Today we see on every channel and magazine religion being religion, the old-fashioned way. They try to coin that religion is love, but years of reading bloody passages in the Bible, Quran or Torah make us reflect that this is not quite so. Divine commandments influence their devotees, who want to follow to the letter what is preached, and that’s what apparently is seen in the video. In the Bible two bears kill 42 children for making fun of a prophet of God. In the Quran the tip is to kill those of another religion, and if they repent they just have to say a little prayer and pay the tithe.
Bible, 2 Kings, verse 24
”(…)And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD;
and there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.”
Quran, Surah 9, verse 5:
”(…) kill the idolaters wherever you find them; capture them, besiege them and lie in wait for them; but if they repent, observe prayer and pay the zakat, then open the way for them.”
Because of Religion we have done horrible things, and our religious leaders only make things worse, using the ignorance of the faithful and the human thirst for power, control and money… since forever.
There’s not much difference between the one who shoots someone and the one who celebrates the certainty that his gay neighbor is going to “burn in the fire of hell.”
There’s no difference between those who are sure that the world will bow to the feet of their god and will suffer the consequences of its sins, regardless of which god this is.
There’s no difference between you who use the Old Testament to fill yourself with self-righteousness and condemn your neighbor, and the one who uses the Quran to beat his daughter who wanted to convert to Christianity, “embarrassing the family.”
There’s no difference between the one who wants 90 virgins in a “harem heaven,” and the one who wants to see everyone going to hell while he floats on a cloud playing harp.
Worse than religion is the human being. We are evil beings, in need of a redemption, because by ourselves we know nothing besides selfishness and hatred, we deserve the decadence our race experiences, there is no religion in the world, no practices, no matter how radical and faithful you try to be, that will save you from the miserable humanity that dominates you.
That’s the good news Jesus brought, the central core of his message: “Forget all of this, love God above everything and your neighbor as yourself.”
The God Jesus tells you to love is himself, who instead of judging and condemning, came to die and suffer in your place. This is a message that forces you to let go of your reasons, your certainties, your pride and to go there to embrace your neighbor.
That’s why I dream the same dream as John, which was the same as the master’s, a world where we wouldn’t need heaven, or hell. No countries, no flags, no religion, nothing for which you would have to kill or die.
Imagine all the people living in peace!
Yeah, it might seem that I’m a dreamer, but I really would like to see you join this group of dreamers… that way we’d be more, and we’d be less… we’d be ONE!