Hate kills

Ten years and a day ago Matthew Shepard was murdered by young men filled with religiously inspired hatred for homosexuals.

I’ve participated in a number of debates concerning the damage done to society by religious belief. Frequently mentioned is the inability of an atheist to be considered a qualified candidate for public office, the desire of the ID/Creationist crowd to shoehorn their theistic philosophies into science classes in schools, the nearly constant mischaracterization of the atheistic stance on reality by the religious.

But we should never forget that religion kills. Religious texts endorse the killing of those who disagree with the faithful. From stoning disobedient children to hanging gay youths, horrendous murders are taking place throughout the world in the name of one god or another.

Religion is far more than a simple delusion, it’s a dangerous philosophy that allows its followers to distance themselves from the rest of humanity and think that their intolerance and bigotry are sensible. It is a mindset that prohibits critical thinking and encourages belief without question. It promotes hate, divisiveness and prejudice.

Not much has changed in the last ten years. For humanity’s sake, we need to speak out against religiously inspired violence. We need to not be afraid to hold religion accountable for its failure to promote peace, acceptance and inclusion.

Let us never forget Matthew Shepard and the reason he died. Let’s do all we can to assure that never happens again.

(A tip of the hat to vjack for his compassionate post and the Matthew Shepard Foundation link)

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 28th, 2008 and is filed under abuse by others. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.