Comment

8-year-old Afghan tricked into suicide bombing

4
CuriousLurker6/26/2011 9:22:58 pm PDT

I dunno, b. I’m not gonna try to deny that people use religion to justify all kinds of horrible, twisted things, but there are plenty of atrocities that have been committed without being “enhanced” by twisted religious fervor (I’m talking serial killers, bloody invasions a la the Mongols, megalomaniacal rulers, etc.)

I don’t think religion has any special power beyond what we give it. What I’m saying is we use it as an excuse; it can’t make someone do something they’re not already inclined to do. It’s a choice.

I’ve seen people go from being gang bangers to hard-line salafis. All they did was swap one set of extremes for another, the added “bonus” being that since the new cover was religious, it was somehow more acceptable since they were no longer breaking any laws and getting thrown in jail. The extremity in their personalities still remained though, and it could be prodded in a dangerous direction.

IMO, this has less to do with religion than it does with (lack of) personal responsibility and the presence of people who would psychologically manipulate others—whether it’s membership in the “brotherhood” of a street gang or a group of religious extremists makes little difference. And, FWIW, I’m not 100% convinced that there’s not some level of complicity involved in allowing oneself to be manipulated (children being the exception).

Afghanistan was an extremely rough tribal society long before the arrival of Islam, and in fact their tribal customs still tend to take precedence over religious laws. I don’t believe for a minute that if there was a tribal conflict going on there and you took religion out of the equation, that abominations such as little girls being blown up would stop. Those things won’t change until the tribal mindset changes.

And, sadly, human atrocities won’t stop as long as there’s a darkness within us that we give license to come to the surface and dictate our behavior.

Okay, this is getting too long. Time to go get some shut-eye.