Does Islam have a Death Wish?

We've all seen it -- some place, blown to pieces. And the cause these days, almost without exception, is Muslim terrorists. Nowadays these bombings are often the end of a terrorist's life too, as a man (usually it's a man) blows himself up with his bomb.

Aside from the damage and disturbance to the lives of people who survive these events -- what can be said about those who die except their lives all ended prematurely and tragically? -- one has to ask what these terrorists are trying to accomplish. While everyone knows the arguments about resisting occupation and other issues that remain poignant and compelling in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, it now seems this means of Islamic expression has spread around the world. Are Muslims "occupied" all over the world?

Perhaps Muslim people truly think so. Certainly there is evidence to suggest their economic plight, aside from those who are fortunate enough to be floating on immense oil wealth, is often below that of the societies in which they live. Perhaps too there is some unalloyed prejudice against Muslims in some places.

But it seems perhaps there is something else going on...

It seems a certain segment of Muslims want to be liberated from their religion. Until that happens, they want the rest of the world to suffer as much as they do. This is why they prefer death to life Or to be accurate, this is why they say they prefer death to life.

Do Muslims want to be liberated from their religion? Such an idea is supported by their depiction of the afterlife: a heaven in which they get all that they are not permitted to have while alive. Many other religious people want to be liberated from their religions as well, but it seems Islam resides at the top of that list by a wide margin.

It is naive to imagine that Muslims wish they had a different religion, something to replace Islam. Their God will not tolerate it. The precepts of their faith will not tolerate it. Their practices will not tolerate it. These people would be perfectly capable of liberating themselves if this were not the case.

This is why also democracy is not accepted in the Muslim world. It quite precisely violates features of their religion. Or it violates what some Muslims view as fundamental precepts of their religion. This is also why theocracy is accepted, even desired, in the Muslim world. And finally this is why there will never be a Muslim writer declaring that Muslims want to be liberated from their religion. Even to speak such ideas is blasphemous.

Yet Islam exists in a world where individual freedoms are increasing. Even in China, where the collective has for generations superceded the individual, individual freedoms have grown. Perhaps nowhere other than China is the problem Muslims face more uncomplicated: in China Muslims struggle against the larger community and the state in which they exist.

Muslims have split into two "schools". One apparently follows the absolute authority of Koranic teaching, jihad, and sacrifice of the individual life in service to Allah. It is in many ways the violent equivalent to monastic life.

The other "school" of Islam is moderate and modern Islam, where people follow a ceremonial obeisance to the precepts of the Koran while living a life shaped by personal concerns of well-being, family and happiness. To the first school, these second school members have betrayed the essence of Islam in exchange for comfort, even indulgence. It is no surprise the jihadists have so little concern about their more moderate brethren (and sisters too) when they assault social institutions and societies they believe threaten Islam.

So it is strange to consider that these vigorous defenders of Islam are the ones who actually wish to be liberated from their faith! The moderates have already managed to achieve a degree of liberation by a more casual interpretation of Koranic teachings.

But few if any of the Muslims of the first school will likely admit having a wish to be liberated from Islam. Nevertheless, they do not ever even vaguely suggest that the afterlife to which they so strongly strive contains any of the hallmarks of their current faith and practice. It seems the heaven toward which these devoted ones all aim is the most un-Islamic place possible. Rather it is a place of great indulgence, even debauchery. Further, its depiction of women in this heaven certainly indicates no devout Muslim women ever reach there.

Islamic institutions fail to point out these features of their faith. To do so would reveal its absurdity. Just as Christianity achieved a reformation centuries ago, so also someday perhaps will Islam reform. Perhaps some of these issues will participate in that transformation.

On the Subjugation of Faiths

" All too often the voice that gets shouted away in the public arena is the voice of the Christian..."

This common attitude mistakenly characterizes Christian values as challenged and threatened because of a political agenda by any number of opponents to Christian influence. Of course it has to be admitted there are some people who do have exactly that agenda. But it should also be recognized those ideologues are appending their efforts onto a much greater social and human phenomenon, the on-going revelation that Christian beliefs are fantasies.

