Should I Show You a Picture?

Our blood boils every time we see still or moving images of Middle Eastern stonings carried out by villagers claiming their religion makes it clear the deviant actions of the condemned left the townspeople no other choice.

Sadly we see gruesome still photographs, and sometimes video, far too often. It makes us think, "How could anyone believe such a deplorable act is the right thing to do?"

The sad fact, however, is that folks of many different religions have throughout history claimed their holy books instructed them to brutally murder those who performed harmless actions or committed petty transgressions.

If you all of a sudden believed in the teachings of Islam, yet continued to find violence abhorrent, would you join the Taliban five years from now with assurance from the supreme leader that they no longer interpreted the Koran to mean the stoning of homosexuals was righteous and instead simply chose to nonviolently discriminate against everyone who acts on their inherent attraction to members of the same sex? Would you join the "Nouveau Taliban" if their actions truly made it seem as if they belonged to the "religion of peace"?

I ask anyone belonging to a modern religion that adheres to a book which details past unimaginably cruelties; would it take regularly looking at pictures of such atrocities for them to hit home. If you constantly perused images of the resulting carnage, would it be more difficult for you to "get past all that."

Would it help to have a television network dramatizing deplorable acts depicted in your religious works as well as air actual video of modern day punishments carried out by monsters claiming their god makes it clear a brutal execution must be carried out against the young girl for the sin of being sexually abused by filthy men whose deed will go unpunished?

We often hear, "Holy books aren't factual and the atrocities documented didn't necessarily occur." I'm sure knowing his fellow villagers are hurling stones at his head because of a fictional story makes the very real man in the very real hole feel a lot better about his situation.

If visual reminders don't do the trick, the least people of every religion could do is strip their holy books of unspeakable cruelty. Just take out all stories and instructions that could be used to justify or encourage brutal punishments. Obviously we can't rely on hope that, "people will have enough sense to refrain from taking action based on these stories, which, while horrific, aren't meant to be interpreted literally."

Just think of how much senseless violence you could prevent. You have no proof your books are accurate and therefore isn't it better to play it safe over risking millions of human lives, especially considering the fact that, when recruiting, you only highlight the good parts.

If these updated holy books were passed down from generation to generation, eventually no one would recall passages that could be used to justify brutalizing the innocent.

No more, "If you read chapter five, verse seven of such-and-such book you'll find I'm required to hang these young homosexuals," if chapter five, verse seven of such-and-such book doesn't exist.

Actually, we could save the entire works in museums. When asked about, religious elders could tell up and coming followers, "In the dark ages people believed these writings instructed them to brutally punish those who had done nothing wrong, but thankfully we came to the realization that actual works of god would never promote such cruelty."

Arguing over nativity scenes and religious-based laws is one thing, seeing blood of the young and innocent shed based on fictional tales reminds me exactly how serious our differences are. It's especially frustrating knowing that no one who shares my beliefs could fathom justifying such brutality. It's very easy for me to understand slaughtering the innocent is wrong, as is promoting books that could be interpreted to encourage such behavior. Yet, because there are so many religious people across the globe, I'm in the minority. Accepting the fact that I posses the extremely rare ability of differentiating right from wrong is difficult when the consequences are so high.