Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom (29 page)

I really don’t know what is worse: the false claims of racism or the harboring of prejudice; the actual sponsorship of racism by the government itself in wartime or the support of “affirmative action” and “quotas” in the name of ending racism. All these actions are contrary to the individualism that a free society should uphold without compromise.

Mann, Vivian (ed.). 2007.
Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain
. New York: George Braziller.

Mises, Ludwig von. [1956] 1983.
Theory and History
. Auburn, AL: Mises Institute.

Rand, Ayn. “Racism,”
The Objectivist Newsletter
, September 1963.

A
theists are fond of saying that radical religious beliefs and doctrines are the source of all that is wrong with the world. They argue that wars result from strong religious beliefs and that the various religions have never succeeded in caring for the poor and the sick, thus justifying the call for authoritarian government to forcibly redistribute wealth and provide care for the needy. They resort to socialism, not free markets, in their attempt to accomplish these goals.

They cite the Christian Crusades and abuses of the church-driven Spanish Empire as an example. The Old Testament is filled with stories of Jewish violence, and to this day the violence in the Middle East is associated with various biblical interpretations that stir conflict among the thousands who hold current deeds to land and homes taken from them. Blaming the wars waged by kings who claimed their title by divine right is not unusual.

Yet if one looks at the history of the twentieth century, the mass killings carried out by the fascist and communist atheists reveal a slaughter impossible to conceive of. Estimates are
that the godless dictators of these countries killed 262 million of their own people, far surpassing the estimated 44 million military personnel killed in war. Clearly, secularism is not always about peace.

Though it is true that throughout history much harm and killing was carried out in the name of religion, this has always reflected a distorted understanding of official religious beliefs. Within nearly all the great religions, we find extremists who promote violence in the name of God. All Christians are not Christian imperialists who endorse preventive war in the Middle East. All Jews do not endorse the violence used to displace the Arabs and Muslims and steal their land in the Middle East. All Muslims do not endorse senseless killing by suicide terrorists.

It appears that when killing and war are carried out in the name of a particular religion, they are done by distorting the religion and following a false doctrine. It should not be assumed that it was the religion itself that prompted the violence.

Instead of religious beliefs being the cause of war, it is more likely that those who want war co-opt religion and falsely claim the enemy is attacking their religious values. How many times have we heard neoconservatives repeat the mantra that religious fanatics attack us for our freedoms and prosperity? Neoconservatives deliberately use religion to stir up hatred toward the enemy.

Not only do some distort religious orthodoxy to gain support for war, reaction to aggressive secular attacks serves as an incentive for religious extremists to recruit defenders to fight off the invaders. The Soviet occupation spurred the growth of
the religion-driven mujahedeen (later to become the Taliban). The United States financed and encouraged the teaching of radical Islam to fight the Soviets. What we didn’t understand was that this radicalization of religious beliefs would one day be directed toward us—as it was on 9/11. Islam does not teach that the mass killing of innocent civilians is moral, yet foreign occupation can serve as a tremendous incentive to radicalize religious beliefs.

Christian imperialism that endorses preventive war in the Middle East should not be allowed to destroy the message delivered by the Prince of Peace. It’s a far stretch and a great distortion to use Christianity in any way to justify aggression and violence.

Christianity, instead (from my point of view), emphasizes the importance of the dignity of the individual and how the lowliest in all of society are equal to those who rule over us regardless of the overwhelming force and power they wield. The Christian message is that no tyrant can destroy the dignity and self-worth of any individual, regardless of circumstances.

Christ dealt with spiritual matters, not temporal or political. Salvation for believers was the message, not drawing future geographic boundaries in a small portion of the world.

Just think of the energy spent and fighting that has gone on over a relatively small piece of land in the Holy Land compared to the amount spent dwelling on the message of love and peace. The temporal world must have rules that protect private property ownership and allow for the eternal disagreements regarding religion. These can be contemplated intellectually without the use of force to impose one person’s views on another.

The Founders were right to reject the notion that the federal government be permitted to establish an official religion, without being hostile to those who express their spiritual views in private or public places. Neither evangelical atheists whose goal it is to abolish any public expression of religious belief nor promoters of a theocracy should be able to force their views on others. A free society with freedom of expression protects the rights of both.

Some believe that the Golden Rule should bring all factions together. This means all religions and nonbelievers. Violence indeed has been sanctioned by the great religions, but without theological justification. The principle of the Golden Rule has been endorsed by all the great religions. This was known as early as the time of Confucius. Calls for love, forgiveness, and the Golden Rule have been expressed in some form since ancient times.

Following is a list that comes from
RaceMatters.org
.

• Christianity: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is Love.”
  
• Confuciansim: “To love all men is the greatest benevolence.”
  
