Justin Williams is a sophomore German and graphic arts major and writes 'In Retrospect' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Why is not knowing what follows life on Earth really that bad? Why can't the majority of humans accept that they will never know what the afterlife entails?
Instead, we go to great lengths to reassure ourselves of our righteousness, of our divinity and our right +â-¡- or, as some would claim, our duty - to destroy this planet that was gifted to us at birth. We erect great monuments to gods, castles to worship them in, and with a justice only He Himself could counter, we persecute, convert and slay the opposition.
Religious persecution seems at this point in history to be an intrinsic quality that every religion has in common. Even the Puritans who founded our country were not "saints" by any means. They possessed a certain propensity to burn heretics at the stake - what they called "proving holy devotion through the test of water," which seemed to be an experiment in logic versus obvious physics. Surely those times are behind us, right?
Unfortunately, they seem far from over, as every day new scenes of chaos erupt from the portions of the world where religious borders are more important than the physical borders of nations. Places like Rwanda, Sudan the entire Middle East and the majority of the former Soviet satellite states.
So where did such a great idea go wrong?
Humans are by their basic nature extremely curious and inquisitive, always seeking answers and methods to analyze, explain and improve their lives. How could such a seemingly intelligent species go so terribly awry?
Well, for starters, it appears that we aren't all that intelligent. Some of us are given to certain habits known as capitulation, coercion and a lack of confidence concerning unexplainable events and phenomena.
The unfortunate side effect of the thirst for knowledge that we all share is the apparent inability to cope with change or other beliefs. They make us a little unsure of our own beliefs - the solution being to eradicate those other beliefs, or at least that seems to be the common trend.
We can see this type of behavior evidenced in every corner of the world today. A perfect example that is affecting our own lives currently is the war in Iraq, where religious extremism is fueling an insurgency that is acquiring a seemingly endless supply of willing martyrs.
We can also look to the supposedly concluded conflict between Palestine and Israel. Now that Israel has finally withdrawn from the Gaza Strip, does that mean that the fighting will end? Not while two groups of people with drastically different beliefs who share a common interest in the ownership of the "Holy Land" coexist within bombing distance.
Even here in America, the land of the free where everyone has the right to worship as they please, intolerance exists.
So, what are we left to do with all this religious turmoil in the world?
Well, we can all do our parts. We can definitely stop treating our own beliefs as facts and start considering them more as theories.
Facts leave no room for discussion, no room to grow and adapt over time, and if we can't adapt and change with the rest of the world, eventually we will find ourselves fighting tooth and nail to maintain what was once so concrete but now is obviously outdated.
We can also try to think more independently and question what we're told and the motives of those telling us their "facts." We can strive to be more open-minded and accept that other people view situations differently.
Write to Justin at
jdwilliams2@bsu.edu
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