Create Your Own Religion (37 page)

In regards to Nazism, even though the Church was not too enthusiastic about the occasional pagan references in Nazi ideology, it nonetheless ended up legitimizing the Nazi movement. In the 1933 Concordat between the Catholic Church and the Nazi regime, the Vatican agreed to dissolve a Catholic party in Germany in order to avoid competition for Hitler. Furthermore, it never threatened to excommunicate the thousands of SS soldiers who were practicing Catholics. The Church ordered celebrations for Hitler's birthday and he was officially blessed by a German Archbishop—I think you get the picture. Not to be outdone, several Protestant denominations set up their own deals with Hitler. The Holocaust itself would hardly have been possible without centuries of anti-Semitism promoted by Catholics and Protestants alike. Hitler himself declared “I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so” (from John Toland's
Adolf Hitler
, New York: Anchor Publishing, 1992, 507). What emerges from this picture is that Christian institutions actively supported Fascism and refrained from opposing Nazism.

70
. Paine,
The Age of Reason
, 85.

71
. Repeated references to this are found in Christopher Hitchens'
God Is Not Great
and Ibn Warraq's
Why I Am Not a Muslim
.

72
. Tim Rutten, “Drawn into a Religious Conflict,”
Los Angeles Times
(February 4, 2006). Bill Clinton also condemned the cartoons, calling them “outrageous” in Anthony Browne's
“Denmark Faces International Boycott Over Muslim Cartoons,”
The Times
(January 31, 2006).

73
. Syed Saleem Shahzad, “Losing Faith in Afghanistan,”
Asia Times
(March 25, 2006),
www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HC25Df02.html
.

74
. Sanjoy Majumder, “Mood Hardens Against Afghan Convert,” BBC News (March 24, 2006),
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4841334.stm
.

75
. Leviticus 24:16

76
. Deuteronomy 13:7–11. Other passages confirming the same penalty are found in Deuteronomy 17:2–7 and Deuteronomy 13:12–16.

77
. Deuteronomy 17:11–13

78
. Jonathan Kirsch,
God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism
(New York: Viking Adult, 2004), 274.

79
. Peter Nabokov,
Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places
(New York: Penguin, 2007), 284. See also Smith,
A Seat at the Table
, 30.

80
. John Toland,
Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography
(New York: Anchor Books, 1992 [1976]), 310.

81
. Lao Tzu,
The Sayings of Lao Tzu
, trans. Lin Yutang, 208–9.

82
. Matthew 26:52

83
. Numbers 31:17

84
. Numbers 31:18. Another book of the Bible, Deuteronomy 21:10–14, explains the proper rules for raping a captive. You need to give her a full month to mourn her relatives whom you killed, and only then are you allowed to rape her.

85
. Deuteronomy 7:16

86
. 1 Samuel 15:2–3

87
. Deuteronomy 20:16–17. Jewish soldiers report following this advice to the letter in Deuteronomy 2:34: “And we utterly destroyed every city, the men, and the women, and the little ones. We left none remaining.”

88
. Hear, for example, the gleeful description of the conquest of Jerusalem during the Crusades left by the chronicler Raymond of Agiles: “Some of our men . . . cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the temple of Solomon . . . What happened there? If I tell the truth, it will exceed your
powers of belief. So let it suffice to say this much at least, that in the temple and portico of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and the bridle reins. Indeed, it was a just and splendid judgment of God that this place should be filled with the blood of unbelievers, when it had suffered so long from their blasphemies. Now that the city was taken it was worth all our previous labors and hardships to see the devotion of the pilgrims at the Holy Sepulcher. How they rejoiced and exulted and sang the ninth chant to the Lord.” (Kimball,
When Religion Becomes Evil
, 175–6).

