I’m in vogue

By Charles Lane

Upon reading John Bambenek’s column (‘Religion’s scapegoats’ Feb 19), I was a bit perplexed. First of all, the Irish-English fight has been going on or over half a millennia because of the battle between Catholicism and Protestantism.

While there are landmasses and geopolitics involved, the basis for the conflict lies in religion. Mr. Bambenek stated (regarding the Middle East), “both groups share the fundamentals of Islamic faith but differ on secondary issues.” This is a great observation, and the same is true for Christianity, regarding sects of the religion like the Baptist or Presbyterian sects.

But the most troubling part of the editorial was how Bambenek said that Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China have nothing to do with religion and are godless liberal tragedies.

First of all, Hitler wanted to kill all Jewish people and convinced an entire nation that Jews were responsible for the country’s demise (see Mein Kampf or The Holocaust). Secondly, just because political factions are Godless doesn’t mean that the murders committed have nothing to do with religion, it’s just the opposite. Stalin’s Russia would torture people for practicing hristianity.

This truism speaks to one thing only: all major wars and conflicts involving genocide have a basis in religion (see The Spanish Inquisition or Darfur.)

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Actually, America’s laws allow people to practice whatever religion they want. That’s why the founding fathers left England – because they wanted escape England’s Church. In fact, one could argue that most of the major genocides pre-twentieth century, were in the name of Christianity (see genocide of the natives of Latin America or the elimination of The Moors.)

Additionally, Christianity is the most popular religion on Earth and therefore gives the most to charity. Moreover, you’ll find that the majority of people against fundamentalist Christianity are Christian because Christians are the majority of people.

Charles Lane

sophomore in FAA