Now of course not all Christian beliefs are fantasies. Most particularly many of the moral values of Christians are truths; they are based upon human truths. But enough of the tenets of Christian faith are imagined conceits, with nothing authenticating their validity except religious authority, to make every advance of man's enlightenment and understanding a threat to their continued appeal and "support". A crude simile makes this point: belief does best, even thrives, in an environment of unchallenged authority and constrained or repressed inquiry. It is much like a puppet that may look life-like in the dark, but brought out into the light of day, shows itself to be simply a construct to which we have mistakenly attributed life.

And by the word "support" I don't just mean the community's support of the veracity of a system of belief. By this word I also refer to how the support for any one system of belief by individual Christians is being eroded by advances in human understanding. Nowadays, many of the accepted and traditional dogmas are being revealed to be at best fanciful, and sometimes more precisely as superstitious.

This is why, for some time now, each generation is less influenced by Christian belief. In fact it appears each generation is less influence by belief generally. Of course, this situation challenges more than just Christians. It is fair to assert the Muslim community also feels deeply the effects of man's greater understanding. To some extent all monotheistic religions are being similarly challenged.

Now those faiths being brought out into the sunshine of greater human understanding are not evaporating without a fight. One can view the current "culture wars" both within the US and globally (mostly in the form of the Islamic jihad) as greatly stimulated by what can best be characterized as an unmasking of the falsity of belief central to most of the major religions today. Theirs is a fight for their spiritual lives. And it has every indication to be a fight they are certain eventually to lose.

This makes the atheists of the world destined to gain greater influence as time passes. Forever being regarded as spiritual pariahs or worse, their understandings soon will invite greater attention out of necessity, and so will require greater development as cultural guides for people who are discovering their traditions are fundamentally absurd. This situation is sure to stimulate the maturation of an atheistic viewpoint of self, existence, purpose and destiny as yet largely in its infancy.

Ideas such as the one expressed in the sentence that began this note (itself evidence of a certain level of frustration within that Christian writer), and the feelings from which such ideas grow, are sure to become more prominent as belief dissolves. Efforts to impede this dissolution will likely have little success, particularly across generational boundaries. However, there may be greater violence among the young as they discover the ways of their parents lack meaning. Their frustration will gain the attention of those skilled in shaping young minds, and will offer an opportunity (much as we see already in some madrassas and kibbutzes, and probably some Christian camps) to bend the hot passions of youth toward political ends such as class war, economic agendas, and ideological advancement based upon differences between cultures and more.

This coming turmoil, of which current violence may only be a harbinger, requires some action from those atheists and humanists who can give voice to their overview of self and world beyond simply asserting the absence of God and purely secular social concepts. Among important issues must be included some formulation about why we are, why we exist, if only as a starting point (which it certainly can only be, given our currently level of understanding) to invite a cross-cultural dialogue.

Atheists have not voiced much about who we humans are, what consciousness is, and how to understand, in a universe that has no discernable guiding super-consciousness, what sort of destiny we might expect. Now all these issues of course have quite specific answers from each of the major religions. And people draw great succor from them. But all their answers rely, to greater or lesser extent, upon one or more of those ever more obviously dreamy and superstitious ideas central to the major religions. So it becomes necessary for the community of non-believers to articulate some alternatives, even if they are rudimentary, to indicate "all is not lost". Doing this may spare society, if that is possible, at least some of the turmoil arising from its transformation into an enlightened belief-free sentience.

There is fairly frequently one particular comment heard during conversations about the unacceptability of the atheistic perspective. It asserts the loss of God and soul would make life have no meaning and not be worth living. One can hear in such statements the beginnings of a wail of despair that could end in suicide. So it is important for atheists to give some shelter to people who are discovering or will eventually find their system of belief really is in tatters. That refuge will likely end up being quite complex, but it is sure to address those several issues mentioned earlier.

For instance, it is important to explain who we are. This explanation will need to be one acceptable for small children as well as older persons of any age. It, like its predecessors from the traditions, will surely have several levels of nuance, in acknowledgement that people can appreciate more as they mature. It seems likely it will include features from our understanding of evolution. Perhaps that is just one reason that subject has attracted so much critical attention from the religious community; they see it is capable of replacing much of their catechism!

