Religion is not rubbish, politics is

In issue 13 of The Mancunion Joshua Carroll condemned religion as rubbish, I’m going to let you know why his argument is the real rubbish.

If you recall, he started off by blaming religion for the lack of bins in public, and as the reason unattended luggage is considered a threat today. His grave mistake was to confuse religion with politics and despite what some people think they are not the same.  There are no bins in public areas because of the IRA, a political organisation in search of independence from Britain and regardless of their Catholic allegiances the terrorist act was for political, not religious reasons.

Luggage cannot be left unattended because of a series of terrorist attacks including but not limited to 9/11. In the case of 9/11 it was again not a religious attack, but an attack by a group that was against American intervention in the Middle East; religion was only the excuse. Unfortunately, nations often try to legitimise wars by telling the public it is to protect their religion but it is always about political power struggles; anyone who actually thinks religion is the only factor in any war needs to sit in a few politics classes and learn something.

Secondly, I thought I should bring it to everyone’s attention that the Trafford Centre, the Arndale, ASDA and Sainsbury’s, among others, are all open on a Sunday. So next time you’re going to throw wild accusations around, I suggest double-checking that the problem actually exists. And as for having to endure Songs of Praise on a Sunday, who told you to turn on the T.V. and watch it? Honestly, it’s one programme on one day of the week.  Are six other days and hundreds of other programmes not enough for you? No one said you have to watch the show and there’s this nifty appliance called a DVD player which you can use to watch something else rather than what national T.V. is broadcasting.

The one criticism of religion I’ll take as legitimate is the nuisance of door-to-door evangelists, because I can’t help but agree they get on my nerves too, especially when they don’t take no for an answer. But really, a picture of two fornicating men in a church is a real solution? Not only is that immature, but if I were an evangelist I would in fact take it as an invitation to knock on your door, because having sex in a public place, no less a church, does make you seem in need of some form of guidance. Might I suggest that you simply ignore them? In my experience they have never knocked more than twice before giving up and walking away – and, if you accidentally do answer the door, just say they’ve caught you at a bad time. Because let’s be honest, that is usually the case; more often than not they’ll just give you a pamphlet and march on their merry way.

Finally, apparently religion has ruined Sundays? Before reading Carroll’s article I had always thought people enjoyed Sundays, but I guess was wrong. I had thought it was the perfect day to nurse your hangover before starting another long week at university, visit your mum and eat a roast dinner, catch up with friends or just laze about and de-stress. But if religion has destroyed Sundays here’s what I think: let’s rebel against religion by petitioning for lectures and seminars on a Sunday, that way we can effectively eradicate God’s day of rest and claim it back for ourselves. And when we’re successful we’ll only have Joshua Carroll to thank for reminding us that the only reason we have Sundays off is because of religion and we don’t want religion to ruin our lives.

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