89
. In this regard, consider the following quote: “The object of colonization, one colonial promoter wrote in 1584, was ‘enlarging the glorious Gospel of Christ, and leading the infinite multitudes of these simple people that are in error into the right and perfect way of salvation.’ Although these are the words of the English imperialist Richard Hakluyt, they could as easily have come from the Spanish padres Kino or Serra or the Jesuit missionaries at Kahnawake” [John Mack Faragher, et al.,
Out of Many: A History of the American People
, 3rd edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000 [1994], 111)].

Similarly, the Puritan minister Cotton Mather viewed America as a promised land, and said Indians were “devils in our way” and as such they needed to be eliminated (Nabokov,
Where the Lightning Strikes
, 12). Mather also declared that the Devil “generally resembles an Indian.” The Puritans, in fact, believed Satan ruled the wilderness surrounding their settlements, and God had called them to defeat Satan in order to create a promised land.

Not to be outdone, the Anglican Robert Gray used the Old Testament account of the genocidal war waged by the Jewish tribes against the inhabitants of Canaan to justify the conquest of the Indians: “Because of their godless ignorance and blasphemous idolatry they are worse than those beasts which are of the most wild and savage nature.” [John D. Loftin,
The Big Picture: A Short World History of Religions
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2000)].

For a discussion of how the conquest of the Americas was justified through Christianity, see Smith,
A Seat at the Table
, 171.

90
. Anthony Browne, “Muslim Radical Confesses to Van Gogh Killing in Court Tirade,”
The Times
(London) (July 12, 2005), online.

A slightly different translation of Bouyeri's declaration is also found in Bruce Bawer's
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within
, 226.

91
. See Sura 8:61: “If your enemy inclines toward peace then you too should seek peace and put your trust in God.” See also Sura 50:45: “We well know what the infidels say: but you are not to compel them.” See also Sura 43:88–89: “And [Muhammad says,] ‘O Lord, these are people who do not believe’. Bear with them and wish them ‘Peace.’ In the end they shall know their folly.” And Sura 2:256: “There is no compulsion in religion.”

92
. Sura 47:4

93
. Jeremiah 48:10

94
. Sura 9:39

95
. Lao Tzu,
The Sayings of Lao Tzu
, trans. Lin Yutang, 239.

96
. Hedges,
American Fascists
, 14.

97
. Kevin Phillips,
American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century
(New York: Viking Penguin, 2006), 203, 375. See also Hedges,
American Fascists
, 46.

98
. Warraq,
Why I Am Not a Muslim
, 135.

99
. Genesis 1:28

100
. Ron Wolf, “God, James Watt, and the Public Land.”
Audubon
83 (3):65, 1981.

101
. Sam Harris,
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
(New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004), 174.

102
. Lao Tzu,
The Sayings of Lao Tzu
, trans. Lin Yutang, 29.

103
. Nabokov,
Where the Lightning Strikes
.

104
. Ibid.

105
. John Stevens, trans.,
Wild Ways: Zen Poems of Ikkyū
(Buffalo NY: White Pine Press, 2007).

106
. William Blake,
The Poems of William Blake
(Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2006), 90.

107
. Rex Weyler,
Blood of the Land: The Government and Corporate War Against First Nations
(Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1992), 28.

108
. Peter Matthiessen,
The Snow Leopard
(New York: Penguin Books, 1996 [1978]), 35.

109
. Alan Watts,
Nature, Man and Woman
(New York: Vintage Books, 1991 [1958]), 26.

110
. Adriano Gaspani,
La Civilta' dei Camuni: Cielo, Luna, Stelle nell' Antica Valcamonica
(Aosta, Italy: Keltia Editrice, 2001), 31.

111
. Genesis 3:17–18

112
. Phillips,
American Theocracy
, 3.

113
. Weyler,
Blood of the Land
, 55.

114
. See the concluding chapters of Jared Diamond,
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
(New York: Penguin, 2005).

115
. Ibid., passim. Interestingly, the Bush administration, which was very much tied to the oil industry, decided to simply ignore the report.

