dwarf man), Then the stone age man (Parushuram), evolved mas (Ram), the modern man (Krishna and Buddha). When the Vedas were composed man had already reached the highest state of mind. The discussions between the teacher and the taught seen in the Upanishads is evidence that man in India had a highly developed intellect. In comparison the semetic religions seem to have designed for a populace that was low in in its intellectual prowess or say are of low psychic level. Unfortunately, they have not been able to rise above Adam and Eve theory nor are they ready to discuss. That is why they are dogmatic and are in great turmoil. May be the Kalki form of God is meant for them, to bring them back to righteous ways.
Name: Great Article!
Date: Sunday May 11, 2008
Time: 08:12:45 -0700
Comment
“Ye (Arabs) are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah…” This quote clearly reveals one serious problem of all muslims. They believe in their superiority because it is written in the quran. But you cannot rely on a definition, ýou must earn your superiority with hard work. And not with praying and other superstitious things. That´s one of many errors of the quran and of the muslims as well.
Name: ZuK to: Jalal
Date: Sunday May 11, 2008
Time: 09:03:20 -0700
Comment
Dear Jalal, your objection is the one that's typically presented by people who committ to a religion themselves and cannot think out of the religionist mindset. The absence of a religious believe is NOT a religion, nor is it an article of faith (unless, as pointed by VBV, it is a kind of dogmatic belief that, regardless of whether its object is a deity, an ideology or a deified individual). Of course we all have some kind of "faith" in something. But "faith" is a word used in a very stretched sense, it does not need to be religious, it does not have to assume the supernatural intervention of any factor or actor, nor have them as an object, and it can be perfectly grounded on empirical experiences. So, my saying that I have "faith" in that the Sun will rise from the east for at least the next 300 million years is NOT the kind of faith that it takes to say that Jesus is the Lord of the universe, or "inn laa illahi 'ilaa 'Llah" (yeah, and BTW, why should there be ONE and only ONE god? why not three, nineteen or PI gods?). Also, since we are reasoning, you would say that I have "faith" in logical reasoning. My two objections would be: (1) I don't pray to Logical Reasoning - I just use it, (2) Logical reasoning proves its worth once and over again in a myriad of fields. So, its efficacy is not an article of faith - is a fact. Think about it, and... Happy Mothers' Day :)
Name: Challenge to all infidels from Akhter
Date: Sunday May 11, 2008
Time: 17:07:23 -0700
Comment
Can you write a verse like Quran?
Name: Hi, Akhter
Date: Sunday May 11, 2008
Time: 17:24:36 -0700
Comment
No, I cannot write a verse like the Quran, and I wouldn't want to. I love my fellow man too much. I don't have the hate in me that was needed to write those vile verses.
Name: vbv
Date: Sunday May 11, 2008
Time: 22:56:20 -0700
Comment
Religion is an infantile bullshit ,narrow-minded,insular,filled with lies perceived as truth. For example the Abrahamic faiths declare that "the heavens and the Earth was 'created' around 4,004 BCE", ignorant that were are in a small solar system at the edge of our Galaxy,some 30,000 light years from the spiral hub of our Galaxy comprising some 200 billion stars .of which our sun is just a minor star! There are stars such as Sirius 8 times as big as our sun and 50 times more luminous, the star (Super giant) Rigel in the constellation is 500 times larger than our sun and 50,000 times more luminous , there are bigger stars like Eta Carrinnae ( 2 million times more luminous than our sun,for instance),or the largest star known till date VY Cannis Major - a red Super Giant ,before which our sun is just a small dot of one pixel if you view it at about the size of a 'football'! The Andromeda Galaxy situated at about 2.25 million light years away is about twice as big as our own Galaxy with over 500 billion stars. Astronomy has revealed such great wonders about our Universe, which many be just one in innumerable "Multiverses", and of the trillions of great galaxies in our own Universe - these things ,the knowledge of which ,are too great compared to the pettyness , ignorance,insularity and bigotry of any so-called "religion". Science enlightens ,builds our knowledge and understanding our our world,our Solar system,our Universe,it shows progress in our innate nature,removes intolerance and blind faith in a nonsensical trash called 'religion'. Religion destroys knowledge with its dogma and blind faith in a tyrannical ,savage,rage-filled ,egoistic ,self-centred megalomaniac that they call "God/Allah/Yahweh" or by any other name!What is the contribution of religion,especially the monotheistic ones,? Only wars , death ,increase in human misery with its bigotry.More the importance given to religion ,scoundrels(pastors/mullahs/imams/priests,etc) prosper duping common folks sowing hatred between human beings ( especially the Abrahamic faiths of Islam and Christianity),creating turmoil,misery,backwardness and war!Therefore, all religions/creeds/cults should be banned if humanity is to progress and peace and prosperity is to be attained on our one and only beautiful planet Earth!
