August 1, 2006 -- All in the name of a god?

I submitted the following letter to the editor to the Washington Post on Sunday. They did not opt to print it.

Dear Editors:

Of course Israel is on a violent rampage through Lebanon. After all, the United States is its chief sponsor and contributor, and is in the midst of its second war in the Middle East. Both wars were started by Presidents named Bush. Why doesn’t Israel care that its air strikes killed 34 children today? Look who it has as a role model. The Associated Press reported today that “[Condoleezza] Rice, in Jerusalem for talks with Israeli officials, said she was ‘deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent life’ but stopped short of calling for an immediate end to the hostilities.” Just when you think the world cannot get any worse, more bombs fly. And for what? To defend someone’s god?

Jihads, ethnic cleansing, homophobia, racism, lack of women’s rights in many countries and the overall disregard for human life displayed each and every day around the world are chief among the reasons I do not and can not believe in any god. In my eyes, a god who would wish these nightmares on anyone in the name of worshiping him/her/it is not fit to be revered or prayed to. Look at the Catholic Church which is so ingrained in the stone ages that it refuses to endorse condom use as a means of preventing sexually transmittable, and in many countries deadly, diseases as a prime example.

This doesn’t mean there are not, and have not been, many good people working in a god’s name. Abraham Lincoln, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama, and Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr., are but a few examples of individual people living their lives with true selflessness. I fear though that simply living my life and treating all people with dignity and respect won’t be enough when “our” warmongering President feels that he has free reign to run amok and encourages others to as well.