116
. Here is a perfect example of the suicidal economic creed that we urgently need to free ourselves from, courtesy of logging baron and former president of Louisiana-Pacific Harry Merlo: “You know it always annoys me to leave anything on the ground when we log our own land. There shouldn't be anything left on the ground. We need everything that's out there. . . . We log to infinity. Because it's out there, it's ours and we need it all, now.” Judi Bari,
Timber Wars
(Monroe ME: Common Courage Press, 1994), 21.

117
. Vine Deloria Jr.,
God Is Red: A Native View of Religion
(Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2003 [1973]), 288.

118
. Genesis 1:28

119
. Despite the ideal mentioned here, Buddhism does not have a spotless record when it comes to environmental ethics. Movement in a more pro-environmentalist direction, however, is underway. For example, an article in the January 2010 issue of the
Shambala Sun
about the 17th Karmapa, one of the highest authorities on Tibetan Buddhism, clarifies how a new generation of Buddhists is embracing environmental issues as a key part of their message.

120
. Revelation 11:18

121
. 2 Corinthians 5:6–8

122
. Ibid., 155–156.

123
. René Descartes,
Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy
(BN Publishing, 2008 [1637]), 31.

124
. Friedrich Nietzsche,
The Gay Science
, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage Books, 1974 [1887]), 322.

125
. Henry David Thoreau,
Walden
(Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1960 [1854]), 51, 74.

126
. Friedrich Nietzsche,
Basic Writings of Nietzsche
, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Modern Library, 1992 [Ecce Homo 1908]), 695–6.

127
. Nils Johan Ringdal,
Love for Sale: A World History of Prostitution
(New York: Grove Press, 2004).

128
. Eva Wong,
The Shambhala Guide to Taoism
(Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1997), and Geoffrey Parrinder,
Sex in World Religions
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1980).

129
. The god Shiva and his wife Parvati, for example, are often portrayed engaged in wild, passionate lovemaking. Not to be outdone, in the Puranas, Krishna seduces thousands of women, leads them into the forest, and clones his own body multiple times in order to have sex with all of them at the same time. See Parrinder,
Sex in World Religions
.

130
. See Ringdal,
Love for Sale
and Parrinder,
Sex in World Religions
.

131
. John Stevens,
Lust for Enlightenment: Buddhism and Sex
(Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1990), 23. This puritan streak within Buddhism attributes to Buddha the following quote, “The one thing that enslaves a man above all else is a woman . . . Stay away from them at all costs.”

132
. Parrinder,
Sex in World Religions
, 41.

133
. Stevens,
Lust for Enlightenment
, 50.

134
. Deuteronomy 22:22

135
. Leviticus 20:13

136
. Deuteronomy 21:11–14

137
. Genesis 19:30–38

138
. Judges 19:22–30

139
. 2 Samuel 13:1–22

140
. 2 Samuel 16:21–22

141
. This lovely episode is narrated in Ezekiel 23:1–49. Several books pick up similar themes. In particular, this is among the main subjects in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

142
. See Sura 4:16 in regards to homosexuality and Sura 24:2 for adultery. However, perhaps out of a desire to appear as tough as ancient Judaism, even in the present day, some Muslim countries ignore the Koran and impose stoning as punishment for adultery.

143
. See Sura 4:34 for the Koran's approval of wife-beating. In regards to honor killings, family members who kill female relatives for their “scandalous” behavior are often not charged at all or, if convicted, are given very light sentences because their motive for murder was “honorable.” See Bruce Bawer,
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within
, 24.

144
. Sura 78:31–33 as quoted in Warraq,
Why I Am Not a Muslim
, 307.

145
. See Sura 37, 44, 52, 55, and 56.

146
. Saint Augustine, one of the most important theologians in Christianity, had a field day with this idea. In his work
On Concupiscence
(Book I, Chapter 13), he writes that the virgin birth is the way in which Jesus teaches “that every one who is born of sexual intercourse is in fact sinful flesh, since that alone which was not born of such intercourse was not sinful flesh.”