This article was written in 1995 and posted on the Ariga web site in Israel
where it remains on-line until today. The version presented here is updated (March 2008) to include a brief description of my own relationship to religion. Introduction to article written
by the Ariga editor: The
following article come into Ariga
a few days after Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. In this article, an American,
Vince Giuliano, suggests that there is a hierarchy of belief that corresponds
to a hierarchy of evil, which he outlines in a list ranging from Inclusive to
profoundly evil. By no means does this article define evil as inherent to a
particular religion -- but rather to the way some interpret what they refer
to as "God's Will." Nor does this article accuse any individual
religious believer of evil. "Extremism in the pursuit of liberty,"
said an American politician more than 30 years ago, "is no vice."
Nor, perhaps, is extremism in the pursuit of spiritual strength. Ariga is publishing the following article in the interests
of a free debate about religion, and hopes for reactions that contribute to
our understanding of religion's role in the coming century. Part of my cover message when I sent the article
to Ariga: The assassination of Rabin made me so sick and sad that I needed to do something to work out my thoughts and feelings. I ended up writing an article on religion and evil, mainly for my own internal benefit. I decided to send you a copy of the article, which follows. You are welcome to comment on it and, if you think it is appropriate, to post it on your site. I was originally raised as a Catholic, although I do not practice any religion today. My wife is Jewish as are my two younger children. I belonged to a Reform congregation for some time. RELIGION
AND EVIL by Vince Giuliano This is a short
treatise on the topic of religion and evil. It was inspired by the multiple
acts of terrorism and violence by religious fundamentalists that have been in
the news recently. It was triggered specifically by the assassination of Prime
Minister Rabin in We have been taught
that religions stand for good, and that religion is the ultimate bulwark
against all that which is evil. God against the Devil. Light against dark. We have been instructed
since childhood about the key role of religions in teaching morality that
does good in the world. This article looks at the
dark side of religion: that religions in various degrees create and justify
evil, that they can and often do blind people to evil. On the whole, it may
well be the case that the result of passionate religion in the modern world
is more evil than good. Finally, I develop the theme that the ability of a
religion to do harm is a fundamental result of the basic tenant of most of
our religions - that of revealed truth. What is evil? For my
purposes here, I am concerned with only one kind of evil which is fairly easy
to define: religious evil. Religious evil is that which demeans or suppresses
people or does violence against them or even kills them for religious reasons
or because of religious justifications. Examples abound. What about the mixture
of religion and politics in creating evil? Kings ruled by divine authority, and many of the most evil religious factions in
the world also have very strong political agendas. In many but not
all cases, a political entity is involved in evil acts that are justified on
religious grounds, be that political entity a terrorist group like the Hizbullah, or an entire government. In A. The Rating System for
Religions It's clear that
religions provide the justification and energy for many evil acts in the
modern world, whether one is considering the Fundamentalist Christian beliefs
that justified the Oklahoma City bombing, the Moslem beliefs that justified the
World Trade Center Bombing, the extreme Jewish beliefs that justified
assassinating Prime Minister Rabin, or the religious beliefs of the cult
which spread poison gas in Japanese subways. Yet all religions are not equal
in this respect. Some are benign, and the last thing I want to do is try to
lay down a blanket damnation of all religions. Some do good sometimes; some
do good fairly consistently. So, I want to start out
by discriminating among religions in terms of their ability to create and
justify evil. For
Here are the details of
the ratings, as I see them. They apply to a religion as it is practiced in a
time and place. For example, much of Catholicism in the Rating I: Inclusive Many Reform and Reconstructionist Jewish, Unitarian/Universalist,
and Quaker congregations in the Members of some Inclusive
congregations don't necessarily believe in the same kind of God, or even in any God insofar as that goes. In the Rating M: Mainline Most of the Catholic,
traditional-Protestant and Jewish religious groups in the Most religious
expression in Contents of sermons in
M churches and temples may often reflect humanitarian values. And M religious
congregations sometimes organize themselves to do truly good deeds. Nonetheless, because of
the irrational beliefs they continue to embrace, there is always the danger
that fragments of an M religion will mutate into the Z and worse categories. M religions tend to be
losing vitality in the world today. So few people are becoming Catholic
priests and nuns today, for example, that the Rating Z: Zealous These religions have
strong ideologies, and tend to require internalization of patently absurd or
irrelevant ideas that derive their strength only from the fact that they are
(or purport to be) very old and have been much repeated as the revealed truth
of God. Modern counterparts of such nonsense, without the mantle of
"God’s revealed truth," would never be paid any attention to, let
alone make the New York Times "top 20 best-sellers" list. Zealous religions are
not necessarily evil in their main thrusts, although evil (as well as good)
may sometimes result as a result of the zeal. I would include here in the Some Zealous religious
groups have dedicated themselves to doing what I consider to be good. Hypocrisy can often
