We Get Letters

"You really hate Islam and is it just Islam or all religions...?"


Cultural biologists are hard at work trying to ascertain whether religion is a parasite or an adjunct to the survival of the species. Religious belief was a great help in banding people together in order to stave off an onslaught of invaders, and bringing communities closer to one another even in times of relative peace. A lot of folks pitching in are far more likely to survive and better compete than fragmented societies. What remains to be seen is if religion is genetic or cultural. Or both. Biologists employ the moth to the flame analogy, an adaptation that helped moths to survive but has a decidedly dramatic downside.

But, cultural religious beliefs ARE adaptive. For some, anyway. Catholicism and Judaism evolved to abhor violence for the sake of violence, but Islam did not. Genetic? Small enclaves of religious communities, say, circa 1000 BC, giving way to the massive civilization communities called modern cities was supposed to somewhat tame people, wean them from savagely attacking outsiders simply because they are outsiders.

Why then does Islam remain the moth. What any rational examination of history and religion proves is that there is no such thing as non-violent moslems, as time after time the group as a whole destroyed or drove away those whose actions were not in sync with the values of the community. Not every man is a soldier, nor every moslem a suicide bomber, but the vast majority of sane people within a Judeo/Christian community agree that there is a need for those who would be soldiers, and such must be the case for islam and bombers. They could not exist otherwise.

Groups and species adapt. There is really only one place homo sapien sapien is biologically suited to live and that is Africa. Through adaptations, mankind traveled to places that were unsuitable for habitation, but perhaps you've never been to Philadelphia so lets leave it at that.

Whether one believes in evolution is moot because we have changed and we have moved and we are still around so the probability is quite high that it worked fairly well. But what drives the cultural biologists batty is why some and not others. Islam was supposed to have been defeated centuries ago, and WAS dormant for a time right up until living atop vast pools of dinosaur droppings became a splendid thing. Suddenly the resources were there for it to once again compete on a somewhat level playing field, but it cannot do so without a helluva lot of hard cold cash.

Back to the question. Yes, I really hate islam. It should have gone the way of the Dodo but was resurrected and not only thrives but threatens to engulf us all. I hate anyone who wants to harm me or mine just because we do not worship under the same roof. I must. It's a survival trait that was bred into my genes through hundreds of thousands of years of trial and error. But I and those like me evolved into creatures that allow for the beliefs of others, and know what?

Maybe WE were the bad mutations. Maybe we all should have kept up the pressure on islam and filthy things like islam because look what's happened ever since we became civilized.