Religions decimate a God-forsaken Africa

[SecularMotion]

The divide between Christianity and Islam has contributed largely to the world as we know it today.

While both these religions – the largest in the world – preach peace and love, some of their adherents have shown strong intolerance of the other, leading to famous conflicts all over the world in which thousands have perished as a result.

But Africa is where this divide is most pronounced and arguably where most violent acts between the two groups have been recorded in recent times. Ironically, neither Christianity nor Islam are of African origin.

In his world-acclaimed and multiple award-winning documentary The Africans, Dr Ali Mazrui digs deep into what he calls Africa’s “triple heritage” of Christianity, Islam and African traditional beliefs.

http://dubbophotonews.com.au/index.php/dpn/categories/opinion-analysis/item/2405-religions-decimate-a-god-forsaken-africa

[longship]

1. And this here is where the problems with religion are most apparent.

Last edited Tue Oct 8, 2013, 02:43 AM - Edit history (2)

You have two religions which arguable adhere to the same desert god. AKA Abrahamic, allegedly monotheistic, although the Hebrew Bible doesnt exactly seem to make that clear.

But all three of the major Abrahamic religions stake a claim as a basis for ethics. But how they act towards one another, throughout history and to this very day, speaks volumes to the contrary.

Hitchens was right. Religion poisons everything. When people use ideology to enforce their power, this is how they act.

I don't give a damn about people's beliefs, except when they use their beliefs to justify utter madness or unconscionable acts. Like killing.

Of course, Jahweh prescribed an aweful lot of that in the Pentateuch, the Torah, the so-called Books of Moses. What came later wasn't much better. How many died because King David took a census? Look it up. Jahweh said to do it though, so it's okee-dokee.

What can one say when ones professed history is so blood-soaked? And don't get me started about what's occurred in the name of Jesus meek and mild. Shall we begin with Hypatia and go through the centuries hence?

Jacob Bronowski put this into eloquent words in his collection of totally unscripted BBC science essays, The Ascent of Man.

Wrapping up the eleventh episode, on quantum theory entitled Knowledge or Certainty he said the following:

It's said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. That's false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance, it was done by dogma, it was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.

Science is a very human form of knowledge. We are always at the brink of the known; we always feel forward for what is to be hoped. Every judgment in science stands on the edge of error and is personal. Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible. In the end, the words were said by Oliver Cromwell: "I beseech you in the bowels of Christ: Think it possible you may be mistaken."

I owe it as a scientist to my friend Leo Szilard, I owe it as a human being to the many members of my family who died here, to stand here as a survivor and a witness. We have to cure ourselves of the itch for absolute knowledge and power. We have to close the distance between the push-button order and the human act.

We have to touch people.

Since I saw that episode when it was first broadcast on PBS, it has had a profound effect on my philosophy, my life. Studying physics has enforced that same philosophy.

Sadly, religion doesn't seem to be able to learn the same lessons.

On edit:
Fortunately, that episode of Ascent of Man is available on YouTube. I post a link here for those who wish to see it. It is about quantum theory, but as Bronowski aptly (and especially) points out in this essay, science is a personal endeavor. It is above all an essay on ethics, wrapped in science. Directed by Mick Jackson, it is a brilliant exposition on cutting edge science and ethics. And yes, Bronowski did all 13 episodes without any script. And this episode is an unforgettable exposition of both science and ethics brought in a way that maybe only Bronowski could have done it. Sadly, he died shortly after completing this series.

[dimbear]

2. It's safe to say religion hasn't helped, but it's much harder to say what really would help.

There's a word for the whole situation: Afro-pessimism.