result in Z religions when theory and practice get too out of phase. A number
of religious cults have collapsed when chastity was the religious norm, but
their charismatic leader was discovered to be having sex with substantial
numbers of his disciples. Zealous religious
groups tend to want to impose their norms on others, such as on matters of
abortion. A danger is that a Z group in its zeal can mutate
into becoming an E (Evil) group which motivates its members to do evil. The
Christian-based anti-abortionist movement gave license to killers of doctors
who work in abortion clinics. Z religious cults can quickly slip from being
simply Zealous to being Evil in their ratings. Remember the David Koresh and Jim Jones cult movements. Such has also been
the evolution of some of the ultra-Zionist Jewish fundamentalist groups and
some Z religious groupings
tend to be aggressively involved in worldwide missionary activities and are
growing today. Rating E: Evil Evil religions are ones
that have great zeal and intense religious ideology, and that also denigrate
humans or foster hate, suppression, harm or
disenfranchisement of whole groups of people. Suppression, hate and verbal
violence is condoned if not actively practiced in the name of God. The
religious establishment may mandates it. Many Moslem
groups in the Middle-East and Often, hate is preached
against "not us" people. The extreme Christian Religious Right, is an example in the Evil religions
ultimately justify, make people insensitive to, and in fact appear to demand
violence against people as part of the religion itself. There can be
countless acts of individual violence against members of the religion itself,
such as beating or mutilation of wives and children, none of which make the
news because they are legitimate in the religious culture concerned. Occasionally
a story breaks through, like this item from this morning’s (Nov. 8, 1995)
Boston Globe: "BOY DEATH TIED TO
KORAN QUIZZES. This took place in Evil is evil, and it
exists in degrees. Just like Zealous is on the slippery slope to Evil, so is
Evil on the slippery slope to the final rating of Profoundly Evil. When the religion or a
substantial branch of it takes the next step to where it is actively
condoning and encouraging violence on a massive scale, war, mayhem and
destruction in the name of God or Allah or Yaweh or
whatever, then it deserves this rating. Both the Moslem and Christian
religious movements that backed the Crusades were PE. The Japanese religious cult that was
letting nerve gas loose in the To the zealots in
Profoundly Evil religions, non-believers are little better than animals, to
be slaughtered if that is what is most convenient. Thus, it is a
responsibility to God to murder passers-by with poison gas in Japanese public
places. In the good old PE days of the Crusades, it was considered generous
for an army crusading in the name of God to invade a city and give its
inhabitants an instant choice of converting to our True Religion and becoming
slaves, or being slaughtered. (Some times, only women and children were given
this choice. The men were automatically slaughtered.) It was the same process,
no matter whether the invaders were Moslem or Christian. It is not necessary to
look back in history to find PE-inspired wars. The recent wars and
slaughters in Bosnia, Killing and maiming adherents to another religion in the name of God is an almost daily happening in Iraq as PE Sunni and Shi'ite factions engage in holy war against each other. Mosques and religious pilgrims are particular targets. From a Reuters release 25 Feb 2008: “Suicide Bomber Kills 40 in Iraq -- Hilla, Iraq - A suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with metal ball bearings in a refreshment tent full of Iraqi pilgrims heading to a Shi'ite festival on Sunday, killing 40 people and wounding 60, police said. -- The attack was one of the deadliest in Iraq this year and happened despite a major tightening of security for the annual Arabian festival in the southern holy city of Kerbala. It is one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest events. Most of the casualties were hit by the ball bearings, said a doctor at a hospital in the city of Hilla, --. A wounded woman there said the attack happened in a tent where pilgrims were offered refreshments.” The suicide bomber probably thought his act would transport him directly to heaven. An often-striking characteristic of profoundly evil religions is a positive attitude towards death, just as inclusive religions value life. Some islamicists have stated this quite explicitely. "Each of us lives his days and nights hoping more than anything to be killed for the sake of Allah," according to Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah. And we remember Reverend Jim Jones and his First Peoples Temple. He initiated a ritual called "White Nights" to prepare his followers for an act of mass suicide. In 1978, the good reverend ordered his followers to drink from a tub of grape-flavored Kool Aid laced with cyanide and tranquilizers. Many were fored to drink and all 908 died. It is important to stress that
being Evil or Profoundly Evil is not an absolute characteristic of a
religion, but is rather an attribute that varies by time and place and that
can come or go. The New England Protestant congregations that encouraged
burning witches over 200 years ago still exist, but are no longer Evil. The
Catholic Church in B. The Basic Evil I believe the basic
evil lies in the process of religious irrationality itself, that the steps of
it are in believing: 1. God’s will is more
important than anything else, certainly more important than laws or emotions
or ethics of humans. God’s will is absolute and cannot be questioned. It is
the extreme authority. 2. My main and total
responsibility is to do the will of God. 3. God’s will is
revealed in the sacred documents (The Torah, The Bible, the Koran, the
Bhagavad-Gita, the Book of Mormon, etc.). 4. The teachings of my
religion are the one and only true interpretation of the sacred documents,
and are therefore of God’s will. My Priest (Minister, Mullah, Rabbi, etc.)
