Pick up a newspaper - any newspaper - and you're liable to find a story about some fundamentalist Muslim blowing him/herself up to score a point about the superiority of one version of Islam over another or the demonic character of anyone who thinks differently.
On another page, you may read about some "Christian" preacher who wants to burn a holy book or tar and feather some apostate who dares to say anything against what the preacher KNOWS to be true. Thes people are known as "Satanic."
Now we read about the third leg on the bigotry stool. A publication in Israel, which has attracted lots of attention, has also resulted in the arrests of two religious leaders. Read on:
Rabbis Dov Lior and Yacob Yousef had endorsed a highly controversial book, the King's Torah - written by two lesser-known settler rabbis. It attempts to justify killing non-Jews, including those not involved in violence, under certain circumstances. The fifth chapter, entitled "Murder of non-Jews in a time of war" has been widely quoted in the Israeli media. The summary states that "you can kill those who are not supporting or encouraging murder in order to save the lives of Jews". At one point it suggests that babies can justifiably be killed if it is clear they will grow up to pose a threat.
This book and these rabbis have a following. Some of these souls have shown how religious they are by throwing feces at young girls coming home from school, calling them sluts for not "dressing modestly," or showing their faces to (gasp!) men instead of being good Jews and shutting up and following orders. It is a tribute to reason that large segments of the Israeli people have reacted to the whole thing with nausea.
If this type of zealotry sounds a lot like fundamentalist Muslims or fundamentalist Christians, it's because all three flavors differ only in the beans used by their barristas. All of them do what they do, not because they're bad people - quite the contrary - but because the unwashed multitudes don't recognize THE TRUTH. To save souls, it's sometimes necessary to burn bodies. Ask the Catholic Church what happened during the Inquisition. Since this is difficult, try asking the rabbis what's happening now. I'm sure they'll tell you that God told them the TRUTH and now that they KNOW what it is, it's their duty to spread the word.
I do not believe this diary is about religion. It's about fanatacism and, even though the two sometimes travel on the same train, they've got tickets for different sections. Religion usually goes first class, complete with gold robes, huge temples and the best seats near the Eastern wall. Fanatics go second, or even third, class. The reasons have to do with intelligence. People who don't ask questions are, as a rule, not the juciest steak on the menu. If we believe what people tell us unquestioningly, I maintain we have voluntarily surrendered our heritage as human beings. I also maintain this is a dumb thing to do.
The whole truth, I think, is unknowable. I don't feel there's even such a thing as the only truth. If this makes me an agnostic, then amen. "Agnostic" is one who doesn't know and I'm proud to qualify.