Dear Mr. Bhass-
Indeed I would not argue with you that, here in the US, we got a lot of religious folks, and more than a few lunatics.
-Waco Texas Branch Dravidians
-people who commit mass suicides because they feel that they can ride a passing commit.
-priests who will lay on hands and blow you out of your shoes (but don't check for the electric currents they got under the carpet).
- people like Jim Jones who want to play God, move to Guyana and take their followers with 'im to see God.
- priests who will tell on TV, "I need $1 million dollars or God will strike me dead."
- people who want to ban Halloween because it's Satanic and who want us to go back to teaching Creationism as a valid theory.
- people who Ban Disney World because they have Gay Day and a 6 foot mouse is just a big rat and obviously the Devil's work, and let's forget about Harry Potter.
- who blow up abortion clinics because God will's it.
And it gets better- We got HariKrishnas, Rastafari, Pagans and Wiccas, Voodoo priests and Whirling Dervish, Satanists, Scientologists, Sufis, Sunnis and Shiites, Hindus and Skihs, Charismatic Catholics and 7 Day Adventists, and we are home to one of the fasting growing churches of all, the Church of Latter Day Saints (who not ironically are rumored to have store housed supplies for the day or reckoning- kind of like a vault).
Muslims, Christians- of very persuasion, Jews, Pagan, Buddhists, New Agers...
whatever.
Go to a local foodcourt at one of your favorite shopping areas or hawker centers. We got more religion in the US then they have things eat, never mind the vendors themselves.
It's not that surprising that no one can agree.
But maybe that's a good thing. I mean maybe that's it really, that we all find our God in our own way, or not.
Personally, I think that's kind of cool.
Who can say that you can't be baptized in an ocean, or find God singing in a chorus? Who's to say your child is not the next Tibetan Buddhist religious leader? Who has the right to say I am right and you are wrong?
In a country with it's first rule of civil rights being the right of religious freedom and expression, and anti the establishment of any state sponsored religion, we also have the most fundamentalists in the world (and they come in every persuasion).
And the crazy thing is that with all the science and all the universities, more people are going to church then ever in the history of this country.
And it's freaking scary too.
Even in this country, if you look at the fellows in the white caps, burning their crosses, you'll find they believe that God sanctifies what they think. THe Nazi's too. You have people that would impose their religious views through politics, and through politics with violence.
Mr. Bhass, you live in Indonesia brother. You can see it. Look in your newspapers and you can read about it. It's all over the fucking place, man.
But there are enough people, here, to also say, "hey, fuck that, I'll find my own way, thank you."
And you also have people, here, that will say, "Hey fuck you dude, and let that guy practice what he wants to. If he ain't fucking with you, let him be. Peace to all."
If you were to ask me, there is a good reason why the US has been fairly safe, until 9-11, of religious terror, especially from the outside.
Because people can practice as they want. Is there prejudice. Oh yes. There's nobody that doesn't have their prejudices.
After 9-11, I had a lot of Muslim friends who were afraid of a backlash. And there was some backlash, but not like you'll find in a lot of places around this world. But one of the things that a lot of Muslims will agree to, is that they can practice their faith here, more freely, then in their home countries.
Yes, there are a lot of nuts, and because they make a lot of noise they get a lot of attention. But there are a lot of pretty cool folk too. That's why you don't have the "Insulting me i treat you! Insulting my religion i kill you!".
That shit don't sit well in the US.
Mr. Bhass, my friend, look around the world and you will find a lot of believers who would justify their violence based on their beliefs. Personally, I think they are being used.
But as for those people that would lift up a hand and strike another for the mere reason they believe in something else- Those bastards? May they all rot in hell.
ps-sorry for the long rant
