I started writing about the Charlie murders in Paris several times but gave up in despair each time. About the time I had my thoughts sorted out somebody would comment on the killings or more details would emerge. Now, as the first printing of the paper hits the street, I am trying again. As a writer who appreciates the freedom to say what you think or a fiction of what your characters think, one has to stand on the side of freedom of expression. One should not liable or defame another person unless you are prepared to face the consequences in a court of law. However, some people take offence under the guise of many ideals, religion being a prime example. I had better apologize right now.
Being an atheist, I have little time for those who are over-enthusiastic about their worshipping a god or following the instructions from their mystical being(s). And yet, they have the same rights as I – at least in this country – a freedom of and from religion. Some commentators on the Charlie story blame the murderers as zealots for their cause who have gone over the edge in their zest for their beliefs; others have said they are simply uneducated in the true meaning of their religion. Even the Prez of the greatest nation on the earth said these fellows (and woman) were not true Muslims. Evidently these “jihadists” thought they were Muslim – their interpretation of their holy book being the correct one.
Interpreting another’s word has always been tricky. Add in translation problems from one language to another, the passage of time, politics and philosophy and that problem only worsens. On the Christian side of things, the old King James Version of the Holy Bible was thought to be a fairly good translation and aside from all the olde English of ye, thee and begatting, it was quite readable. Now I see there are new versions of the book in hotel rooms, some in language so modern that I am not sure it was the same story I read as a youth. One can only suspect that the book the Muslims use has gone through a number of translations as well, and that may be part of the problem facing the True believers. In either case, maybe all we need is a little more education. The secular version preferred.
In the meantime, how do we sort this out so we can all live without the fear of shootings, bombings (both remote and suicidal) and personal attacks? I was thinking that if the whole world pretended to be Muslim that would stop the whole thing. I mean, how hard is it to pretend? I suppose the growing number of educated women might not buy into Sharia – and maybe some men, for that matter. Not to mention the rainbow people. However, I understand there are rifts within the religion itself that might still cause problems, so forget that idea. Heightened security may stop some attacks but it is not the answer. Waring over ideas has never worked for more than a few years, so don’t even go there.
The answer has to be in our schooling where we might teach a little tolerance along with some good science and courses in humanity. We might also look at talking about population control since that is the real root of our environmental problems, if not our religious ones. If we could roll back the population by a couple of billion people, we might not be having these carbon, pipeline and oil discussions. We might even have left a little room and unpolluted space for the other creatures that inhabit this circling globe.
Ah well, our three score and ten (plus another score for good drugs) limit what damage we can do here, thank the gods. In the meantime, the least we can do is poke a little fun at each other and laugh at the futility of it all.
