Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Ignore the Bamyan Atheists
I was a skeptic at 5, an agnostic at 13 and a full-fledged atheist at 18. Being a Libertarian, I never went through the “Bamyan” stage of atheism that seems to be the current rage and a highlight, maybe lowlight, of the Obama years.
For those of you with short memories of such things the Bamyan refers to the Buddhas of Bamyan which were two 6th century monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan Valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan. Built in 507 the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. ¹
Gandhara art is the distinctive Gandhara style of Buddhist art, which developed out of a merger of Greek, Syrian, Persian, and other Indian artistic influence. This development began during the Parthian period (50 BC – AD 75). Ghandaran style flourished and achieved its peak during the Kushan period, from the 1st to the 5th century. ²
In 2001 the Taliban earned world-wide condemnation for their ignorant and intolerant approach to these works of art.
They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were “idols” (which are forbidden under Sharia law.) International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban and of Islamism. ³
Today, in the United States, we are experiencing another type of intolerance and ignorance manifesting itself in the form of some atheists, agnostics, non-believers and others of their ilk, many of whom also, ironically, condemned the actions of the Taliban at the time, who insist that all Christian art and reference must be removed from public view especially when they are located on United States property and buildings.
Such actions betray them for the ignorant, small-minded and mean-spirited people that they are.
They will henceforth be known as the Bamyan Atheists.
The United States of America is the result of the intellectual and physical efforts of a Christian-Judeo society that saw individual freedoms as the key to a better life for all. That these early citizens wanted to express their ideas using mostly Christian themes is representative of their culture at the time.
As a freedom loving atheist I see absolutely no harm in these themes and actually find them to be a wonderful part of our early culture, filled with idealism, optimism, and ethics. I like to see “In God We Trust” on our money and inscribed on our buildings, I like to see the Ten Commandments chiseled into government buildings across our great nation.
I enjoy the nativity scenes at the county courthouse and I love singing Christmas carols at Christmastime. Christmas, not Winter Solstice you Bamyans!
These are part of our early history and culture and are not to be disparaged by little minds that somehow think they are intellectually above such things. They are actually intellectually challenged for being unable to see the beauty of our country’s cultural history.
To all of the Bamyan Atheists I urge you to drop this childish pettiness and get to work on the real issues, the loss of personal freedoms and the rampant growth of bureaucracy, that face our country. To waste your time, and ours, with fighting a monument set in the California Mojave desert as a memorial to those who gave their lives for our country in a past war is incomprehensible. A better cause would be to volunteer your time and money to advocating more personal freedoms and less government.
¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamyan
² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhara
³ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamyan
© 2010 by Bruce J. Cameron
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The Ignorance of Some Religious Leaders
The Ignorance of Some Religious Leaders
It has become painfully clear that some Christian leaders have taken the same route as some of their Islamic brethren.
The Reverend Terry Jones in Florida plans to burn the Koran publicly on the 9th Anniversary of the 911 tragedy to commemorate that atrocity.
How appropriate. A religious leader interprets the Koran in a twisted way to justify the 911 attack and another religious leader interprets the Koran in a twisted way to justify his publicly burning the Koran as retribution for the 911 attack.
I do not know if the Rev. Jones has read the Koran, but I doubt it. After 911, I bought a Koran and read it cover to cover, it is not long, my edition is a little over 400 pages. I bought a second edition to determine if there were any major differences, there were not, and then bought an electronic version to be able to search for words and phrases.
There is nothing in the Koran that justifies the atrocity of the 911 event, nor is there anything in the Koran that justifies the continual atrocities of the Al Queda or the Taliban. Those organizations are following extremist religious leaders who have interpreted the Koran in their own twisted ways for their own selfish reasons.
As with the many Christian sects there are many different religious leaders who interpret the Bible in many different ways. Some good, some bad. So it is with Islam. Sadly, many of the Islamic leaders in the Middle East have taken the extreme in their interpretations. Note that although there are thousands of Mosques and millions of people who are members of them here in the United States they do not kill each other or kill Christians, or maim and torture their members for various religious infractions. They do not blow up the Mosques of other sects during prayers. What is the difference? It is simply that some Islamic leaders are rational human beings who practice their religion in a peaceful way and there are some that are not rational and interpret the Koran in a manner that justifies, in their minds, the atrocities that we read about every day occurring in the Islamic countries abroad.
The Rev. Jones is as ignorant as they are and one who acts on ignorance is stupid for insisting on burning the Koran. It is not the Koran that is at fault, it is those who interpret it for evil purposes. The Rev Jones is just as guilty.
It has become painfully clear that some Christian leaders have taken the same route as some of their Islamic brethren.
The Reverend Terry Jones in Florida plans to burn the Koran publicly on the 9th Anniversary of the 911 tragedy to commemorate that atrocity.
How appropriate. A religious leader interprets the Koran in a twisted way to justify the 911 attack and another religious leader interprets the Koran in a twisted way to justify his publicly burning the Koran as retribution for the 911 attack.
I do not know if the Rev. Jones has read the Koran, but I doubt it. After 911, I bought a Koran and read it cover to cover, it is not long, my edition is a little over 400 pages. I bought a second edition to determine if there were any major differences, there were not, and then bought an electronic version to be able to search for words and phrases.
There is nothing in the Koran that justifies the atrocity of the 911 event, nor is there anything in the Koran that justifies the continual atrocities of the Al Queda or the Taliban. Those organizations are following extremist religious leaders who have interpreted the Koran in their own twisted ways for their own selfish reasons.
As with the many Christian sects there are many different religious leaders who interpret the Bible in many different ways. Some good, some bad. So it is with Islam. Sadly, many of the Islamic leaders in the Middle East have taken the extreme in their interpretations. Note that although there are thousands of Mosques and millions of people who are members of them here in the United States they do not kill each other or kill Christians, or maim and torture their members for various religious infractions. They do not blow up the Mosques of other sects during prayers. What is the difference? It is simply that some Islamic leaders are rational human beings who practice their religion in a peaceful way and there are some that are not rational and interpret the Koran in a manner that justifies, in their minds, the atrocities that we read about every day occurring in the Islamic countries abroad.
The Rev. Jones is as ignorant as they are and one who acts on ignorance is stupid for insisting on burning the Koran. It is not the Koran that is at fault, it is those who interpret it for evil purposes. The Rev Jones is just as guilty.
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