Submitted by Charles Knighton
The Advocate’s editorial of July 30th “Extremism, not Religion” attempts to persuade readers that religious extremists “…always distort the truth to their own ends, seeing threats where there are none, and abusing the scriptures to justify their wrongdoing.” I ask:”Are religious extremists abusing scripture or adhering to scripture?
” All scripture is rife with paradoxical conundrums which allow those we label as “extremists” to see themselves as apostles, literally obeying God’s word. And isn’t that the problem when such mumbo jumbo is revered as truth by billions of people?
Muslims and Christians who both insist that theirs are religions of peace and coexistence find themselves attempting to leap very high semantic hurdles when we read “…wherever you encounter (non-believers), kill them, seize them, besiege them, wait for them at every lookout post…” ( Koran 9:5). Not to be outdone the Bible offers the following to foster peaceful coexistence: Deuteronomy 13:6-9 flatly states that if anyone —” your very own brother, or son or daughter, or the wife that you love”—introduces you to a false religion, ” you must certainly put him to death.” Numbers 31:17-18 finds Moses telling the Israelites to ” kill all the boys” of an enemy tribe, and “kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.” In Matthew 10:34 Jesus, the Prince of Peace, warns “do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Are those who act in accordance with scriptural verses “abusing the scriptures to justify their wrongdoing”? Are they extremists or apostles? And isn’t it time we obviate the need for such questions by relegating religions and their scriptures to the dustbin of historical canards?
To the expert theologians in Barbados, whether real or imagined, who would employ their parsing legerdemain to explain why the above cited verses should not be taken at face value, please stay your pens. I have always found it remarkable that scriptural verses redounding to the benefit of any religion are always so pellucidly rendered that even such an unsophisticated rube as this writer can discern their intended meaning as “the words speak for themselves”, as many a reverend has exclaimed while waving the scriptures overhead. I agree completely.
The dustbin beckons.
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