Religious duties that are nuisances or violations of the rights of others should not be allowed. People who commit such nuisances and violations are necessarily backward, too brainwashed with nonsensical prescriptions of their religions, and callously indifferent/disrespectful to other people's discomfort/inconvenience. The right to religious duties should be allowed only when they are totally personal, if there is such a thing. Even when the wife wants to sleep, while the husband wants to open the door to heaven for himself by praying loudly to his God sitting in the common bedroom, the husband would be wrong, and his 'religious duty' should not be allowed.
Of course, serious crimes for propagating religion should be seriously punished. The question is who should give the punishment? A gang of criminals from another religious group, or civilized people who seek justice with no hatred? I am for the latter. It may be too frustrating to see that too many otherwise good people are not strong/serious enough in the work of removing hatred and injustice from the world, but I am totally convinced that one group of criminals taking revenge on another group of criminals would not improve the world.
Sukhamaya Bain
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From: ANISUR RAHMAN <anisur.rahman1@btinternet.com>
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, November 29, 2013 12:18 PM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Angola Bans Islam, Destroys Mosques
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, November 29, 2013 12:18 PM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Angola Bans Islam, Destroys Mosques
I agree with you in matters of principle. But where do you draw the line between the 'personal rights to religious duties' and the encroachment on 'human and citizenship rights' of others?
When in Dhaka and elsewhere, blaring mega speakers wake up people at 4 o'clock in the morning with prayer calls, does that not violate 'human and citizenship rights' of others? When in the evenings, speakers from mosques blare out in mega decibels their interpretation of God's messages and stop students from concentrating on their work, does that not encroach on their rights? When the streets around a mosque in my village in England get clogged up two to three times a day for about half an hour at a time making us take a detour of about a mile, does that not encroach on our citizenship rights? The list of mutually exclusive rights is literally endless.
So taking a stand on high moral ground may be an utopia, but that does not solve the practical problem.
- A Rahman
From: Sukhamaya Bain <subain1@yahoo.com>
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, 29 November 2013, 1:38
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Angola Bans Islam, Destroys Mosques
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, 29 November 2013, 1:38
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Angola Bans Islam, Destroys Mosques
Let me address some of the points made over the last couple of days by quite a few people in this forum.
I have no problem banning all religions. As I wrote before on this thread, I think Angola has done it wrong particularly because it banned only one religion.
While I can see that most religions, especially the ones that are based upon fearing what is known as God, have a lot of stupidity and hatred in them, I think the real problem is with people. If people had the mind of reasoning and thinking freely, the religious nonsense and hatred would be rendered irrelevant, people would naturally give up religions. The modern educated societies and nations are actually doing quite a bit of that. If we look around the developed world, it would be obvious that atheists and agnostics constitute an increasing percentage of the population. A lot of Christians in the developed countries do not try to follow the Bible as much as millions of Muslims try to follow the Koran, for example. Religion as a commodity is sold a lot more in uneducated and backward societies than in educated and advancing societies.
I think a methodical removal of religious nonsense, hatred and injustice is what needs to happen in this world. That process has to begin with separating religion from the state, and end with making it absolutely personal.
For example, I do not see any problem if someone thinks he can go to heaven by praying to the goddess Kali or to Allah. However, the civilized world should not tolerate anything like people thinking, and acting upon that thought, that they can go to heaven by killing themselves for the purpose of establishing their religion on Earth, for example.
Society/state should not meddle in other people's religion, only if religion is kept at an absolute personal level. When the practice of one's religion goes against other people's human and citizenship rights, the phrase of 'meddling in other people's religion' should be trashed; the society/state/world should do whatever is needed to stop such practices of religions.
Well, that is all for now.
SuBain
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