I fear the concept of Gods (as discussed earlier) above all else. This is not because I’m particularly worried about the apocalypse, a flood, spontaneous targeted lightning, locus, the Angel of Death or any other Divine punishment. No, I fear God because of what people are willing to do in his name.
The most prominent modern example of heinous acts done in the name of God are the horrific suicide bombings that have become seemingly commonplace since September 11th, 2001. In the granddaddy of all jihadist suicide bombings, 16 devoted men sacrificed themselves with the understanding that they would be rewarded with eternal paradise and never ending sex with 70 virgin women. Their martyrdom and those of the countless others in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel would never have happened without the divine reward. These actions, carried out to forward an ideology, are solely to blame on the deluded concept that killing civilians can earn God’s favour and heaven.
In American schools it is a daily battle for the right to teach evolution. In the name of God, there is a legitimate movement to eradicate real science in the science classroom and replace it with what can only be called a myth. While the story of Genesis has undoubted power, and religious meaning to many people, it has absolutely no scientific meaning. The blind devotion of a few are trying to limit the capacity for education in the world’s most developed country.
I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Vol. 1 Chapter 2
While I am by no means saying that what Hitler done was accepted or supported by your God of choice, it is an undeniable fact that history’s greatest mass murderer thought he was. The Second World War and the Holocaust would not have happened without this belief.
A personal favourite example of mine is slavery. African slavery was thought to be acceptable because the bible implied that black people weren’t as good as white people. Without this incredible arrogance, with which those at the time thought was divinely given, slavery would likely have never happened.
The list of absolute horrors that have occurred through history because people thought “This is God’s work” or excused their crimes in the name of God is horrendously long and impossible to summarise. However, I have compiled the greatest hits as they occur to me:
- The Crusades (all 9 of them)
- Anything that begins in Inquisition
- The spread of Aids, due to the Catholic Church preaching the evils of condoms
- Booming population is developing countries that can ill afford to feed or educate more citizens, for the same reason as above
- Genocide in Rwanda: Catholic Priests called for mass murder from the pulpits, inspiring horrendous acts that most thought were the work of God
- The Dark Ages: the repression of science is largely attributable to the power of organized religion and their active anti-science pursuits (see the Roman Inquisition and Galilei, Galileo)
- The crimes of the Ku Klux Klan
- The sexual exploitation and abuse of countless young buys
- Oppression of women throughout Muslim countries, and stoning of women who were raped for being unclean
- Mountain Meadows Massacre
- The cruel and unusual punishment of Alan Turing, leading to his eventual suicide
- The crimes of Nadal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter
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