EXAGGERATION NATION

Last night something occurred to me, and it
changed my perspective on religion. And no if you think the change was for the
better; you are wrong. It made me want to be free of my religion, or ANY
religion for that matter.

I’ve always been a Muslim for all my life.
Granted, I never actually practice it, but when people asked I’ve always said
"I’m a Muslim." And I always try to defend it if people talk about it
in a negative light in front of me. As wretched and far-off from my religion as
I am, I still have that sense of pride and belonging to it.

However, after a random Muslim dude just waved a
kitchen knife in front of me last night - it just killed almost every ounce of
respect I have for my religion. I feel so ashamed. I had to defend myself from
my religion, and I think I only scraped through unscratched because I told him
I was a Muslim as well. Where is the logic in that?

He told me about Theo van Gogh. And how van Gogh was shot 4 times, because he made a documentary about his fucking religion. And he told me how the man who killed van Gogh is
a fucking hero. And that he, like the man who shot van Gogh, is also a
fighter, a fucking soldier. A hero, a soldier, a fighter for his fucking
religion. MY fucking religion.

He also asked me whether or not I know what his religion
is. And he asked me about mine. I told him I know what his religion is, I know
the name of his God, and I told him that it is the same as mine. He was not
convinced. He asked me to say the Shahadah, and I did. He was still not that
convinced. I told him I went to Mecca once.
Thank God (OR LACK THEREOF) he believed me, and the conversation turned
somewhat a bit friendlier.

But all this happened with him having a kitchen
knife tucked on his pants’ waist. At one point he flashed it to me, but I was
on my I-am-not-looking-for-trouble, I-just-want-to-get-home mode and
just looked down while walking so I didn’t see it.

A few minutes later, I think he noticed I didn’t
see it, so he decided to waved it around. The knife was never pointed at me,
and it was never really near me, but seriously: How comfortable would
you be if a random, drunk stranger is talking to you about how he thinks a murderer is a
hero while holding a knife, at 1 am???? As far as I am concerned, had I been much more camp and not a Muslim, he could’ve slit my throat. Who knows?

And with that, I am now ready to fully abandon
the teachings of Islam. Don’t get me wrong here, I still do believe there is a
God. But that is all there is to it.

I just do not think I want to follow ANY religion
teaching that hatches crazy lunatics. And I do not think I want to follow ANY
religion based on violence, punishment and threat.

I KNOW, I am being completely ignorant, and I
also know how it is the people who practice are to blame, not the religion. But
you don’t reap if you don’t sow, if you know what I mean. I mean, there
has to be a source, a glimmer, or a just a hint of twisted teaching for all
this to be happening.

I seriously think that life would be much easier;
the world would be a much peaceful place if no (organized) religions exist.
Heck, I think the world would be a much better place if we are all hippies, and
just gather around a fire and sing songs.

So from now on, if anyone asks me this: "What’s
your religion?", I will answer with this: "That depends, are
you wielding a knife?"

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 1:51 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.