Katya Koren and Islam

I have wondered, and this wonderment has persisted consistently almost all of my life,  how it is that something as staggeringly dumb as belief in an invisible chap in the sky who runs the show and requires total blind submission to his ways, is not permanently and conclusively eliminated from the list of blights on mankind.

The great qualities we possess as a species have reached many fantastic landmarks. Great minds have turned to the challenges facing our survival and demonstrated just how amazing we can be when applying rational logical thought in a forward direction. We have managed to overcome many of the diseases that have blighted our evolutionary path -  TB and smallpox to mention but two - yet this much more sinister and murderous pox on humanity, one which could so easily with mere legislation be wiped out at the swish of a pen, continues to flourish. How is this possible?

I am reminded of this today looking at the picture of Katya Koren. A  Ukranian 19 year old who participated in a beauty pageant,  for which reason she apparently attracted the rape and stoning death attention of  3 Muslim youngsters including, Bihal Gaziev, 16, who suggested (according to the Police report) that his belief in the invisible man in the sky and his set of rules regarding how to live on Earth required killing young Katya, in an appropriately barbaric way. 

His claim, published in the Daily Mail, that she was in breach of Sharia values has a sound ring to it. Rape and brutal murder are far less likely to accompany the actions of a rational logical thinker than an adherent to blind faith. Although the story was later amended by the Daily Mail to exclude any religiously motivated thinking, Bihal Gaziev's actions represent his Religious belief.

One need look no further than Tony Blairs example to see how loosely Biblical interpretation, in his case 'Thou shalt not kill,' lend themselves to the illogic of the blind faith supplicant.

Bihal's claim is much like that of John Joe Thomas, 28, of Pennsylvania, who, just a few Months ago filled a sock with rocks and bashed 70 year old Murray Seidman, who had named him as his sole beneficiary in his will, to death, with the explanation that he read in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned to death. "Thomas said he received a message in his prayers that he must kill Seidman." Well why not. If you believe in the invisibility of logic, then you can do whatever your prayers tell you to do.

Just another Biblical tragedy and there are no shortage of tragedies arising from that unholy book.

“The battle for mans extinction has never been more fiercely contested, on one side, the supplicants of irrational blind faith and on the other, rational logical minds.” The Emergency Bouzouki Player.

For those supplicants of blind faith, who number more than half of the Earth and who populate almost all of the most powerful offices – from the US Presidency to the Billionaire sheikdoms – there is no workable moral code. The premise of their position – scriptural prescription – is ridiculous. So much so that the only way it can survive is reliance on an idea called blind faith. Blind faith as an argument for believing anything is a ridiculous premise which cannot survive without defeating its ideological opposite. Rational logical thought.

Debating the merits of scriptural prescription is ridiculous, being the intellectual equivalent of debating the flatness of the Earth. The scriptures, the bible, the Quran and all their silly derivatives are ridiculous. Childrens fairy stories rehashed through the millennia to support the ‘my god is better than your god’ argument whose premise is an ‘eternity in heaven’ for submission, and an ‘eternity in hell’ for the rest. 

The purveyors of this cynical relief package for the desperate and needy – the Popes, Bishops, Imamsm Fathers and Padre’s – perpetuate a delusion they can only maintain through blind faith. They are, without exception, not only ridiculous, but the enemy of reason, in service to a system of social, psychological, spiritual and intellectual abuse. Perpetuating, often on pain of death, submission through the metaphorical equivalent of thought lobotomy, into their social order in which the right to independent thought is forbidden and non-conformity persecuted.

Mans great advances since the first thinkers began developing ideas and sharing them for the betterment of all, have, almost without exception, arisen from non-believers, often despite persecution by the Religious powers of the day. Often those thought-contributors who were under the influence of the Church - would have to suppress their inventions if they threatened the Church's absolute stronghold on stupidity. Were it not for non-believers pursuing logical rational thought and directing the benefits toward upliftment of our human race in general, we would in all certainty already be extinct as a species.

And yet, more than half the planet believe through blind faith in a scripture based prescription which relies on a logical argument that a 9 year old would easily discredit with basic thought. How is it that seemingly intelligent people defend this iniquitous, exploitative, divisive product whose purpose is no more than to offer ridiculous promises – heaven and hell  - while offering nothing in return. Perhaps this is related to the fact that more than 50% of the Earths population live in abject poverty, less than $2 a day. This poverty layer make prime harvesting fields for souls so desperate they will believe anything. 

Is it not the most cynical of devices for churches to recruit from the underbelly of those most dispossessed by economic misfortune, who will believe anything for the price of a hot meal?

In terms of the powers that be, using the example of the USA, the heartland of Christian belief with their ‘In God we trust’ approach, who could legislate to end the pernicious growth of this social cancer, the motivation to do so is at odds with the formula for success in a democratic election. (And I use the word democratic in its loosest American style interpretation.)  Dumbed down believers in blind faith prescription will vote accordingly - their vote is so easy to manipulate - believe in invisible things and you will believe whatever you are told - in his name. 

The words 'God' and 'Democracy' are so linked in American politics that the chances of a leader being elected who didn't openly and enthusiastically embrace the little mighty Jesus in his manifesto - would stand no hope.  America's leadership is limited to either a leader who believes in an invisible man guiding his hand - or one who lies about it. Any suggestion that this represents democracy - rule by the people - must acknowledge the distance America's democratic model represents from the Greek invention.

Oh well. Bihal Gaziev and John Joe Thomas have an important lesson for us all. As believers they are guaranteed a place in heaven, albeit two different heavens.  Another two good reasons to believe.