God Destroyer, Part II

[This is part of an ongoing series looking at the anti-religious manifesto posted at GodDestroyer.com. To read the series in its entirety, go here.]

“It is our assertion that the vast majority of the problems that exist in the present day world trace sources, direct and/or indirect, in religious thought and/or practice.”

Really.

If this was high-school debate class, this would be over before it started since blanket statements such as this one are virtually impossible to prove. “Direct and/or indirect” is a pretty broad stroke to paint with as well, as almost anything can be tied “directly and/or indirectly” to “religious thought and/or practice.” However, high school was over a long time ago, and it’s the spirit behind the statement that I want to address.

I’d be interested to know the religious thought and/or practice behind the American invasion (yes, I called it an “invasion”) in the Middle East. I’d also be interested to know which God told America to drop a weapon of mass destruction on Japan not once but twice. What documented faith practice has instructed countless CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to embezzle billions of dollars from customers and taxpayers? Which God was being served by the perpetrators of any of the number of school shootings that we’ve seen over the last few years?

My point is simply this: “religion” is an easy target to point to when you want to place blame. It’s big, it’s relatively slow-moving, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s loaded with it’s own fair share of people I’d like to whack in the forebrain with a sledgehammer, Gallagher-style. One needs to look no further than the God-forsaken (and I mean that literally) Westboro Baptist “Church” and their “God hates fags” mentality to see what I mean.

Can I defend the actions that have been performed in the name of “Religion” that have caused hurt, suffering, and pain in the world? Not on your life. Can I agree with the original statement that religious thought is at the root of “the vast majority” of the world’s problems? Not remotely.

I haven’t even touched on the idea that what’s presented as “religious” motivation is actually much more political in nature, hiding behind the guise of religion to give it credibility. Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “Therefore, I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews, I am doing the Lord’s Work.” However, with the manner in which Hitler so closely tied Church and State together, the Catholic church in WWII-era Germany became far more a political body than a religious one. Though not a “modern” event, the Crusades are another example of this: a blatant land-grab carried out under the banner of the official state religion.

Jesus boiled down the law into two simple rules: love God and love others. If, and it’s a big “if,” Christianity (which I’ll specifically point to, since it’s what I know best) would simply follow those two ideas, there’s no way that God Destroyer’s thought that religion is to blame for all of the worlds’ problems could apply to it. No way at all.