Name: religion destroy mankind
Date: Sunday May 11, 2008
Time: 23:36:42 -0700
Comment
the first humans [ not fake adam n eve ] had no religion and peace was there,even when paganism was there there wa speace. when face religion judeo christianity islam came on the scene and claimed to be the only trye representative and other pig shit then shit happened. so religion divides especially judeo chrtsinaiity islam.
Name: Is this true for all religions?
Date: Monday May 12, 2008
Time: 01:49:34 -0700
Comment
Can we really say that religions divide in general? For example, I do not agree that Paul encouraged slavery. During his time, slavery was widely accepted even among slaves, even Spartacus had no intention to abolish slavery. It was judaism that divided the peopole into believers and non-believers and Paul tried to create a universal religion for all people. But it is also clear to me that Paul was strongly against judaism. But what about Buddhism? If you read the buddhist texts, you will never find anything wrong. Buddhism is against ANY violence, against killing, against telling untrue things, against stealing and so on. It is also against the hinduistic practice of dividing people into different casts. Buddhism urges the people to do good things and not to do bad things. That´s all. There is no order to kill or discriminate others. Buddhists are ordered to be peaceful against ALL beings, even against animals.
Name: Islam is Black Magic
Date: Monday May 12, 2008
Time: 02:54:30 -0700
Comment
Curses are often used in Islam. 3: 61: "... Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke the curse of Allah on those who lie!" This is pure black magic, isn´t it? Or here in 33:68: "Our Lord! Give them double Penalty and curse them with a very great Curse!" Here we can clearly see how islam stimulates hate. How can honest people "earnestly pray" to invoke a curse on others??? And how can people believe that they can incite an all knowing, almighty god to hurt others??? This is not only ridiculous, it is wrong, false and bad!!! It is against any kind of humanity!!!
Name: AKTHER...KAMASUTRA IS BETTER THAN PIG SHIT KORAN
Date: Monday May 12, 2008
Time: 04:49:13 -0700
Comment
AKTHER,KORAN IS PIG SHIT,KAMA SUTRA TEACHES HOW TO LOVE AND BE LOVED IN VARIOUS FORMS,IT IS BETTER THAN KORAN.
Name: Alamgir Hussain -- 'Buddha accepted slavery'
Date: Monday May 12, 2008
Time: 05:01:31 -0700
Comment
Teachings of Buddha did not reject slavery. Instead, it accepted slavery and urged the masters to treat their slaves well.
Name: Re: Alamgir Hussain -- 'Buddha accepted slavery'
Date: Monday May 12, 2008
Time: 08:28:41 -0700
Comment
You cannot say that Buddha accepted slavery because he never claimed to have political influence. Buddhism accepts that such laws have to be made by secular governments. The same is true for christianity. They taught: Give Caesar what he deserves and god what he deserves. Moreover, Mohammad was the only religious leader I know who traded with slaves in a large scale.
Name: myspace.com/noballads
Date: Tuesday May 13, 2008
Time: 08:09:46 -0700
Comment
religion is not spirituality.
Name: Albert
Date: Tuesday May 13, 2008
Time: 09:57:51 -0700
Comment
Mat[18:25] Jesus did not instructed the people to sell themselves into slavery, this text is more a parable about forgiveness. But the text acknowledges the reality of slavery. Gal 3:28 Paulus compares Jews to slaves and Christians to free people. He means that Jesus has freed Abraham's descent from the observance of the Torah. This is more a critic of Judaism than an apology of slavery. But Paulus is intolerant: for him, Christ is the only savior for all mankind. Eph 6:5-9 commands servility and obedience as a divine command. That is very bad. Shame on Paulus.
Name: Esme
Date: Tuesday May 13, 2008
Time: 09:58:42 -0700
Comment
As far as I know, Buddha forbade the slave trade. so if no one can sold and no one can buy, there will be no slaves. Moreover, islam never abolished slavery on its own. even in 1960, there was a slave trade during Hajj in Makkah. a slave was a kind of souvenir from hajj. Prophit Mohamed owned and traded slaves until his death. No one can say that Jesus owned slaves.
Name: to akhter
Date: Wednesday May 14, 2008
Time: 01:40:00 -0700
Comment
if i ever find you... swear on this website that i will shove your face up your a$$. you can find your kiranic verses there.