are the experts in what God has said. The problem is that the
"sacred documents" are open to a very broad range of different
interpretations. They tend to be rambling folk stories of primitive people,
full of supposedly-specific events and names, and containing much
generally-good advice for survival of those people along with advice that is
not so good today. You can find almost anything you are looking for, ranging
from "if you are hit on one cheek, turn another" to "smite
your enemies; show no mercy." So, what this ambiguity
does is put the current interpreters of the sacred works in the drivers seat to say that "the will of God" is
anything they choose it to be. Just about absolutely anything can go. Give a
smart person just about any viewpoint on humanity that is possible, and he
can find the passages in the New and Old Testament, or the Koran, or the
Vedic documents, that absolutely justify it. We can find Mother Theresa's, Ayatollah Kolmeni's,
and every shade in-between. "Love your neighbor" and "Hate
your neighbor" can pass equally well in the game of religious morality. So, some of the
"moral truths" that have been dictated by religions are: · "White men are
devils and we must at least live apart from them. We blacks may need to fight
a Holy War to liberate ourselves from them." · "Black people
are the descendants of Ham who were driven out of paradise. They are
inherently inferior, and have no place in our white churches. We must live
separate from them." · "We are God’s
only Chosen People." · "We must re-affirm
out Christian Aryan values, and purge our country of Negro, Communist and
Jewish influence." · "Moslem (Hindu)
temples have no place in the Hindu (Moslem) Holy Places." · "Moslem
(Jewish) temples have no place in the Jewish (Moslem) Holy City of Jerusalem."
· "God says we
should kill Jews (Arabs, Indians, Moslems, Christians, native people of all
kinds, you name it)." · "God gave us
Jews Judea and · "It is Allah’s
(God’s) wish that infidel Christians (Moslems) must be swept out of our
country." · "It is the role
of the woman to be subservient to and obey her father or husband, and she has
no separate rights of her own. Women may not show their face or the shape of
their body in public." · "Slaughtereth thine unbeliever
neighbor before he slaughtereth thee." In other words, the
problem of evil in religion goes to the roots of religious beliefs
themselves. Being irrational and arbitrary and absolute, these beliefs can
dictate anything, and absolve their followers from any responsibility for
their acts because they are only exercising "the Will of God."
Religion is the ultimate cop-out for taking responsibility for being a human
being. Isn’t it about time we
humans grow up? Vince Giuliano
Vince Giuliano vegiuliano@comcast.net My personal relationship to religions
At present I regard myself as a deeply faithful though not religious person.
God exists for me, though not as an anthropomorphic projection. God for me is the organizing
set of principles that allows the universe to function and life to exist as it does.
These principles are deeply mysterious and compatible with though not understood by
science. How is it that dozens of critical physical constants have to have exactly the values
they have for otherwise the Universe would be vastly different and hostile to life? And I believe there
is an underlying value system that favors organization over chaos, what we normally
call good over evil. As to religion, I was originally raised as a Catholic. I was baptized
and confirmed in that faith and attended three years of Catholic Middle
and High School. I dropped out of the Church and went to a secular school
much more to my taste at the age of 14. During one three-year interval as an adult,
my family and I belonged to a Unitarian-Universalist congregationn in
Arlngton Massachusetts. I participated heavily but was somewhat less than
a Pillar of the Congregation, perhaps just a Post. During another three-year
period my wife and I were members of a Jewish Reform temple in Sudbury Massachusetts.
I attended classes on the Torah and on Jewish mysticism as expounded in the Kaballah.
Two of my older sons converted to becoming Jehova's Witnesses in their teen years
and raised their own families in that tradition. For a while, they proseletized me.
My two younger sons have Jewish mothers and are therefore Jewish by the traditions of
that faith. My current wife Melody is Jewish and also an American Sufi (an Inclusive branch
of the Moslem faith)and frequently attends Sufi events. I sometimes go too.
My boss for many years was a good friend and
a devout Mormon and shared with me much about his religion. Another boss was a
Christian Scientist who did the same. I worked for years with full members of the Opus Dei
branch of Catholicism. Hy half-brother and half-sister were devouted
Scientologists for years. My travels and relationships have exposed me a little to
the Bahi, Vodoo, Suni, Shi'ite, Santeria and Candomblé religions, not to mention
Zoroastrian fire-worshippers
in Iran. And my best friend Hal Lyon is an Inclusive Charismatic Christian.
A have been open to learning something about each of these faiths and a little of each has rubbed off on me.
I can be reached at A few years back I was taking an acting class and was asked to create a monolog for my gradution performance. I made the monolog about what my life would have been like had I choosen what my grandmother wanted - that I would be a Catholic Priest. You can read that monolog here. Copyright 2008 by Vincent E. Giuliano, all rights reserved For other writings by the author, his writings web page. |
|