Dear Editor,
Another act of terrorism was committed in France recently and as is usually the case, the real culprits for “unspeakable” violence are apathy and ignorance. Sadly, apathy is generally acknowledged and accepted and ignorance is also raised up as some sort of virtue. And Greed, which is always bad, despite some sneaky greedy voices, always plays a role in tragedy.
There are many people, sadly, who believe there is no way to eradicate terrorist violence, and there may be no way to minimize it. This is nothing but apathy. For terrorists, in general, there are two problems that must and can be confronted. The first is greed. There are many manic messiahs in the world who want to be king of it all. Sadly, this applies to terrorists as well as some politicians, and some businessmen. And some individuals pursue all three of these ventures simultaneously.
The only way to combat a wannabe messiah is with truth. Does God really want you to kill innocent people? Will you really be rewarded for murder? Does true security lie in having the greatest military even if your people are disgruntled and angry? Does true happiness come when you have hoarded the most money while millions starve? Sadly, many politicians and businessmen are guilty of the same sin as terrorists but their stains tend to be white-washed in Western society.
In the West there are many unhappy, disgruntled people because of a lack of opportunity. There is an eerie connection here between terrorism, the drug culture and dirty politics and big business. Individuals desperate for happiness pursue illusions at the cost of many lives. What is not an illusion is happiness and person’s desire to pursue it. When some are greedy and pursue a false happiness many will suffer and that is what we are seeing in our culture today: east/west, Muslim/Christian and religious/secularist.
Much of the Muslim world has a real concern. The concern in control. In the seventh century, Muslim forces were able, via military attacks, to conquer all of the Middle East, Northern Africa, and parts of Europe. Through the Crusades, a purely defensive effort, a small portion of these lands were recaptured. Understandably, many Muslims today, feel this loss and are willing to engage in terrorism or excuse terrorist acts. And then after WWII, the Christian West gave Jewish people a small sliver of the Middle East. This is an act that is not be forgiven by some Muslims and their wound will not assuaged until there is no Jewish state in the Middle East. And by extension, the war with the West will not end until all past grievances have been satisfactorily addressed.
And here is where the West must accept responsibility, especially as it becomes increasingly secularized. There are many in the world today, and not just some Muslims, who are not at home in the secularized world. And sadly, most secularists assume that secularism is pristine way of life that deep down everyone wants. This is ignorance. Secularist must accept that many tenets of secularism are terroristic and are equally, if not more damaging, to persons and society than so called terrorism. These modern acts of violence are a scapegoat comparable to the Scopes Trial or the Flat Earth Society. Religious people are not more ignorant than secularists and religion is not the sole cause of violence.
First, there would have been no Enlightenment without Christianity. In fact, all Enlightenment figures were religious even if some attacked certain aspects of religion. Leading up to the Enlightenment, and during the Enlightenment, almost all scientists were priest. Modern science owes everything to two pervasive religious beliefs: one, the universe is knowable because it was created by a knowledgeable being and two because humans have reason. What follows from these two tenets of religion are two secularist mantras: truths exist and can be discovered.
Those of us in the West must come to terms with the reality that secularism is as violent, or more violent, than religion ever was. Joseph Stalin killed millions in what was supposed to be a religion free society. The same is true for Mao in Communist China and Pol Pot in Communist Cambodia. These men dispensed with religion and then when on to cause more violence than had occurred previously in all of human history. Modern terrorism, and the so called Crusades, are nothing in comparison. And then there is abortion, whose death toll can only be compared to all of the wars of history. If secularists can come to terms with the two greatest atrocities in human history, truth will be on our side, and apathy will be the only unforgivable sin.
Timothy Nelson
Ponoka