Wednesday, May 19, 2004

KFAQ's anti-Islamic Ad

I'm getting a lot of hits on our posting about KFAQ Radio's anti-Islamic commercial. Seems that a lot of national organizations have identified that ad as going over-the-top in fomenting religious hatred. I would agree with such an assessment.

That is not to say that criticism of religions or religious extremists should be off limits. I'm one of the first to both criticize and poke fun at some religious beliefs and behaviors. I fully respect everyone's right to excercize their religious beliefs and as I heard someone on the radio say today, we should not just tolerate others but respect them. That doesn't mean we have to respect their ideas or keep silent on disagreements.

The trouble with KFAQs commercial is that it is designed to appeal to religious hatred by creating a straw dog to beat and may go beyond that to foment hatred. I suspect KFAQ may be doing this for crass commercial reasons as well. There is the added responsibility of anyone who uses the PUBLIC airwaves, as KFAQ does, to BE responsible.

Islam is a wholly unappealing religion to me. I like Muslims but I don't care for muc of their religion. It's too restrictive. I've read the Koran and find much of it oppressive and intolerant of what they call "infidels".

But to be fair, I'm not interested in the kind of Christianity that "the Church" fabricated post AD 300 either. I like Christians but much of the dogma that passes for "Christianity" today is repulsive. The Old Testament can be especially violent and intolerent of non-believers and other religions.

What amazes me is how we humans just believe what someone tells us to. Ask the average Christian why they believe in a trinity of God and less than 1% will even be able to answer and never have heard of the Nicene Creed and how three church leaders established the Trinity as dogma in 325 AD. Same goes for just about any "organized" religion I know of.

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