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There are no religions, only cults of different sizes
- 09 Feb 2007 22:00
Before I start I would like to point out that I have "religious" friends and I do not wish harm upon people who believe that their religion is a private thing. I accept that there is a possibility that I might be wrong (something that a true "religious" person does not) and I accept that there are exceptions for every rule (except this one).
For thousands of years religion has plagued the world with violence, ignorance and arbitrary 'moral' standards. The idea that we should even accept something called religion and shower its odious views with respect and legal exemptions I find ridiculous. If you use a dictionary you'll find that the word 'cult' is a much more accurate to description what most people would define as religion.
Religion is simply an idea; it is something that people choose to believe. As far as I'm concerned, people are entitled to their own opinion and they are allowed to believe what they like, but if their opinion is out of step with progressive modern values or it has the potential to harm others, especially the more vulnerable members of our society, then they should not be allowed certain roles within society.
Until the religious (cult members) provide some proof for their crack pot theories I don't think that it is appropriate for them to be entitled to apply for jobs in the following areas: - teaching children or vulnerable people, politics, law or law enforcement, public relations or media. If somebody believed in goblins, unicorns, elves or a flat earth and kept on trying to persuade other people that they were absolutely right and everyone else would be tortured for eternity if they did not agree with them would they be allowed these jobs?
The Nuremburg principals were international laws made to make what the Nazis leaders did illegal. Therefore anyone who agrees that the Nazis were justly punished should also agree with the Nuremburg principals. I will now list the crimes against humanity that the leaders of each religion are responsible for and explain the punishment its leaders would receive if the world wasn't full of ignorant hypocrites. The following were the crimes investigated at Nuremburg..
- Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of crime against peace
- Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace
- War crimes
- Crimes against humanity
A comparable case in Nuremburg was Julius Streicher who was convicted for much smaller crimes against humanity and was sentenced to death. I'm not in favour of the death penalty so I think the pope should be given the much more lenient sentence of life imprisonment. The same is true of influential church leaders and Christian politicians across the world guilty of the above.
Leaders of Islam are guilty under Nuremburg principals under the Nuremburg principals 1, 2 and 4. They are guilty for their treatment of women and homosexuals and for the murder of adulterous women and homosexuals. Also they are guilty, for the continued use of slaves in Saudi Arabia until the year of 1962. These are just crimes off the top of my head; a thorough investigation would no doubt find more crimes.
A comparable Nuremburg case was Baldur Benedikt von Schirach who was found guilty on principals 1 and 4 but not 2. (He was the closest I could find and I thought I'd give Islamic leaders the benefit of the doubt). He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment but only because he repented. If the Islamic leaders are prepared to apologise and offer reparations to the families they ruined then I think they should be given similar sentences. If not then the rest of their lives should be spent in prison.
Since 1967, the leaders of the Jewish cult have a long and well documented history of war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed in the middle east. In fact, looking at it purely from a legal perspective, Jewish leaders are the guiltiest under Nuremberg, being guilty of charges 1, 2, 3, and 4. They are guilty of illegal occupation in the Palestinian territory since the six day war of 1967, which constitutes crime the crimes of 3, 2 and 1 since it was a war of aggression and a continued occupation.
They are also guilty of failing to bring to trial members of their armed forced implicated in vandalising Palestinian schools and hospitals and others who are seen to shot unarmed civilians at the slightest provocation. This constitutes crimes against humanity. Their Nazi equivalent is Herman Goering who was sentenced to death but committed suicide before reaching the gallows. Again, I think life sentences would be appropriate here.
I consider Buddhism and Taoism as philosophies and not cults and thus find no beef with them. They don't cause wars, don't mentally bully children and cause no significant problems in the world. Members of the cults mentioned above would do well to learn from them and anyone else that puts people before dogma.
Pete Swan