Political Correctness
and
Religion
It’s considered vital, by many people
today, to be politically correct when
expressing themselves. In most social
circles, whatever they may be, great care is
usually taken to avoid even the slightest
possibility of offending someone --- anyone,
anywhere. While this type of societal policy
might be good for business and act as a
safeguard against litigation, it has had
almost-disastrous results in the context of
preventing most people from learning a
simple, elemental truth about why the world
is in the abominable condition it is: our
religions are killing us.
Yes, our religions are doing us in. And
they will be the death of us, unless we can
find the courage to forego political
correctness in the religious arena and tell
it like it is.
Instead of attempting to portray religion
as something wonderful, uplifting, or (at
the very least) harmless, we should be
taking a hard look at the religions of the
world and talking about them in honest,
open, forthright language. Back in 1961,
when John Fitzgerald Kennedy was sworn in as
President of the United States, he said that
the threat of nuclear war truly hung over
the world, and that the human race would
either solve its problems or perish together
in this planet’s flames. Unfortunately,
things haven’t changed very much since the
late JFK made his inaugural speech that
cold, January day. The threat of nuclear war
still looms large and grows larger every
time another nation acquires nuclear
technology. And the likelihood of our
perishing together in the flames of this
planet increases with each act of terrorism
committed against anyone, anywhere while we
stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the root
cause of our worldwide plight out of the
cowardly fear of offending somebody.
MY GOD IS BETTER THAN YOUR
GOD
Does that sound absurd and childish?
Well, guess what? It is absurd and
childish!
Yet the human race has been
thinking along this line for thousands of
years. It is completely and unequivocally
safe to say that the primary problem facing
humanity today is religious. Can anyone
still doubt that the bombings and killings
in our modern world are occurring merely
because of this idiotic idea that God, by
whatever name He or She or It is known,
favors one group of human beings over
another? Is it still unclear to anyone that
the Middle East can be called the Holey Land
because of a large number of holes caused by
explosions and gunfire precipitated by sheer
religious intolerance? Instead of living as
warring camps unable to agree on the
identity and nature of God and equally
ignorant of the nature and purpose of
humanity in relationship to God, humanity,
if it is to survive, must learn to live as
one large camp wherein there is no, or at
least precious little, disagreement as to
the relationship between man and God, and
therefore between man and man. Possessing
the level of technology that we do, humanity
can no longer afford to think in terms of
chosen people, infidels, people with the
inherent right to possess the Earth, and
people with only the inherent right to find
themselves blown away. If this nonsense
continues, it won’t be long until we all
find ourselves blown away. John Kennedy
foresaw the possibility back in 1961. Can we
wake up long enough today to see it, and
perhaps take some sort of evasive action?
DISAGREEMENT AMONG THOSE
WHO DISAGREE
Perhaps it’s ironic that the solution to
the problem which most seriously threatens
human survival rests with those who can’t
even agree among themselves. I’m talking
about the religious minds among us, minds so
confused and conflicted that they can’t even
agree upon their own concepts and beliefs.
I’m talking about every major religion on
Earth, too --- so nobody needs to feel left
out.
Judaism is divided. There are Orthodox
Jews, Reformed Jews, Jewish Christians, Jews
for Jesus, Zionists, and so on. It’s not
unusual to find Jews unable to get along
with other Jews, although they all claim to
believe in the same deity.
Islam is divided. There are Sunni’s. And
Shiites. And Sufis. All together, according
to a recent count, there are 150 sects
within modern Islam. It’s not unusual to
find Islamics unable to get along with other
Islamics, although they all claim to believe
in the same deity.
Christianity is divided. Catholics. Among
them, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox
Catholics, and Russian Orthodox Catholics.
And Protestants. The Presbyterians, the
Methodists, the Lutherans. All in all,
according to a recent count, more than
20,800 (that’s not a misprint!) different
denominations. This despite their claim to
all believe in the same deity.
Buddhism is divided. Tibetan Buddhism.
Zen Buddhism. There are many more sects,
with sects within sects. This in spite of
the fact that they all claim to follow the
teachings of the same human founder.
Hinduism is divided.
Taoism is divided.
The bottom line is this: religion is
divided. It’s dividing us. And this division
of humanity is killing us. To make matters
worse, it’s politically incorrect today to
utter anything that sounds like it might be
critical of religion, or of a religion. And
so, for the sake of political correctness,
the religious division and the hatred and
the killing continue unabated, while
military solutions that cannot possibly work
are diligently (and foolishly) pursued.
IS THERE A VIABLE
SOLUTION?
Yes, there is a solution. The situation
is not yet hopeless.
But it will take work, work which must
begin with people who believe that the human
race is worth saving.
Since the problem is religious in nature,
the solution must be theological.
Specifically, it’s time for the religious
leaders of Earth to get together and,
setting aside all petty differences,
distrust, animosities, and anything else
that would interfere with the matter at
hand, get to work on producing a universal
theology. This universal theology would not
undermine the long-and-sincerely-held
beliefs of any belief system. It would
recognize the right of every individual
human being on the planet to worship their
deity as they see fit.
It would, however, embody and communicate
a concept which is currently lacking, and
the inclusion of which would change
everything. Specifically, it would recognize
that the term “Supreme Being” means exactly
that: there is, and can be, only ONE Supreme
Being, Deity, God/Goddess, call Him/Her/It
what you will. Therefore, that ONE Deity is
the Creator, the Parent, of the entirety of
humanity --- all races, all nationalities,
all ethnicities without exception. This
means that every human being has the
inherent right to life; no one deserves to
die, ergo killing is not an option. There
are no unbelievers, infidels, apostates,
heretics, or otherwise unacceptable and
therefore dispensable persons. All have the
intrinsic right to live.
That, in a nutshell, is what needs to be
done. To be certain, it will involve much
that will be labeled “politically
incorrect”. But no matter how politically
incorrect it may be, it’s the correct,
proper, appropriate, intelligent, and decent
thing to do. It can save us.
Or, as John F. Kennedy so succinctly put
it, we can perish together in the flames of
the final act of warfare on our planet.
The decision rests with us.
