Religion by its very nature is intolerant and divisive

In a battle with religion "science will win because it works." Stephen Hawking

It always amazes me when people talk of religious tolerance.  But religion, or the belief in a certain god, the Christian god the Catholic god, the Hindu god or the Muslim god, is not about tolerance.  The worship of gods is inherently divisive and intolerant.  All those that accept the teachings of Christ say and try to actually live by them, would consider the worship of other gods a sin, one of those "strange gods" the bible talks about and which we were warned not to worship or face dire consequences.

All believers consider that their god is divine but others are man made.  "Sure",  people say,  "We all agree that our god is the right god but that doesn't mean we don't accept the right of others to have theirs." Maybe, maybe not I say, but as long as they don't become a majority in society. The Zionists are terrified of that.

What made me think about this was an article at the +972 website where this Catholic youth and her Muslim friend were comparing the different fasting holidays, Lent for the Christians and Ramadan for the Muslims. The Christian girl decided to fast for Ramadan to see what it was like and whether it was harder or more punishing than Lent.

She received some criticism from  Christians who claimed she was worshiping another god in violation with Christian principles and they quote a biblical verse: "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no strange gods before me." (Exodus 20)  The author says it's out of context but doesn't explain why. It really doesn't matter because the good thing about religious teachings is you can draw any conclusion that you like.

The author goes on to say that: "Such double standards show their lack of belief in democracy and right of worship, and strong conviction that they have superior beliefs."

But I say again, god worshiping is not about democracy, democracy is about democracy. And Religion  is about "superior beliefs."  People have a "right to worship" not because of religion or religious teachings or the organizations themselves, but because of secular democratic principles.  Every person that takes religious teachings seriously has to believe that their god is the superior god because it is the "only" god.

Catholicism was the religion of the feudal aristocracy who were anti-mercantilism and abhorred the crude, industrious nature of the rising capitalist class; and after all, they didn't have the right blood.  In Europe, feudalism and its religion forbade money lending so had the Jews do it but could always expel them from the realm if they got a little too much in to debt to them, a sort of bailout of themselves like the capitalists did here in 2007.  But with the growth of commodity production, trade and commerce in an expanding world, the feudal system became an obstacle to human development and the ruling class of this system, the feudal aristocracy had to be dealt with.  The new religion of this growing bourgeoisie was Protestantism.

So it was the transformation of the society from a feudal self sustaining economy to a capitalist economy based on commodity production for the marketplace that brought about the change in religious thinking.  They interpreted the bible in a different way that suited their class interests. As I have written many times before, I don't think it was the feudal serf that came up with the idea of the "first night" or the "Divine Right of Kings."  In the Muslim countries where feudal elements still prevail to a certain extent, democratic rights, therefore religious freedom is stifled to varying degrees. Islam is no more violent than Christianity. It is the failure of capitalism to develop these economies that is the cause of certain religious attitudes.

I am not knocking these young women for sharing their ideas and I believe most people are genuine in their desire to be tolerant. People can say they are tolerant and I believe them, but religion isn't.  What they do is change their religious teachings to adapt to material circumstances; that's fine but then we should stop pretending that something has divine supernatural origins where it is obvious its man made and very down to earth.  The capitalist class uses religion very successfully to divide workers, Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, Jews and Muslims in Israel, Hindu and Muslim in India etc.

A Ju Ju man as I remember him

I wrote a blog some time ago about the time I spent in Nigeria as a child and how when I went to play in the street my mum would always give me money for the Ju Ju man.  "Don't forget to give money for the Ju Ju man" she would remind me.   The Ju Ju man seemed impressive in all these clothes and things dangling off him, at least that's how I as a child recall it. He was powerful and a bit overbearing but I don't recall ever fearing him, after all, I always had some coin

I remember Abel, a man that took care of me taking me in to the forest and showing me little bags of stuff and bones hanging in the trees.  He wouldn't touch it though because it was Ju Ju stuff. I would witness similar scenes in England when I went to mass and this guy with a robe and stuff hanging off him would walk up and down the aisle waving this chalice back and forth with smoke coming out of it. It was just like the Ju Ju too as we had to give him money.  I have to say, I loved the symbolism of it though which is the purpose, it's sort of hypnotic and I liked the smell of the incense. 

The funny thing is that as an atheist and socialist at work I have always defended the right of people to practice their religion without discrimination.  I remember this guard at work who was a Jehova Witness and he used to stuff little pamphlets in our mailboxes where we got our time sheets and work assignments. Some guy went to the boss and complained about it---the JW's are considered a cult by many Christian groupings.  I opposed it and defended the guard.  After all, I put the Union stuff and my own political info in there too.  I'm not afraid of ideas.

As far as Abel and my Ju Ju tours went, I realize now maybe he was trying to convert me or help me understand it anyway, he was a good ma who died in the Biafran war I was told.  If ever I do abandon my atheist views though, it's Ju Ju for me, more attractive dress, better music, much more interesting.