The problem isn’t Islam, it’s religion.

In the wake of the Orlando shootings, it seems the news has gravitated to two of the typical takes of this:

1. Gun control — we need better laws to prevent assault weapons from getting into the hands of terrorists.
2. Radical Islam — people follow Islam (or don’t, depending on who you ask), and follow it in radical, often violent ways.

I’m all for reasonable gun control, but since the Paris attacks, we all know weapons are easy to get for a dedicated attacker. So we are looking very hard at Islam and radical extremists.

Trump went so far as to say we should ban all muslims, which is obviously ridiculous.

Now I think the nature of people is good. Many people are also religious. I think there are many good, religious people, but I don’t think being religious makes someone good.

There are also people who do evil. I usually lump the causes into one of three groups:

1. Mental instability. There are many mental conditions out there that make people believe things that aren’t true. Everything from visual and auditory hallucinations to voices, when someone’s in your head, you can end up doing some crazy things that most people would not understand.
2. Being misinformed. Misinformation about people, traditions, and cultures causes misunderstandings. Sometimes these can get out of control, and people can act rationally (even wanting to do good) based on wrong data, and therefore do evil things.
3. Crimes of passion. People are passionate by nature, which can cause them do strange things. Coupled with mental instability or not, but many times people realize they have done something terrible right after.

Religious fundamentalism

Religious fundamentalism is usually based on a few concepts:

1. Literal meanings and translations of ancient texts
2. Strict obedience to laws, rules, and rituals
3. The desire to push #1 and #2 on others.

Two of the most frightening concepts about Islamic Fundamentalism are around Sharia law, and Jihad.

As a woman and modern citizen of the world, I have to say Sharia law scares me. With the recent talk of “beating wives lightly”, and how women can not be functioning members of society without male counterparts, I am totally against these concepts. Many in the Western world would easily call these concepts quite backward, and against the progress of society. Proponents of these laws would likely say that the progress of society is wrong, and that we are deviating from how the teachings would tell us to act.

Christian fundamentalism has to be treated with the same lens though. In America, although not linked as much with violence, Christian fundamentalism has really hurt America. If you think Christians can’t use the bible to justify beating their wives, look at http://www.christiandomesticdiscipline.net/

America with its military and economic might is a major driving force in the world. Yet for complex concepts like global climate change, many Americans still don’t believe it exists. Even some of their government representatives have this view. With many other issues, such as abortion and gay rights, the Christians have held us back, saying it is against the scriptures.

Evolution, the big bang theory, and the age of the earth, are hampered by religious extremism, with overzealous parents protesting schools and forcing them to either not teach science, or teach religion alongside science. Yet these same law makers wonder why Americans seem to be hemorrhaging IQ points.

In-separation of church and state

Even the founding fathers knew religion was trouble. After all, they left partially due to religious differences. But they knew religion was too touchy a subject to be involved in government.

Although now, it seems like anyone would acknowledge that the republicans are the party of religious ideals. Many representatives agree to the separation, only to state that they have to bring their point of view and ideals to the table (which usually means ignoring facts). Republicans run on these platforms, and then bring their religion into government.

The government has to treat everyone equally, even if they don’t agree with your religious bullshit. That’s the law. The law is also that even if you don’t agree with my religious viewpoints, you can’t harass or do anything unlawful to me. I, in turn, have to deal with your shit, hear about the Westboro Baptist Church, answer the door for Jehovah Witnesses, and about how some companies don’t believe in birth control for their employees.

But many religions explicitly state that you should persecute and convert non-believers. Both Islam and Christianity do. So which one is right? Or should we just allow them to fight it out? In America, instead of fighting this war on the streets, we’re fighting it in congress and the judicial system.

Fundamentalism in a changing world

Religious fundamentalists usually believe that the world has gone to hell in a handbasket, and going back to the “good old days” is the only way to make the world whole again.

The only constants are change, and religious doctrine.