More fundamentally any comprehensive account of our existence that's not reliant upon God must account for consciousness. What is consciousness? Why has it evolved? How to categorize it in the taxonomy of natural phenomena? What is the nature of identity, self? The questions are many; current meaningful answers are few and lack beauty and grace. And considering these questions reveals a concept all but absent in current belief systems, that we do not know everything.

Currently religious system avoid getting trapped with having no answers by typically declaring "ours is not to know" or "the ways of God are not to be known by man" or some similar sympathy. Atheism or materialism or whatever you wish to label an understanding that refuses blind belief will also have to articulate its position on ignorance. Of course that word "ignorance" itself offers a great starting place: we all have known ignorance, even if sometimes adulthood has prompted us to forget those moments. Further, any attentive mind recognizes there is much it doesn't know, even if one has become an expert in some area of inquiry. In fact there are plenty of accounts granting great honor to ignorance; Socrates comes to mind. Finally, science has its roots deep in ignorance, for it is fundamental to any scientific exploration to admit first one does not know.

Lastly, the issue of dying requires clear discussion by those who have left behind belief. Interestingly, some self-described atheists talk as if there is an afterlife; others of course don't. The topic of how to regard our finiteness must accompany any understanding of existence with no God or transcendent soul.

It needs also to be stated: there needs to be place for belief within any meaningful God-free ontology of consciousness. After all, most everyone today shapes his or her life around belief. Belief is. Belief exists. Only a few have discovered they can survive and thrive without such features in their worldview. One way belief can be granted a place in the sort of understanding I am here predicting will someday dominate civilization is to view it as a stage of development. To consider this will surely provoke great distress among the faithful, as it of course implies there are stages beyond belief. "Alas," they will likely exclaim, "my belief is just a phase!" Discerning minds among the devout cannot avoid considering, however, what place belief will have in the afterlife they so fervently believe in. It seems likely that many will recognize belief will have no place in that hereafter, that it will be unnecessary. On that basis perhaps they can then consider it may not be a requirement for conscience here in the world of life and sensation and awareness.

This small example emphasizes the extent to which all the systems of understanding existing around the world will contribute to our collective view of self and existence as it will someday manifest once belief has been abandoned. One habit most traditions share today is a distrust of other ideas, other traditions. Once people consider we don't have any divine authority from which to obtain guidance, the discoveries cultures around the world have made -- about how to live and understand and flourish -- will be recognized for what they are, our most precious resource, something worth protecting and including in any system of understanding free of the burden of all belief and superstition.

A Common Understanding

A man is shown a pile of shit. Someone says: "This is the greatest stuff you'll ever come across in this world. This is what is real and true. This is the truth." The man has no one to tell him otherwise, so he believes what he's told.

He sees a man sitting in the pile of shit. That man says: "Come join me. Come into the blessed world of this pile of shit. Bow before this pile of shit which has dominion over us all." So our man gets into the pile, since that will get him closer to it.

Someone says: "You need to defend this pile of shit. People may come and tell you it is foul or bad. They may mock you for coating yourself with this shit. Know that they are trying to humiliate you. Don't let them.

"Defy them! Defy and condemn completely their efforts to humiliate you. Remember they are ignorant. Many are even evil!

"Challenge them instead! Tell them they are lost, sinners, ignorant, damned. Tell them if they persist in their ways they have no possibility other than ever-greater suffering. Tell them they MUST realize they too need this pile of shit, that it is their salvation, that they have forgotten they have come from this pile of shit and they are really part of this pile of shit. Invite them to join you in this pile of shit.

"Tell them they need to accept this pile of shit. Tell them they need to let it enter into their life just as you have. Tell them they cannot endure beyond death without accepting and entering into this pile of shit.

"And if you find your worldly fortunes are not going well, then know it is because you are being treated badly by people who don't accept this pile of shit and your allegience to it. Know that this pile of shit is greater than all those material and worldly things. Remember this shit is even greater than you! It is that above which nothing of value exists. Nothing!

"Know that sitting in this pile of shit, you have arrived, you have found your life's destiny.

