Today’s mojo post

English: Administrative Division of Bangladesh...
Bangladesh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Looks like I’m managing a post every two days rather than daily, but hey it’s regular.

I wasn’t really sure what to post today, then my mind harked back to a talk I was having with Lindsay last night. Lindsay is Sean’s flatmate (Sean’s one of the talented writers churning out reviews and so forth on the Moshville Times *plug plug*) and we were having one of those random conversations that flows like a ball down a Pachinko machine. You just never quite know where it’s going to end up.

I think we were talking about the differences between countries, and one that always sticks out for me is India / Bangladesh. The former a country that’s predominantly Hindu (with a large smattering of other religions), the latter a Muslim nation. Both countries share a border and the difference when you cross that border is almost immediately tangible.

India is – to steal the tagline from their tourist advertising – incredible. It’s also an unusual country in that I hated it when I was there, but longed to go back once I left. It’s a tough experience to visit, especially on a budget, but ultimately the rewards are worth it.

Bangladesh is every bit as impoverished as the worst parts of India, there aren’t so many impressive sites (it’s a smaller country, for a start), but the feeling I got when I was there was much warmer; more welcoming. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I felt safer walking the streets in Bangladesh – even late at night – than in almost any other country I have visited. I even include my home nation in there.

And that brings me to the sideways jump in topic. Bangladesh is a Muslim country. The people there follow their beliefs in a faithful and well-intended manner. They look after their poor (reducing begging on the street), and welcome visitors to their nation. Nobody tried to rob or cheat us in our time there. Very much the opposite in fact.

Yet the knee-jerk reaction to the word “Muslim” from so many people, whole nations in fact, is to think of those events in 2001, videos of beheadings on the internet, attacks on magazine offices in Paris… all the actions of a tiny minority of extremists.

While I’m no fan of religion, this kind of treatment also extends to the Catholic church. A billion or so members worldwide and the entire religion is tarred by the vile brush wielded by a tiny number of priests and nuns who have abused children -and the small number of people further up in the organisation who helped cover it up for so long. What about the 999,999,000 other people who would agree that this is reprehensible and who you’d happily have round for dinner and babysit your own children?

Is it fair to judge a person purely on the company they keep; if they share the beliefs of another individual who does something reprehensible yet otherwise unrelated? I love heavy metal. Does that mean I’m as evil as Varg Vikernes who murdered one of his friends and burned churches down? It seems to have taken us nigh on seventy years to stop blaming every single German for WWII.

People should be judged on who they are and what they do. Not on the actions of other individuals with whom they happen to share a belief, a skin colour or a nationality.

Two great adverts for denying religion

I’m not a religious person. At all. I haven’t been for very many years. Today, two news reports make me stand even sturdier in my belief. Or lack of it.

Frankly I’m just staggered that senior religious people can try to pass the buck for things that happen. In the first story, a Mexican bishop says that priests abuse children because of porn on the TV and the internet.

So its not the lifestyle of celibacy or the position of responsibility they’re put in where other people aren’t “allowed” to complain about them? The temptation isn’t an issue either? And the fact that TV and the internet have been around for decades when priests have been abusing the vulnerable for centuries is neither here nor there.

Just when I thought religious claptrap couldn’t get any worse, out comes an Iranian cleric who effectively says that women showing their ankles cause earthquakes.

I shake my head in disbelief and utter the phrase “what a crock of ****”. Seriously, how on earth can people follow idiots like these?

I’m all for people being allowed to believe what they want. But when one bunch are trying to blame society for their own (criminally disgusting) failings and another are attempting to use a natural disaster to persecute women it makes it very difficult for me to find any justification.

As ever, I can’t tar every follower of these faiths with the same “you are an idiot” brush. It’s simply not fair. But I seriously have to wonder why anyone reading these stories can justify believing the same things these senior officials are spouting.

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The Pope is a fuckwit

Pope Benedict XVI during visit to São Paulo, B...
His parents should have used condoms

OK, Pope Benedict XVI is both an ex-Nazi and a complete and utter ******* idiot. Well, obviously being the head of the Catholic church he’s already short of a few beans, but he’s really just proved it beyond reasonable doubt with his latest spouting of gobshite.

It seems that condoms are not the answer in fight against AIDS. According to the Associated Press, Benedict said “you can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms.” He said that “on the contrary it increases the problem.”

He’s heading for Africa which is renowned for having one of the worst AIDS problems worldwide. This has not been helped by Catholic missionaries spreading lies like this for so long. Some people have been specifically told by them that using condoms will increase their risk of developing AIDS. Has the Catholic church got some evidence that the scientific community is missing? Or do they just hate black people to the point where they want to exterminate all Africans? Oh, wait… we’re back to Benedict being a member of the Hitler Youth again.

I know someone working in Bamenda, Cameroon. He’s there with a charity helping to promote condom use in a bid to reduce the number of AIDS-infected people there. He’s really working his arse off in a backwater town, living in a house with dodgy electricity and occasionally usable water supply. And along comes some sheltered idiot who lives in a palace who thinks he knows better than someone on the front line. Or several thousand people with medical degrees.

Dear Mr Pope. Please, please, please take your religion and **** off. By all means, shag all the choirboys and puss-ridden whores that you please. After all, as long as you don’t use a condom then you’re fine. Just don’t try and destroy an entire continent through your ignorance and selfishness.

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