I am reading a novel called "The Blind Man's Garden" by Nadeem Aslam that provides a counterpoint to the western perspective of 9/11 and the resulting invasion of Afghanistan by telling a story of the reaction of radical Islam in Pakistan mainly...and it is centered upon those elements that felt compelled to enter into "jihad" against the "infidel", and to wage a "holy and righteous war."
As I read this, I reflected on the sheer weight of hatred and cruelty that has been perpetuated in the name of Allah and God over the centuries, this recent bit of history merely a continuation of the antipathy, the decimation, the desolation, and the inversion of all that is truly holy, and I wonder how we have been allowed to exist for so long... we who are the supposed caretakers of the Earth, and yet in actions like this and other "holy wars" are clearly the lowest and most bestial of all beings.
I look at the debauchery and the buggery of Catholicism over the ages, its insane hatred of the "other", replicated in certain tenets of other so called Christian denominations, and then I look at the utter diabolical cruelty of a brand of Islam that can only know the full extent of the word "hatred", and I ponder the true nature of God.
I believe, as do believers that straddle the religious spectrum of all faiths and cultures, in a God of immense Love and benevolence, for I believe this to be His/Her true nature.
And then I look at the sham of what has been committed in God's name by both those elements of Christianity and Islam that are deluded enough to believe in a God of exclusivity, one who condones diabolical hatred, and it forces me to ask with great sadness,
"Who are you truly bowing to?"
As I read this, I reflected on the sheer weight of hatred and cruelty that has been perpetuated in the name of Allah and God over the centuries, this recent bit of history merely a continuation of the antipathy, the decimation, the desolation, and the inversion of all that is truly holy, and I wonder how we have been allowed to exist for so long... we who are the supposed caretakers of the Earth, and yet in actions like this and other "holy wars" are clearly the lowest and most bestial of all beings.
I look at the debauchery and the buggery of Catholicism over the ages, its insane hatred of the "other", replicated in certain tenets of other so called Christian denominations, and then I look at the utter diabolical cruelty of a brand of Islam that can only know the full extent of the word "hatred", and I ponder the true nature of God.
I believe, as do believers that straddle the religious spectrum of all faiths and cultures, in a God of immense Love and benevolence, for I believe this to be His/Her true nature.
And then I look at the sham of what has been committed in God's name by both those elements of Christianity and Islam that are deluded enough to believe in a God of exclusivity, one who condones diabolical hatred, and it forces me to ask with great sadness,
"Who are you truly bowing to?"