"In the Name of God"

According to those religious values, indeed, almost everything would fit into the all-encompassing label of "pornography", since in their view, almost all of it detracts from what the Church is teaching, what the Bible has to say.

When they say that there is a "war on religion", they are not wrong- from their perspective. Since they view everything not religious as a threat to religion, they wage war on it, and o we are engaged in a war on religion, but not of our choosing. Religions simply have to accept that not everybody will be a believer, and not everything will back up the church.

Look at some of the most unstable parts of the world today, and it seems that religion is, ultimately, almost always front and center as the focal point on the instability. Look at Israel and it's neighbors in the Middle East. There is constant discord in this region, because of conflicting, and evidently incompatible, religious beliefs. Look at many of the Islamic Republics that tend to go to such extremes, based on their alleged religious convictions. Look at India and Pakistan, and the rivalry largely based on traditional religious differences. Look at the United States presently, for that matter. Look how much religion seems to play a part in the increased divisiveness. The so-called "red states" include the so-called "Bible Belt", while the so-called "Blue States" are allegedly where God is absent, not present in the everyday of the community.

Yes, many of those may seem like generalizations, but is there not some grain of truth to it.

We can look throughout history, as well. We can start with the Bible, where Jesus was alleged to have been crucified as punishment for holding different religious viewpoints than his community. Christians that followed him continued to be persecuted in the early going, being fed to the lions in Rome. Eventually, however, the Empire of Rome itself became Christian, and they went to war against the pagans that surrounded the ever expanding empire, although eventually, these pagans themselves took over Rome. Then, these pagans eventually converted to Christianity as well, much like the empire had (yes, it sounds a bit complicated, doesn't it?). In the meantime, a new religion, based on the Judeo-Christian tradition, was developed in the Middle East and quickly expanded, taking over huge tracts of land and building an empire itself. People had to convert to this new religion, known as Islam. In many areas, such as in India, people were put to the sword if they refused to convert to the invading religion. The Christians wanted to get their Holy Land back from the Muslims, and set about on Crusades, a series of wars in hopes of regaining control over their Holy Land, and the Muslims fought back against these "infidels", so they were all fighting ferociously for what they believe, and all in the name of God. There were Islamic invasions of Europe, of course, as well. Eventually, there was a rift among Christians in Europe, as the Protestant Reformation came about, and naturally, this brought about further war in the name of God. In the meantime, a New World had been discovered, and pilgrims brought their new religions to these lands, made their new homes their, and called the native population "savages" for not believing and living as they did. Conquistadors brought down an empire and tore down some of the old and historical buildings of these empires in an attempt to spread their Christian beliefs and, oh, by the way, to enrich themselves. This colonialism spread not only to the "New World" of the Americas, but also to much of Africa and Asia and Australia. Missionaries followed everywhere, undeniably doing some good, but also doing some bad, inadvertently or not. There were backlashes against this, of course, but overall, missionaries began to take an increasingly pronounced role in history, in places as far as Africa and China, and the Americas. Is it surprising that they often grew powerful and rich in the process? Religions spread, particularly Christianity. Wars and instability raged on as well. Their was the Dreyfus Affair in France, showing anti-Semitic views were simmering not far beneath the surface in France. Not too much later, anti-Semitism flared up and exploded in Germany. Jews were forced to wear yellow identifying Stars of David as identifying markers on their clothing, were forced into ghettoes and remained strictly separated from the dominant, majority culture, and eventually, as anti-Semitism spread throughout Europe, Jews were killed by the millions. Those Jews who survived, went to the Holy Land to try and create their own state, and they succeeded in establishing the modern state of Israel. Of course, this did not sit well with the neighboring Muslim countries, as well as the native Muslim majority at the time, living in Palestine. Wars followed. Religious fanaticism grew increasingly rampant in the Middle East, and eventually, there emerged a revolution in Iran that rejected Western values, in favor of a new Islamic Republic of Iran. It was the first of many such movements, which eventually included the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, who blew up historical Buddha statues because they were deemed to be icons against Islamic faith. Yellow identifying markers were required of the relatively few non-Muslims inside of the country, which now hosted training camps from religiously fanatical terrorist groups. In the meantime, there was a new wave of religious revival here in the United States, as well. Previously well-defined separations that nobody prominently questioned were suddenly threatened, as religion began to permeate the popular culture. Not surprisingly, things grew more divisive, both here and abroad. When the United States responded to the attacks of September 11, it was seen by many to have religious undertones, which were not quelled when then President George W. Bush, who was a devout Christian and claimed that God wanted him to be President, and that God was on his side (rather than hoping that he was on God's side), slipped and used the word "crusade". The United States got involved in various conflicts in the predominately Islamic Middle East, and it remains there still. Take a look at what happened in just this young year (it's only mid-March!) in Afghanistan: a video of American soldiers pissing on the dead corpses of alleged terrorist suspects became prominent news and sparked outrage, but not as much outrage as the burning of Korans on an American military base, and many Afghanis protested on the streets over that. Then, just when relations were deteriorating to the point that it seemed it could not get worse, a major and senseless, indiscriminate shooting took place just this past weekend, as American soldiers apparently killed 16 Afghanis sleeping peacefully in their own homes. Most of the victims were either women or children. Yet, despite this, there is serious debate in the United States presently about possibly going to further conflict in Iran, and possibly even Syria, as leading Republican candidate bring their religious convictions to the political front, and criticize Obama, claiming he has engaged in a "war on religion".

Got all of that?

I did not even mention the controversy of the religious war on science and the expansion of human knowledge, which seems to be the one thing that devout Jews, Christians, and Muslims can all agree on.  I did not mention the burning crosses of the Ku Klux Klan. I did not mention the sex scandals of priests regarding many cases of little boys being abused by priests, or of the Vatican's steadfast refusal to really acknowledge, let alone apologize, for these instances. I did not mention the poverty and hunger and ignorance that run rampant in this world, while too many religions prominently display their wealth and power. Just look at the Vatican, filled with priceless artifacts and with it's own treasury and riches beyond counting! Was that the fulfillment of the vision that Jesus had hoped for?

One of the lowest people that I ever met was a devout Muslim. He wore his religion on his sleeve, and told about how important it was to him. He claimed that if you did not "believe" as he believed, you were doomed to spend the entirety of eternity in the afterlife burning in Hell.  He talked about the beauty of his culture, and particularly of their clean living. Yet, I never met anyone who went to such lengths to try and belittle people at every opportunity. Quite literally, every opportunity, and that is not an exaggeration. He was one of the worst people that I have ever met, and I wonder if it ever occurred to him that he was hardly practicing what he preached in his own personal example with the life he was leading, since he was needlessly making a point of trying to make the lives of others more difficult. He is only the most extreme example of numerous such people I have met.

I am not anti-religious. I am not, really. However, religious beliefs, to me, should remain intensely personal, and not advertised on one's sleeves, not used specifically to divide people, to take a "holier than thou" approach, particularly since it claims to elevate people. All too often, it seems to have the exact opposite effect.