February 27, 2007
I've been pondering what makes one human being kill another in the Name of God. It's nothing new. Christians killed non-Christians in the name of God for hundreds of years. Then they turned on each other with Catholics killing Protestants who, as soon as they got the chance, returned the compliment. Then Protestant turned on Protestant over variations in belief and methods of worship. Of course, Hindus and Muslims have been going at it for centuries.
Although the Romans, with collaboration from the Scribes and Pharisees, horribly persecuted the early Christians, this was a political persecution, based on fear on the part of both the Roman and Jewish leaders of loss of power and control to the new, intensely passionate followers of Jesus Christ. This is the same fear that has fuelled political persecution of the religious throughout history, right up to present day China.
So, while fear of loss of power and control explains the persecution of the religious by political leaders, what explains an identical kind of persecution called for by religious leaders?
Now, I'm sure psychologists would come up with a variety of compelling arguments for why people kill one another in the Name of God; distortions of perception, damaged egos, hopelessness, rage, a deep sense of injustice and persecution, alienation. I wouldn't argue with this reasoning. Ego and psychology, in all their complexity, play a large part in the decisions we make about how we conduct our lives and relate to other human beings.
We know how to dress up our actions in justifications and rationalizations, no matter how bizarre the costumes, but we also know these justifications and rationalizations are nothing more than our ego explaining/excusing our behavior to ourselves and others. Our real motivations lie much deeper, buried in a tangle of family and social experiences, religious influences or lack thereof, gender, place in family and history, even where we live. Beneath the tangle, however, lie two basic elements that energize the whole mess, two sides of the same coin as it were; on the one side fear of losing power and control, on the other a furious determination to get hold of them. This is the connection, so to speak, between the individual and the group.
I’d like to introduce a third thread and suggest there exists among us human beings who are driven by neither fear of losing power and control nor a furious determination to get hold of them, a make of human being who is energized by something quite different. I refer to those who have given their life to God, Christian or otherwise. The truly religious do not proselytize. They seek to influence by example. They do not seek power in order to force others to believe and worship as they themselves believe and worship. They lead through acts of kindness and generosity. They do not behave like avenging angels with flaming swords whose holy task it is to force the light of Truth on the world. They speak, instead, of their own profound joy and inner peace at their liberation from ego and psychology, at their freedom from concerns over power and control. They speak of their human weaknesses and failings, their doubts and mistaken attitudes, of how they keep reaching for the Hand of God to pick them up and set them on their spiritual feet again. They say we are all Children of God. Most of all, they emphasize how the concept of taking the life of another human being in the Name of God is beyond their ability to comprehend, let alone carry out.
(I understand the disconnect between religious dogma and spirituality, but for the purpose of this blog, I leave that path to others to pursue.)
If, as I suggest, persecution comes from the fear of one group of people to losing power and control to another, or a furious determination to get hold of them after long being denied, what are we to make of those who demand the destruction or violent suppression of other human beings in the Name of God? What are we to make of their followers? They claim they’re after the spiritual redemption of the world. However, to follow my line of speculation, if the root cause of persecution of others is fear of losing power and control or a furious determination to get hold of them after long being denied, and if power and control belong to the realm of the ego and not to the realm of the soul, logic suggests that what these religious leaders seek is, in fact, not spiritual redemption at all but political power.
If that’s the case, and I believe it is, we run into another problem. Aside from the fact you can’t force spiritual redemption on anyone, all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Simply put, the more power a human being gets hold of, the more they seek to enhance it and, worse, the more they fear losing it. History is littered with the bitter consequences of human beings who, through justification and rationalization, persuaded their followers to grant them unchecked power. Whether political or religious, the outcome was equally terrible.
These are dangerous times. The world is full of leaders demanding their followers grant them unchecked power. We mustn’t confuse religious certainty with a bid for political power because, if we do, we will all surely be destroyed.
I realize this is a troubling topic. I put this out to invite debate. I welcome your thoughts and comments.
Roisin Moriarty
1 Comment
Reader Comments (1)
Hi Roisin,
We humans have an innate prejudice and fear of those who are not like us. Whether it be customs, language, skin color, or religious beliefs, if you don't think, look, and act like I do, then there must be something wrong with you. Accepting the differences in others is not a natural condition of the human psyche; it is something that must be overcome with education and association.
Extreme fear and prejudice, to the point of killing anyone who doesn't conform to your 'norm,' has, and continues to be, the most senseless extension of the insecurities which accompany the human condition. To a lesser degree, these insecurities can be seen to have an affect on the relationships of all people, whether young or old, and in all cultures, whether spiritual or secular; but for these insecurities to rise to the level of compelling one race to exterminate another, or one religion to eliminate another, requires the introduction of an additional element -- 'The Cause.'
History shows us that 'The Cause' invariably originates with an individual who, like you say, is primarily motivated by power and control. He attracts followers to his cause, by amplifying the fears and prejudices felt by those in his particular religious or racial group, and by exaggerating the righteousness of their beliefs. That he can actually compel masses of people to murder others, or to commit acts of suicide among themselves, for the sake of 'The Cause,' is a sad testament to the weakness and gullibility of human beings in general.
What can we, as individuals, do to prevent such occurrences? Nothing -- human nature being what it is, there will always be someone who has the greed, the message, the will, and the charisma to convince others that 'The Cause' is worth killing and dying for. As individuals, the best we can strive for is to educate ourselves and our children to the dangers of fanatical prejudice, no matter the cause, and to promote acceptance of others and their differences as the only true path to personal freedom and security.
What can we, as a society, do to prevent such occurrences? Nothing -- the best a society can hope for is to kill the radical bastards before they kill you. Survival is the first obligation of an individual, a family, or a society.
Personally, I say live and let live; but if faced with the choice of, "conform or I will kill you," I would sooner spit in the Devil's eye than change one hair on my head.
~Papawayne