The world is constantly changing. New technology, new ideas, and the sharing and melting of these ideas together is what makes the world a wonderful and exciting place. Religion doesn’t change, or if it does, it rarely keeps up. It is an albatross around our necks holding us to false ideas that never change. The world can’t go back to the way it was, no more than a sound could be revoked. So the only constants are change, and religious doctrine.

Religion, what was it good for?

Religion in history has been involved in a lot of concepts that don’t involve souls. For example, during the dark ages, it was the monks and religious class who were the most educated, most literate, and preserving knowledge.

Religions have provided sets of rules, some of which are cultural, but some are just good common sense. Before we determined the causes of diseases and food safety, these were issues that could kill you. Avoiding dirty animals like pigs and cooking to one of the first food codes could save your life.

Religion was also intertwined with science for a long time. The initial purpose of religion was to answer the unanswerable. During history, many things were unanswerable, including astronomical phenomenon, weather, seasons, sickness, and the origin of life.

As time went on, we learned things. We learned how to make calendars and tell time. We learned the Earth rotates around the Sun. We conducted experiments and learned about the germ theory of disease. By using observation of the world, we understood more about where we come from with natural selection.

War declared!

As we learned how our world worked, some of these ideas did not line up with what we had previously believed. The classic example is Galileo vs the church during the Inquisition.

Basically, the church turned to hatred and violence to combat their loss of control over the people. In order to justify torturing their bodies, they believed they were saving their souls.

It’s this kind of justification that will allow normal people to do extraordinarily violent and terrible things.

Milgram and the highest power

After World War II, we were wondering how people could be convinced to do such terrible things the concentration camps. It seemed literally inhuman for anyone to willingly participate in such a plan.

The Milgram Experiment is a now famous psychological experiment about how people follow authority, even if they disagree with the orders they are given. Here’s a video from the experiment:

The surprising result was that people would continue to shock and cause harm to someone as long as they were told to do so, and absolved of responsibility for doing it.

Now imagine instead of a scientist in a lab coat, you have a priest. Your typical religious follower is at the switches, dealing with the world at large. You will do things and say things that you don’t believe, simply because you are told to do so.

We know authoritarianism is dangerous. But when religious leaders tell you God wants you to do something, and you are absolved of guilt, we’ve built the same thing. This is exactly what the promise of Jihad is.

Religious extremism is bad, MMKAY?

We’ll all agree that religious extremism is bad. Who can’t say that? It’s extreme, by definition, and most people don’t agree with extreme things.

But what you determine as extreme is very dependent on your religious views. For a religious extremist, they would probably consider themselves “devout.”

We all agree that religious extremists take things too far. They take the religious texts “too literally.” They behave in ways that are outlined in these texts, that aren’t in line with modern society.

So what does that make the spectrum of religion, if people who actually believe what is written are extremists? Are there only extremists and fakes at that point?

Religious views and interpretations change over time, but the original source material rarely changes. Even this just proves that religious views need to try and keep up with the modern world to stay relevant, even if they can’t change fast enough.

What’s good about religion?

So if religious extremists are one of the bad results of religion, what are some of the good things?

Some would say our “moral code” comes from religion, and without it we would be animals. Yet, our laws are actually the moral code everyone lives by. Many “religious” people don’t even follow the morals of their religion, or understand the doctrine.

Many would say that community springs up around religion. Churches are a great place for people to meet each other and congregate. Yet, it is exclusive already in that only people of your religious views are present, leading to an isolation of people who have different views from you.

At best, religion would peacefully divide us forever. At worst, it causes repeated violence and strife all across the world.

Contemporary leadership

So how do we learn to survive and work together in a modern world?

By having contemporary leaders use modern ideas and common sense to bring us together.

In the end, we’re all searching for meaning. We want to fit in and be a part of society. But as long as our morality is in the past, we’ll never be whole in the present.

Don’t have faith and twist someone’s 2000 year old words.

Make your own judgements, and say it loud. People might just echo it. Or disagree with you. At least that is real.

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