"All religion have been violent, including Christianity". Popular views about religion and violence are mostly wrong because most people are still religious and they never blame their religion.
I like the way Karen Armstrong writes and have many of her books. I only wish I have time to read them all but one must do what is important than like.
I checked my Kindle and I am only 6% into her latest book.
At 2% of the book, Karen Armstrong repeated herself for the second or third time which I have highlighted below.
Sure, this is not new, I have seen and heard it on BBC documentaries, but it is the way she puts things across to readers like me. This has been on my mind for many days: the necessity of violence.....good for Singapore bad for many of its people.
One important feature of the 21st century is the continuous need to de-learn. It is also what cause many to misunderstand America and gobsmacked the Chinese on and on about their greatest rival. Closer to home, our leaders are poor de-learners.
Please, what you know is good only for a time. Even if they are still good you gotta to look at them differently and therefore at a deeper level for it to remain useful. This is not new because Jesus Christ continues to ask, "Who do you think I am?"
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Ignorance is a bliss, til the time it knock ur door and call it black swan.
ReplyDeleteThanks, u remind me again that woman is naturally stupid
ReplyDeleteIts hardship that make people progress, not violence. The religion set the value that guide action, and that makes content of religion important.
To be fair I never read her book but so far it seems not promising at all
Karen made a valid statement - all religions indeed have been violent. History is telling - and those who choose to read the past blindly are doomed to continue making bigotry statements at this or that religion/creed and instigating violence (sounds very much like that s-a-t-a-n). She has given her life more meaning by dwelling into other faiths like Buddhism and Islam, beyond the Christianity mold she grew up in.
ReplyDeleteWhen I want something sour I look for lime, and when I want something sweet I has better chance with orange. Both are quite similar but they're different.
DeleteBeing ignorant will only make yourself hurt.
As Pengyou rightly stated, we need to de-learn. And everything is evolving - even our discoveries. Yes, there are sweet lime as there are sour oranges. I wouldn't take a bet on one over the other until I bite into the fruit.
DeleteYep because we need to be practical about such matters. Nevertheless we must avoid blaming Islam. Another time and place it would be some other religion.
ReplyDeleteLet history be the judge and don't be myopic about it . If we want to brand someone terrorists, I would say in current times, there are many non Muslims who can be considered as such. And with a pen, it can be more dangerous than the sword,
ReplyDeleteJust the other day, a Muslim friend of mine with whom we have mutual respect for our beliefs (mine Christianity) shared with me a SMS which has been circulating about a koran-burning which was supposedly to take place the coming saturday in Denmark and calls for a boycott of the wholesale and retail stores there by Muslims. I told him we Christians probably also have enough of such malicious chain mails about bible-burning. These seemingly naive chain mails are really very sinister and clearly there is evil intent to stir up anger in the reader. I am glad my Muslim friend shared with me what he received so we can both have a better understanding of the "true agenda" behind those who compose and circulate such hatred mail around.
The spread and growth of evil ideas and deeds are checked when society recognize them as such. The problem with evil acts or terrorism legitimized by misusing religion or a moral philosophy is that what is evil is now considered as good by enough people organized to promote and further their evil action to drive towards their objective of dominating others. Defeating such ideas are very difficult although taken over the course of its life it eventually defeats itself because the promise utopia failed to materialize, but this is too late for us.
DeleteWe must bear in mind that we did not defeat Communism. It committed suicide through failure and bankruptcy. We could only contain it and wait for it to die. Do we also have to do the same with deviant Islam? That will depend on the quality of leadership. As much as I can tell the most politically and militarily powerful leaders are still trying to figure out what hit them. Karen Armstrong did not write her book for the masses but the thought leaders and decision makers so that they would not make an enemy out of Islam, which will only serve the terrorists aims and make matters worse.
Pengyou Just been to kino and found this new book on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteHow "God" Works: A Logical Inquiry on Faith by Marshall Brain
Does God exist? Using an intellectually rigorous, scientific approach, Marshall Brain—the founder of HowStuffWorks.com and author of the How Stuff Works series—sets out to resolve the eternal debate once and for all. With a compelling sense of curiosity, he breaks down mankind's search for a higher power, tackling such quandaries as: Who is God? What are his attributes? What is God doing and why? How does God interact with humanity? And ultimately, how can humans know with certainty whether God is real or imaginary?How God Works is an enlightening journey in critical thinking that challenges readers to boldly approach the subject of personal faith and put aside intuition in favor of objectivity and logic.
May be up your alley!
Thanks for the recommendation!
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