Lock & Load

A fundamental truth

Whenever some nutjob commits some atrocity in the name of their religion, we hear hand-wringing commentators glibly repeating the soundbite "they're motivated by a distorted version of the religion".

Whether it is Christian fundamentalists blowing up abortion clinics Alabama or Muslim fundamentalists blowing up trains in London, we're always told that they've misinterpreted and distorted scripture.

I'm curious how these glib expressions like "a distorted version of the religion" originate.

Can anyone actually give a concrete example of a religious justification for an atrocity given by an Christian or Islamic fundamentalist that was actually "distorted"?

Can anyone give an example of a religious motive given by a fundamentalist that wasn't actually "fundamental"?

I think we'll find that it is the moderates who are actually "distorting" the biblical texts (for the better, I hasten to add). Modern interpretations of the major religions keep the traditions and merge it with secular Humanism - and throw out the "fundamentalisms".

It is actually the fundamentalists who practice the pure, unadulterated version of the religion. That is, after all, why they are called "fundamentalists"!

That is why a revisionist, reformationist (i.e. "distorted") version of religion is so necessary.

We should be praising the "distorted" versions or religion and condemning the pure ones - not the other way round.

For some revision on what the Bible and the Koran actually say, visit:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/

posted by Brett Lock @ 10:56 am