As Reed talks about in his column, we had
some guest speakers at our last meeting.
While they said some rather disturbing
things, the one item I thought was more
ignorant and naive was the second
speaker’s closing statement: “Christians
have martyred themselves, so the religion
must be true.”
If we look at Dictionary.com we find:
Martyr: I’d like to take a few moments and
highlight a number of non-Christian
martyrs. If this is truly a measure of
religious devotion, then they should not be
ignored.
Jews during the Holocaust: It is estimated
that around 6 million Jews were killed
during the Holocaust for no other reason
than their religious affiliation.
Buddhists in Tibet: Over 1.2 million people
have died since the Chinese take-over of
Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama was forced
out of his country and continues to search
for a way back. He has spent the past 55
years suffering for his religious beliefs.
Moslems: It might not be a very popular
topic, but if we are to truly use martyrdom
as a rationale for believing in a religion, we
must look at what is happening in the
Middle East. The 9/11 terrorists died for
their beliefs. Nearly everyday there are
more and more people killing themselves in
suicide bombings. Some would call these
people zealots, but you can not deny that
they “chooses to suffer death rather than
renounce religious principles”.
I am sure you can think of many more.
How about people who were killed by
Christians for their scientific beliefs? I think
you get the idea.
The bottom line here is, I don’t think
anyone should justify their beliefs based on
how many people they think have died for
them. If you have to justify your beliefs in
the first place, I wonder how much you
actually believe in them.
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Angela C. Byers
Copyright © 1996 - 2006 Angela C. Byers