Religion, Part Two: The Bad, The Ugly, The Teachers

Religion has it terrible side as well as it good, as discussed in the prior article which appeared last week. Religion has been the excuse, and even the motivation, for many wars and terrible acts. From as far back as the Crusades of the Christians against the Moslems in an attempt to recapture Jerusalem in the name of Religion, the Inquisition in Europe and South America, in an attempt to free the world of those who did not believe in Christianity, to the present day Moslem radicals who want to reestablish the Caliphate in the name of their supreme being, religion has been used to justify mass slaughter of innocents whose only guilt is an accident of birth.

Religion motivated the Holocaust and mass slaughter of Jews and Catholics by Hitler, in the name of racial purification. Religion motivated the slaughter of Croatians by Serbs in the latter part of the last century, the war between the Irish Protestants and Catholics, fighting between Shiites and Sunis, and the mass suicide of the Branch Davidians in Waco. These are but a few examples of the mass killings and events resulting in the deaths of millions motivated by Religions.
However, if one reads the devotional books of each religion and the morality taught in  them, it is not easy to find passages to justify these events. The reason believers commit these acts is interpretation of these books by the priests, preachers, mullahs, and rabbis.  They are the teachers that preach to the flocks, engendering the hatred that leads people to perform these heinous acts in the name of “Justice, and Belief”. Believers are taught by the priests, preachers, mullahs and rabbis to believe that those who do not share their beliefs are less than human and worthy only of slaughter.  If there is blame, it is falls clearly on these teachers of the Religion, not entirely on the flock that follows their leaders.
Some have criticized the believers who refuse to adopt these aggressive teachings from putting a stop to these teachings. But the teachers are to cunning; they teach their followers that the lack of adoption of their aggressive teachings by others of their own faith marks these others as nonbelievers and enemies of their definition of “Good”, worthy of slaughter as well. In this way, these radical teachers of all faiths retain their power and influence, putting all members of their faith at risk of war. It is the worst part of Religion that its teachers, nothing but men and women, hold so much power. In the final analysis, they are subject to their own inner drives for power and influence, no different than all political leaders.The most charismatic of them build the largest armies of support and can do the most good or the most evil depending on their inner motivation.
The very strengths of Religion, its fulfillment of our need for discipline, order and morality defining right and wrong backed by a supreme authority, our need for belonging to an exclusive society and community are used by those teachers of Religion backed by the same power of their supreme authority to drive people to do horrible acts, absolved by their teachers and their supreme being from actions that are contrary to the morality integral in most Religions. Were it not for these aberrant political, religious leaders, there would not be the Religion motivated slaughters we continue to endure. This will only come to an end when the teaching changes and the teachers change. Unfortunately, this comes slowly and the slaughter continues. Those targeted must remain cautious’ remembering that there are many who do not accept the teachings of the radicals but live fearful of becoming targets themselves, both by the radical members of their own Religion, and by those targeted outside their Religion identified as the targets for slaughter by the teachers. Remember that those truly responsible are the teachers, the leaders of their flocks, the not the followers, nor the Religion itself.