So in Pakistan, mobs of Muslim religious fanatics attack non-Muslims for blasphemy and while in India mobs of Hindu religious fanatics attack non-Hindus for killing cows.
Why can’t the fanatics of each of these religions in each of the two nations see that what they do is exactly what results in their co-religionists on the other country getting attacked? Why not declare a truce so that their co-religionists in the other country do not suffer because of religious fanaticism. That would truly be a win-win.
Oh, I forgot. That would imply that these mobs are open to logic and reason, and religious fanatics are anything but.
johnson catman says
Just more proof that religion ruins everything.
file thirteen says
Slightly off topic, but I sometimes wonder if there isn’t a better word than “atheist” to describe what I am. What do you call someone who knows religion is crap, always was, always will be, and religious “moderates” are, whether they will it or not, enablers of the extremists?
anat says
file thirteen, that was one of the arguments associated with ‘New Atheism’ back in the day. Maybe anti-theist?
bmiller says
“Misotheist”? Because, to be honest, I think the core doctrines of most religions are pretty pernicious so I do “Hate God” I guess. 🙂 n
file thirteen says
Seems I might be an antireligionist.
Pretty obvious when I think about it.
Owlmirror says
That seems like saying that you hate Mickey Mouse, or Maleficent, or whatever, when your real problem is with the Disney Corporation and its practices.
Don’t be distracted by shadows.
machintelligence says
They won’t tolerate opposing views because they KNOW they are right. Since one man’s orthodoxy is another’s blasphemy, fanatics can be counted upon to be at each other’s throats.
A plague on both their houses.
Ravi Venkataraman says
Prof. Mano, isn’t one of the linked articles a bit dated, from 2015?
John Morales says
Ravi, so it’s no longer a thing? All good now?
rgmani says
@John Morales
Unfortunately, it happens quite frequently
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_vigilante_violence_in_India
mnb0 says
“That would imply that these mobs are open to logic and reason, and religious fanatics are anything but.”
Actually they are, or at least there leaders are. It’s just not your logic and reason (neither it’s mine).
They totally want their co-religionists in the other country to suffer. Because suffering for your religious truth is a good thing. Also this suffering brings them a bit closer to their common goal: a nice bloody war, they both expect to win.
Your big mistake is assuming that they want the same as you and me -- a nice, quiet, peaceful life, enabling to just do your thing.
They. Don’t. Want. That.
And from this perspective they are allies.
Ravi Venkataraman says
@9 John Morales, No, it does not imply that such things do not happen. From the way the information was presented, I had initially thought that these were tit-for-tat actions.
bmiller says
“That seems like saying that you hate Mickey Mouse, or Maleficent, or whatever, when your real problem is with the Disney Corporation and its practices.
Don’t be distracted by shadows.”
I know, I know. I am REALLY at war with what seems to be a pretty fundamental (although vastly conflicting and diverse) human need for worship and certainty. At any cost. There is not unified “Disney Corporation”. There is the vast array of human cultures and their diverse inventions of religions and spiritualities and heck, humanisms.
bmiller says
mnbo: War, especially RELIGIOUS WAR is GLORIOUS for much of human history. As we listen eagerly to the Shamans, the Chiefs, the Kings, the Presidents, the CEOs who all feed on and profit from the bloodshed and the power it gives them…and us, as we participate in the eternal ritual. Horrifying, to be sure.