• Buddhism: “Let a man cultivate towards the whole world a heart of love.”
  
• Hinduism: “One can best worship the Lord through Love.”
  
• Islam: “Love is this, that thou shouldst account thyself very little and God very great.”
  
• Sikhism: “God will regenerate those in whose hearts there is love.”
  
• Judaism: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself.”
  
• Jainism: “The days are of most profit to him who acts in love.”
  
• Zoroastrianism: “Man is the beloved of the Lord, and should love him in return.”
  
• Baha’i: “Love Me that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can no wise reach thee.”
  
• Shinto: “Love is the representative of the Lord.”
  

• Christianity: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” (Matthew 7:12)
  
• Confucianism: “Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you.”
  
• Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” (Udana-Varga, 5:18)
  
• Baha’i: “Blessed is he who preferred his brother before himself.” (Baha’u’llah, Tablets of Baha’u’llah, 71)
  
• Islam: “Hurt no one that no one may hurt you.” (Muhammad, “The Farewell Sermon”)
  
• Judaism: “That which is hateful to you do not do to your fellow.”
  
• Humanists and atheists do not condemn the Golden Rule.
  

• Christianity: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
  
• Judaism: When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
  
• Buddhism: There is no happiness greater than peace.
  
• Hinduism: Without meditation, where is peace? Without peace, where is happiness?
  
• Islam: God will guide men to peace. If they will heed him, He will lead them from the darkness of war to the light of peace.
  
• Shinto: Let the Earth be free from trouble and men live at peace under the protection of the Divine.
  
• Baha’i: War is death while peace is life.
  
• Sikhism: Only in the Name of the Lord do we find our peace.
  
• Confucianism: Seek to be in harmony with all your neighbors… live in peace with your brethren.
  
• Mahatma Gandhi’s opinion on this issue: “Like the bee gathering honey from different flowers, the wise person accepts the essence of different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions.”
  

• The Ten Commandments are traditionally known to be part of the foundation of Christianity and Judaism.
  
• The Qur’an in different places essentially repeats the Ten Commandments, indicating that Muslims do not believe
  that this message has been corrupted from their divine origin as other provisions of the Torah and the Gospels have. The Qur’an endorses the following: One God; No idol worship; Do not take God’s name in vain; One day a week for special prayers; Honor our parents; Do not murder; Do not commit adultery; Do not steal; Do not withhold testimony; Do not covet what others have.
  

These great religions represent billions of people who agree on love, the Golden Rule, and the Ten Commandments. We are brought together by believing in one God, supposedly the same one, yet we fight and hate and lack tolerance and understanding. The positive truth is perverted and replaced by arrogant enforcers willing to initiate war and aggression for selfish interests while distorting religious belief.

Modern Machiavellians, the neocons, admit they diligently use extreme religious beliefs not to promote love and peace, but to galvanize people to fight and supposedly to preserve the true religion. It is this influence by antireligious nonbelievers that incites hatred between the different religions and that leads to so much violence and hatred. A better understanding and greater tolerance would provide the courage for believers of different faiths to resist the political demagogues who for their own selfish reasons use violence as the tool for managing their tyrannical governments.

Too many wars are fought claiming God’s blessing—on both sides. It’s “your God against our God, yet the same.” For wars to be diminished, this attitude must change.

The mass slaughter of the twentieth century was not a result
of religious conflicts. Even today, the hostility in the Middle East, though seen by many Muslims as a modern Christian Crusade against Islam, religion is used by some to justify geopolitical goals, such as control over the world’s oil supply. This, in turn, motivates others to radicalize those injured by such a policy in the name of Allah. Bad foreign policy is more the culprit than radical religious views. Bad policy invites extremism in religious activities—on both sides.

Though most religions and most people accept the basic premise of the Golden Rule—Do unto others as you would have them do unto you—there are some who could not care less. There are those who have no self-esteem and are self-haters and naturally self-destructive. Why would they care about treating others better than they treat themselves when they don’t place any value on their own lives? Put a person like this in charge of other people and trouble results. It’s not too infrequent that individuals like this find a way to the top of the political heap. Being insecure and hateful, participating in violence to bring about good things to compensate for a sense of inferiority is not unusual. A guilt complex in proponents of big governments has been recognized for some time.

The masochist gets pleasure in dominating others and doesn’t care about the Golden Rule. The more power, the greater the sense of superiority that nourishes the masochist’s ego.

Ignorance of how humanitarian government programs do harm rather than good fuels the efforts of do-gooders to justify and relish the power that they use over others. I have been told, in serious discussions with other members of Congress, that the people are too “stupid” to care for themselves
and need smart, generous, and caring public servants to take care of them. These individuals actually believe they are not violating the Golden Rule but rather serving God’s purpose.