"Your life before you learned about this shit was nothing. You were at best wallowing in the mundane ordinariness of average people. Now you are found. You have come home.

"Know also you will be rewarded for your defense of this pile of shit. You will gain a great reward in your afterlife. We all have an afterlife, and yours, as a defender of this pile of shit, will be the greatest possible, far better and more than you can possibly imagine, even if you try.

"You will be honored for the magnificence of your defending this pile of shit. And you will gain a special place of honor should you die defending this pile of shit. Whatever else you might be able to do with your life, it will never even come close to the blessings you will receive as a martyr in defense of this pile of shit.

"And do not despair if, by your actions in relation to this pile of shit, you feel isolated from your family, your friends, and all those ordinary concerns that occupy common people. Your destiny, if you choose to become a defender of this pile of shit, will surpass that of any person you know or know about. It will surpass anything you could even imagine! Know that the joy you will earn as a defender of this pile of shit will grace you forever.

"Our work as custodians of this pile of shit is to spread it around the world, to find others who can recognize there is no greater accomplishment than to become a servant of this pile of shit. Do not betray your potential or the gift you have already gained by your contact with this pile of shit by being seduced away from this pile of shit by any of the temporary and quite false charms of this world. They exist only to deceive you. The are evil incarnate. Beware of their trickery.

"Know that before the presence of this pile of shit you can do no wrong if your intentions are devoted to defending and promoting this pile of shit. Bow before this pile of shit. It is your Master. And know while you are bowing that you bow to acknowledge you are nothing in comparison to this pile of shit. Yet by your bowing you join others who serve and are blessed by this pile of shit."

The Return of Faith

What is occurring in US ( and global ) politics today is a retest of the validity of faith as the guiding principle for society. This is a "retest" because, as is sometimes forgotten, we humans have been down this road before. Our current, arguably quite turbulent situation today has arisen out of a time of greater devotion to religion than now exists. To be clear, our current more secular world has arisen out of a time of faith. Have you considered this?

Why did this social evolution occur? Why did we swing toward a secular world, our secular world today, and away from a faith-centered society? A complete answer would have to include the fact that the previous world of faith that our predecessors constructed upon a foundation of even more primitive understandings caused much suffering for many. Hence, we left that world eagerly, to found the largely secular world we now live in.

Few people today know of ("remember"?) the privations of that time a few centuries ago. These days we are not well educated about history. Those that do know of those times often mistakenly believe that era's suffering occurred simply because that society was more primitive. "We won't have those problems now," some might exclaim confidently. Not many people correlate the deficiencies of those societies with their beliefs and systems of faith. Rather, the common lament today is that our world lacks faith of those bygone times and suffers consequently. Nothing could be further from truth.

Central to this cultural disconnect is a failure to regard belief as supersitition. Few people celebrate superstition; after all, the word itself implies ignorance and a fear-based understanding. Instead most believers view their personal system of belief as the one truth that rises above the numerous superstitions and misunderstandings otherwise filling the world. It seems having a belief requires the suspension of any intelligent inquiry that might ask: am I just as entranced as those others whom I see are living in ignorance, misunderstanding, and even sin? Might I be as oblivious or in denial as they seem to be?

Of course, if the problems of our world don't come from our secular society, out of what do they arise? A short answer includes a smorgasboard of trans-generational neglect, abuse, ignorance and persisting socially-approved exploitation. Faith and belief seem at best conscripts to the conflicts this banquet nourishes. Yet, so seductive are faith and belief that we now have a growing outcry to restore a social arrangement based upon these factors.

Today we hear and see faith again waxing amid considerable resistance and clamor from secular influences. And there is some momentum to this trend, enough perhaps for the tide of faith and religion to again dominate human culture as it once did. It seems the lessons from faith's last reign have been forgotten and need to be relearned.

One comfort in this process is that any reversion to faith will likely persist over a much shorter period than it did previously. It seems possible, if not likely, a new framing for society will manifest, built from the strongest and most universal elements of all the religions in combination with an enlightened secularism. With this accomplishment will come new and unanticipated glories for mankind, and of course new challenges.