The above cannot be more relevant in the present state of the troubles around the world, coupled with the inherent needs of individuals to make sense of their existence.
The hyper conflict between Religion and Secularism
Weapons of choice, faith, love of God, good and evil, heaven and hell, salvation, purpose to life, democracy, freedom, free speech, human rights, science, happiness
Let's kick off with who the players are;
Religious front: Elected members, appointed and self-appointed members of Authority, Religious scholars, Religious schools and controlled Media
Secular front: Elected members, appointed and self-appointed members in Authority, think tanks, education institutes, and controlled Media.
The question for every “individual” is, WHICH WAY TO GO. Apparently, those in charge of either camp are least concerned with the notion of choice, all they want is their respective ways (lock, stock, and barrel) or the highway to hell and nowhere respectively.
The message of late is packaged and repackaged by both, with the sole purpose of grabbing the market share. The accompanying blitz of the messages is designed to force people not to seek the middle ground, each side is ready to condemn would be suitors if they dare to dilute either the message or hint at reconciliation. The objective of both the respective authorities is simple, stay in power. Staying in power lets you tell others what to do, how to do it and above all what they are not allowed to do. Mostly that.
Both camps are well versed in the art of squashing dissent from within and dealing with all incoming threats. The only mantra is survival, all the rest is incidental.
Before we proceed further it is important to point an obvious fact concerning the power struggle, the main reason those in power defend their chosen system and subsystems is to do with the projected image of themselves. Once a position of power is stabilized the focus shifts to holding on to power at all cost. In the process of brand promotion, to borrow a marketing term, something interesting evolves. The resulting image, in most cases, kept simple by design, backfires and prevents them to switch sides. Hence the perpetual state of conflict we witness on a daily basis.
With few historical exceptions, the competing camps are able to latch on to the opponent’s self-generated or forced changes to the projected image and score decisive victories. Since both camps specialize in fooling the masses with smoke screens and mirrors, the protection of the image becomes the obsession. Hence, the labeling punches and counter punches take on such significance that at times it seems to be an end in itself. Once again, there is no room for middle ground. Needless to say, all this is done in the name of the people.
The Religious Authorities have convinced the masses that the only way to understand the religion is through them. They will tell you to either submit to their take on things without question or wait for the answers and all will be revealed after joining them.
The secular authorities have managed to master the art of fooling the ‘Majority’ of the people all the time through what else but the globally controlled media, hence the emphases on free speech. Consider this:
While polls indicate that around 80 percent of the US population disapproves of the work of the federal congress, more than nine out of ten DC officials get re-elected every general election.
In 2006, 94 percent of house incumbents also won re-election and in 2004 they had a better than 99 percent success rate. Moreover, the incumbent has a number of options, including redrawing the precinct’s boundaries, choice and number of polling stations, a method of casting vote and the rest is left to imaginations.
The religious Authorities is telling the people you all are idiots and the secular Authorities is just assuming they are idiots. Since the strategies work well for both, it would appear that there is some truth in the assertion and the assumption. However, on closer scrutiny, nothing can be furthest from the truth. The key factor is as always Education. The catch, of course, is that both the opposing camps know this as well. The strategy of choice for both camps is, “catch them young and brainwash them into submission”. Both the education systems are designed to see the Universe through the respective authority’s eyes.
The strategy of choice for both camps comes straight out of marketing manuals. The messages are refined and adjusted to suit market segments. Well tested soft and hard sell methods are ruthlessly employed and notions of fear, freedom, security, and rewards are mixed and remixed to the max.
The advent of the internet has given the lonely warrior a glimmer of hope. For the first time in the history of mankind, the speed and reach of an individual have become global. The human race has a window of opportunity to grab the initiative before the internet, as we know it, at the risk of sounding conspiratorial, is tamed by those in power.
At the risk of sounding a web nut, the web has not only given the world an alternate source of news both in terms of an independent journalist, bloggers and low budget wire news concerns, the internet has enabled everyone to do research on political systems, religion and practically any subject without leaving your home. It is further possible to bypass the propriety publications and make your findings public virtually free.
It has become possible to discuss, attend conferences, participate in forums and ask questions, seek answers in any language, earn a degree and even declare yourself an expert. The implications are frightening to the people in Authority; it is finally probable to get to the crux of issues within a manageable time frame at fraction of the cost formerly associated with such endeavors. It is finally possible to educate yourself. It has finally become possible to have a real choice.
The next step is to congregate and if need be congregate without assembly, plan actions, organize and execute literary out of the blue. The process can be akin to wearing a cloaking devise all through the planning and organizing stages until the moment of execution, thus leveraging the element of surprise up to the hilt. The one thing most feared by authority is a surprise, hence the entire machinery of the state is directed towards gathering information about and on the very people, they are supposed to represent.
An open source religion, a caucus based democracy, the reluctant rulers are all within reach. An insistence on faith alone although should be enough by definition, however, human knowledge and understanding have evolved to such an extent that any supporting addendum will be welcome. On the other hand, an insistence on democracy been the best of the worst option just does not cut it anymore. A debate for a better system is a must. In addition, the all or nothing mentality of the two camps needs to be challenged and deliberated. A new breed of reluctant leaders must be identified and catapulted into positions of power.
This notion of best of both worlds is not only possible but in the process of adoption, lays the secret to the dilution and demise of those in charge of our lives.
Within the Religious front, those who talk in terms of your God and our God have a poor understanding of Religion and are clueless to the concept of the Almighty. The claims of false Gods and false Religions are contradictions in terms.
Moreover, within the secular front, if voting alone could change anything “they” would make it illegal, as the grand dame had declared.
Is there a near-term solution, probably not but there is hope for the intermediate and long-term.
The near monopolization of the Religion vs. Secularism debate between Judo-Christian and the followers of the Ethical Societies (centered on the Ethical Society of the America and United Kingdom) has stagnated the issue. The need to take the issue global in the true sense of the word has never been more crucial.
When you begin to analysis the Religion versus secularism war, it becomes very clear that one side (Religion Team) have answers to everything including the most fundamental of questions. Though most of these answer involve God, never the less they have in their mind and as they would claim even in their souls completed the puzzle of life. The secularism team may not agree with their answers or indeed their very reality but this one fundamental difference, once again at the risk of dropping the neutrality ball, leaves the secularism team open to the kind of attacks science, reason, and fragmented philosophies cannot defend. Thus the total disconnect of the secularism team believing that the religion team is wrong but in the same breath believe they are right, the religion team, on the other hand, is able to direct their attack at the fundamental issues that science or human reason alone has not been able to resolve.
Resorting to belief that at some future time the puzzle of life will be solved with reason and science is tantamount to heresy if one were to borrow a word from the other camp since it strikes at the very premise of the arguments of there is no God. Ironically, it plays in the hands of the Religious camp since their claim is the same.
Whenever respecting camps attempt to use the opposing camps weapons the results are often farcical and expose each other to new lines of attack. The Religious authority’s justification of the fundamental issues with reason based arguments dilute their solid faith-based defense. At the same time whenever the secular team tries to plug the deficiencies with half cooked theories, the result is the same but in reverse. Poor reasoning and bad faith are equally bad. The solution must by definition lay somewhere in the middle.
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