Fields of Blood and Religion by Karen Armstrong, the ultimate expert on the subject http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-bible-biography-by-karen-armstrong.html 10 out of 10

 Fields of Blood and Religion by Karen Armstrong, the ultimate expert on the subject http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-bible-biography-by-karen-armstrong.html

10 out of 10

 

 

I am overwhelmed by the books of Karen Armstrong, and the next read will be A History of Islam by the same author…the quote from Scoop http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/scoop-by-evelyn-waugh-adapted-for-bbc.html by sublime Evelyn Waugh comes to mind – when something was true, it was ‘definitely Lord Copper’, but when this was false, it would be ‘up to a point Lord Copper’, a hilarious euphemism…

 

It might be The Economist that declared Karen Armstrong to be the most important expert on religion, in our times, and this book demonstrates again why this is true, ‘definitely Lord Copper’, for it spans almost all the history and looks at Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikh, the atrocities that have been laid at the door of religion, but the author argues that it is not religion that is the cause of violence

She even has an excellent metaphor, ‘somebody can take Beethoven and play, but it would still sound to us like an awful rendition, if they do not know what they are doing’ words to that effect, I hope, the idea is that there are many who claim to speak, act in the name of God, Islam, Buddha, but in fact they just do not know what they are talking about, we have the story of terrorists to make the case

 

When they have attacked the Twin Towers, the members of the team that was led by Hatta were not practicing Muslims, indeed, we find from this marvelous book that most of those enrolled in the suicide bombings have in fact had little religious training, and we have quotes from experts that say with ‘more religious knowledge, there would be less violence’, and the likes of Ben Laden, were in fact manipulating those who enrolled to help women and children, for this is a very complex situation…

It may feel at times as if Karen Armstrong is too soft on the ‘other side’, only thinking about it, she is right in pointing out the flaws in our templates, for we have some clichés that are applied, such as ‘killing civilians from a distance, with bombs dropped from the sky, etc.’ is acceptable and more civilized than having one die with the targets, as happens in the atrocious suicide bombings…they are all monstrous

 

I must still say that I am biased, and when the author went into the cruelties of the American led coalition in the Iraq war, I still felt she is exposing too much of the vulnerable side of the ‘allies’, when there may be the good guys and the bad guys battle going on there…yes, even when writing this (and with some cans of beer on board) it still looks as if I am defending the wrong side, but god damn…

 

In the end, glorious Karen Armstrong wins the case, Justas she said with Beethoven, I can claim to give you a symphony, or at least a piano concert, when all I have is the drive, the zeal, and the result is cacophony, and the same goes for religion and the mad ones that act in the name of it, without even knowing what they are talking about, indeed, some said that they came to help and found that they are called to kill

Still, Machiavellian inclination has me mention Nathaniel Branden http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/04/psychological-effects-of-religion-by.html and not for his magnum opus The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, but for his take on religion, which he thought definitely pernicious

 

Nathaniel Branden argues that being religious will damage your heath, at least the mental one, for the notion of having an all mighty, all knowing being looking over your shoulder when you masturbate, so that he can punish you, well, any time he chooses, is more than pernicious, and then this whole story of another world waiting for you, in the Islamic version with forty virgins, all ready to have you take them (excuse me, but what a whole god damn cockamamie bullshit story) is really catastrophic

Instead of enjoying the life you have and if possible, taking in every minute of it, carpe diem, memento mori and all of that, the religious fellow is in fact abandoning this life, for the better, more rewarding ‘after life’, and what if there is nothing after this life, what then, it just means that we have blown away our only chance, for some promised land, an illusion, we gave away the real for the fake, like that just

 

Karen Armstrong does not venture into politics, except to emphasize often that politics is the reason for the Blood in the title, and many, most invoke religion, but their aims are political, and it is most often a question of misinterpretation – in fact, one of the most important takes from her other books http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-history-of-god-by-karen-armstrong.html is that some religious zealots do more damage to faith than atheists, for they insist on ‘creationism’, a literal interpretation of the Bible, which was meant for a different reading, born in a time when myths were the norm

In other words, insist sting that the world was created in seven days, about six thousand years ago, is just as stupid and counterproductive as it might be envisaged, but you have now a ‘conference’ of those who believe the world is flat…trying to conclude, this is a miraculous work, from a marvelous author

 

Fields of Blood and Religion takes readers through history, just as it promised in the title, and demonstrates that religion, just like anything else, can be used for violent purpose, but in itself, it is not a doctrine that promotes killing, on the contrary, for those who read and comprehend, it is the opposite

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world    – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html