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"terrorism"
Mar. 21st, 2004 11:04 amReading the Sunday newspaper, I am once again struck by how inaccurate our current government and media are. The headlines are again about the "War on Terrorism". But terrorism is a technique, not a country or an ideology. Terrorism is not something to can wage war against. Terrorism is the current buzzword, the latest in a long line of labels to dehumanize the enemy and ignore the issues. Other buzzwords have included atheist, anarchist, and communist. Considering the techniques involved, the British could have called Sam Adams and the rest of the American Revolutionaries "terrorists" when they threw tea overboard in Boston Harbor.
We need to ask, what is the ideology behind Osama bin Laden and his ilk? The answer is not what Americans, especially certain Americans, wish to hear. Osama wants a theocracy, he wants people to return to a particularly strict practice of Islam. He hates us because we are secular, we ignore the "will of god", and because our wealth is a temptation to the faithful. What is the difference between Osama and, say, Jerry Falwell? Not a whole lot. The details of the specific religions, yes, but both wish us all to return to a time when the local religious leaders had total control – and they want to be those local religious leaders for their respective countries. Whether they are truly pious, or merely power-hungry is something between them and their deity. Falwell and his ilk do not generally use the technique of terrorism, although there have been definite exceptions in the "anti-abortion" movement: clinics bombed, doctors shot. Their motives seem parallel to me.
I cannot speak for other countries, but ours was founded on religious tolerance and the recognition that no religion should hold dominance. This is NOT a "Christian country" no matter what Falwell says. A few people came here to try to start a theocracy, like the Puritans. Most came here for other reasons, many of them economic. The First Amendment of the Constitution specifically forbids establishing religion or limiting the practice of religion. We need to recognize that the fight that is really going on is a struggle that is nearly a hundred years old: the fight between modernism and fundamentalism, between theocracy and secularism.
I am wholly in favor of secularism, not because I am an atheist, but because I am NOT. I have my own spiritual path, my own religion with its practices, rituals, and holidays. I do not want to impose it on others, and I do not want anyone to impose their religion on me. I would like to see a society that allows people to use their religious and spiritual values to guide them, without trying to dictate what those values "should be". Therefore, the overall society MUST be secular, to ensure the religions of all.
Lets start calling Osama what he really is – a dangerous fundamentalist crank. And let's start fighting religious and spiritual intolerance wherever it dwells.
We need to ask, what is the ideology behind Osama bin Laden and his ilk? The answer is not what Americans, especially certain Americans, wish to hear. Osama wants a theocracy, he wants people to return to a particularly strict practice of Islam. He hates us because we are secular, we ignore the "will of god", and because our wealth is a temptation to the faithful. What is the difference between Osama and, say, Jerry Falwell? Not a whole lot. The details of the specific religions, yes, but both wish us all to return to a time when the local religious leaders had total control – and they want to be those local religious leaders for their respective countries. Whether they are truly pious, or merely power-hungry is something between them and their deity. Falwell and his ilk do not generally use the technique of terrorism, although there have been definite exceptions in the "anti-abortion" movement: clinics bombed, doctors shot. Their motives seem parallel to me.
I cannot speak for other countries, but ours was founded on religious tolerance and the recognition that no religion should hold dominance. This is NOT a "Christian country" no matter what Falwell says. A few people came here to try to start a theocracy, like the Puritans. Most came here for other reasons, many of them economic. The First Amendment of the Constitution specifically forbids establishing religion or limiting the practice of religion. We need to recognize that the fight that is really going on is a struggle that is nearly a hundred years old: the fight between modernism and fundamentalism, between theocracy and secularism.
I am wholly in favor of secularism, not because I am an atheist, but because I am NOT. I have my own spiritual path, my own religion with its practices, rituals, and holidays. I do not want to impose it on others, and I do not want anyone to impose their religion on me. I would like to see a society that allows people to use their religious and spiritual values to guide them, without trying to dictate what those values "should be". Therefore, the overall society MUST be secular, to ensure the religions of all.
Lets start calling Osama what he really is – a dangerous fundamentalist crank. And let's start fighting religious and spiritual intolerance wherever it dwells.
