Holy Crap (Yet Again)

So anyhoo …
This is carrying on from yesterday, so the easily bored amongst you can skip the whole damned thing and go do something useful like trash your TVs and put up bookshelves instead.
I mean it.
Go do that.
Now!

In yesterday's post and comments discussion we discovered that England - especially my own part of the country - is indeed a Godless place, and we wondered why and came to a few conclusions.

As Robyn and Shan have been making it abundantly clear to me for years now and as Mme B. pointed out yesterday, we Godless Heathens of Norfolk are kind of bucking the trend.
In the US (or at least the middle bits) and other places across the globe there has been a surge in religious fervour, most notably in Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities.

While some rejoice in this as a resurgence of faith I am saddened as it seems that the new fervour is of a fundamentalist nature, and as such is a form of religious extremism that regards itself as the sole arbiter of TRUTH and all others as WRONG!

This is not what Christ taught us.

Not that I am against fundamentalist thought; indeed I consider it necessary to the growth of any ideology, but like any other form of extremism it should be there to drive ideas and NEVER to dictate to people.

I've written about this before - at tedious length - and here's a little recap (a response to a Christian friend blaming a terrorist attack on Islam) which I consider needs reading again by anyone who welcomes the rise in evangelical Christianity, radical Islam or Hindu nationalism:

"I believe in the necessity of extremism.
Let me clarify that a little.
In politics - as in art and music and indeed religion - everything worthwhile and interesting happens out on the edges.
It takes a while before the sharp edges get worn down and bits begin to spiral down toward the plughole in the middle.
Left.
Right.
It matters not a jot.
It is the radical ideas that drive politics, religion and society forward.
Those ideas in the raw would scare the crap out of the general electorate / congregation / population but they get dulled and denuded over time and eventually reach close enough to the centre to become policy.

First off: Left and right.
I'm a Marxist. Lifelong and committed.
If you want to pigeonhole me, I'm just a smidgeon to the left of Anarcho-Syndicalism.
That's about as far left as you can get without falling off the edge.

But …
I often find myself agreeing with the extreme right and would far rather sit and talk politics over a few beers on my Republican friend Prudence's patio than listen to one word of wishy-washy, beige, insipid, compromised tosh from the muddy pit of ignorance that is "the centre".
Give me a radical rightist over a "liberal" any day.

Now …
Islam.

You all know by now that I will accept criticism of Islam.
But only from someone who has read and understood the Qur'an (preferably in Tarif Khalidi's utterly beautiful new translation) and the Life of The Prophet and has learned about Islamic prayer, visited mosques and discussed Islam with Muslims.
I have said this so many times, people:
Study the source material. Do NOT simply listen to what somebody says about it (including me). They will have applied their own spin/agenda to their comments.
Read the source material and make up your own damn minds. It's what your brain is there for.

I will NOT allow criticism of a certain colour by a blind person.

Islam means Surrender To God's Will.
The same God of Abraham that is worshipped by Jewish and Christian communities.

Islam is a tolerant religion.
"There is no compulsion in religion" states The Prophet in Sura 2 of The Qur'an.

Islamic prayer (as opposed to "greedy" Christian prayer that actually presumes to ask God for favours - a sickeningly arrogant act that I've never understood and a stale, stinky hangover from the days of the sale of indulgences … stop it, people!) is simply praise and thanks to God for His creation.

Here we return to extremism.
As I have said, I believe in the necessity of extremism.
However … and this is a big however …
We extremists should never, EVER be allowed to assume power.

A single, extreme ideology in power gave us Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and gives us General Tanh Shwe, the Taleban, Robert Mugabe, the Janjouid in Darfur and the Lord's Resistance Army in The Congo.

I equate any extremist religious group (and yes I'm afraid, Shan, that includes American Christian fundamentalists) as necessary but potentially dangerous.
Islamic extremists (a tiny minority) have gained control in some parts of the world with disastrous consequences.
I dread the rise in power of US Christian fundamentalism (what I have termed the American "Christian Taleban") as I see its growing influence on government eroding individual freedoms at an alarming rate in the same way that the Taleban did in Afghanistan when they were still a minor group of religious scholars.

In conclusion, what we need is BALANCE, not COMPROMISE.
Unfortunately we all too often get a fudged compromise on important issues.

The idea of a balance between Prudence's Republican ideals and my own Socialist ones stimulates me far more than the political mush of centrist compromise that is our de facto western political system.

A balance between the three major Abrahamic monotheistic religions is desperately needed in the world right now.
Please do not let what should be informed debate degenerate into mere petty mudslinging.

A balance of extremes is far healthier than a compromise.
A compromise will never solve the issues and will leave those on the edges embittered.
This seems to be where we are at this moment of the world."

So anyhoo … This rise in religious fervour that seems to be gripping every part of the planet except the bit where I live seems to me to be a dangerously divisive development, especially given the warlike tendencies of those three religions, currently happily killing one another all across the Middle East and through Pakistan into India.
Add militant Judaism into the mix (and a reminder to the Israeli government that your nation is founded on laws that include prominently the instruction :Thou Shalt Not Kill) and it's little wonder that the planet appears to be heading straight to Hell on a handcart.

Evangelical Christianity, Radical Islam, Hardline Judaism and Hindu Nationalism are necessary parts of those religions but should never be allowed to become the major voice in them.
Which is what appears to be happening today.
The lunatics are taking over the asylum.

I'm just glad I'll be dead soon.
If there's an afterlife I'm going to be so fucking angry!