Sometimes when I start exploring the Internet for facts to be included in an article, I am overwhelmed by what I find. This was the case last week when I was planning to comment on the mob scenes and vandalism resulting from a cartoon of Mohammed, who is as important to Moslems (believers in Islam) as Christ is to Christians.
I am sure that the mob violence represented the minority of Moslems, although they all may be shocked by the depiction of Mohammed. We who say we are Christians would no doubt feel similarly by representations of Jesus Christ as a terrorist.
It’s obvious that many non-Islamic people have little knowledge or concern about not just the religious beliefs, but also the very culture of Islam. I had, though, to compare various horrendous activities by other religious groups against those who didn’t believe “their” way. The Crusades came to mind, along with the Cambodian killing fields.
What started out as a quest for a few statistics to include in an opinion column, ended up with my becoming so disgusted that for a few days, my writing compulsion was at a standstill. I didn’t write as much as a grocery list and spent hours escape-reading. After finishing two books, typing up about 30 pages of minutes of meetings and reading e-mail, I can look at the horrid statistics again.
My first shock was reading about Charlemagne who, after conquering the Saxons, gave them a choice of converting to Christianity or being executed. They were devout and didn’t want to change, so he had 4,500 beheaded one morning. I had read about similar “choices” inflicted on natives in several countries, but I remember studying Charlemagne in history and don’t recall the beheading incident. There’s so much left out of history.
Another kind of famous person, Queen Isabella of Spanish Inquisition fame was responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Spanish Jews, Moslems, homosexuals, and people who could read or write, among others. The Protestant Regime resulted in many more thousands dying; 30,000 in Britain went to the stake for witchcraft and in Protestant Germany, 100,000 died because they were thought to be witches.
This seems to have been the pattern of human kind through the years; but it is the 20th century which is unbelievable. And most of the killing was in the name of religion.
I was surprised to find those instances which I had thought were “outstanding” were far down the list. I expected the Cambodian atrocities by the Khmer Rouge to be near the top of the list, but with only 1,650,000 deaths, it is low on the list. World War II was at the top, with 55 million killed; the regime of Mao Zedong in China, 40 million; Stalin’s reign in the USSR, 20 million. World War I, including the Armenian massacre, 15 million. In Korea, 2.8 million were killed. Nearly 2 million have been killed in the Congo, and another million in Iran/Iraq.
No one group is more to blame than another. Christians, Bhuddists, Atheists and Moslems – each have been responsible for their “fair share”.
In my opinion, it was a stupid, unthinking, disrespectful act to print that cartoon. It is equally stupid to think that violence and burning buildings will change anything, really.
This week’s Good Word is not a good word. It almost makes me ill to realize all the horror we humans have caused. No wonder there are hurricanes, earthquakes, mudslides and volcanic eruptions now and then. Must be Mother Nature’s way of getting even.
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