The Star: Religion is an idea of life, the universe and everything stating how we should live. What will happen to us after death. A God – or at least a cosmic force – has set these things in motion and may or may not keep the wheels turning by active involvement.
There are many issues to be had when claimed as truth. Religions make universal claims which are at odds with each other. They cannot all hold true. Certain beliefs are essential to believe, currying favour in an after life or to receive blessings in this life time. Or else you are dammed. That the faith you have is largely determined arbitrarily by the country and parents you are born to suggests God really does play dice with your eternal happiness.
If religion makes a belief true – and your salvation depends on it – absurdities become essentially rationalised or explained as a metaphor with a universal truth. Criticising becomes an attack on the faith. Pointing out how people respond to the belief is retorted as you being phobic. The sectarianism and killing in the name of the one true God become anything but about belief. It is tribal, it is politics, it is social injustice, it is western foreign policy, it is human nature. So ignore that they claim they are doing God’s will in a moment of religious ecstasy.
The majority of religious followers do not want to convert you or subject you to what they regard as their personal belief. They are not secretly waiting for the moment to turn democracy into a theocratic state. Many will stand for the principles of secularism supporting a pluralistic state and multi cultural society with shared values. But claiming militant Islamists are not a problem within Islam misses exactly how extremists are cultivated, indoctrinated and turned to violence.
Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Americas, Answers to Anti-Islam, Awareness