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Friday, November 20, 2009

Genocide is Never Okay.

This is something that I may repeat several times in this post, because it is a very very important point. Genocide is never ever acceptable. The reason I'm writing about this topic is because every so often I encounter a Christian who tries to justify multiple genocides. I'm not talking about World War 2 or anything else in recent history. I'm talking specifically about the genocides in the Old Testament. All of the genocides in the bible are committed, assisted or commanded by god, and there are too many to list here so I'll just mention a few so you get the idea.
Genocide of Amalek: Deuteronomy 25:19; 1 Samuel 15; Global Genocide: "All flesh died that moved upon the earth." Genesis 7; Genocide of the Canaanites: "And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities." Numbers 21:3.
I have just mentioned a mere 3 of probably around 100 or more acts of genocide in the bible. Now I've heard every excuse under the sun from Christians trying to explain how these genocides are justified. The most common excuse is probably "Oh, but it was okay back in that culture". The people who use this as a justification for genocide probably do not realise how stupid that sounds. Genocide is never acceptable, ever. It doesn't matter if it was a different culture in a different age that was exterminated, because genocide is never okay. You can not tell me one day that biblical genocide is okay because it was a different culture, and then go and tell me that same book that glorifies mass-murder is relevant today.
The second most common excuse is equally pathetic and it is the one that says "Oh but those people were evil and deserved to die". There are a dozen things wrong with this excuse and I'll try my best to cover them. First off, you have no idea that they were 'evil' people. Secondly, the book that says they were evil was written by the same people that conquered and killed those people. Do you really think that the Israelites would go and slaughter an entire nation of people, and then write about the genocide in their holy book by saying "they were righteous people who deserved to live"? Another problem with the 'evil' excuse is that children and infants were brutally murdered along with all the adults. Do you really think that an infant can be so evil that it does not deserve life?
The last excuse is probably the most contemptible because it shows the proponents complete lack of conscience and demonstrates that they have no critical thinking skills. This is the excuse that says "Anything that god commands is morally right, because it is god that said it, therefore the genocides in the Bible are justified." By admitting that god committed and commanded genocide you are accepting that the god of the bible is a murderous tyrant. A murderous tyrant is not worthy of worship or praise of any kind. A murderous tyrant who commits multiple genocides and then tells other people that they are evil and do not deserve to live is a hypocrite. A murderous tyrant who exterminates entire nations on a regular basis and then gloats about how righteous, holy, just, good and loving he is, is only worthy of contempt and hatred.
Genocide is never acceptable, EVER.

This is why I find your religion so despicable, and why I find your notion god to be so absurd that it baffles me when you continue to trot out these half-baked justifications for the most horrific crime one can commit, genocide. I challenge every Christian that reads this to give a reason why they think genocide is okay or to stop defending it all together.

3 comments:

  1. Let's go out and kill those with different ideals and customs God says it's cool so must be true.

    I don't know how anyone can justify that it's like saying Hitler did right by killing all those Jews because it was what he believed to be right.

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  2. I have a great idea. Let's start a religion based around Hitler as a god, and see what people say about it. Remind them that he is almighty to us, and whatever he says must be right and acceptable because he is the morally superior god. Also, in our religion, everyone must be ninjas.

    Let's see how many people actually think we're right.

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  3. I like the ninja part... perhaps the main church will have a split, and a group will part ways and form their own church with basically the same beliefs, but they think everyone must be...

    Pirates!

    Yarrrrrr!

    Oh and Hitler was born with an eyepatch and a pegleg... DUH... not a katana and ninja outfit... sheesh.

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