Why What Happened in Christchurch Matters To All Of Us
How long has it been since the Christchurch terror attack? A week and a half maybe?
I wonder whether that's already enough time for us to forget about it. But the mass shooting of 30 innocent Muslims at prayer, in a sacred moment, shouldn't be so easy to forget. And it shouldn't be so easy for us to ignore the fact China is currently putting Muslims in concentration camps, forced to drink alcohol and eat pork. Yet no one has anything to say.
This world is big and vast and sometimes these issues feel like forever away, but they aren't. The rise of Islamophobia should make us all fear for our future, Muslims, non-Muslims, Christians, atheists. Everyone. The shooting of innocent men, women and children (the youngest victim being just three) at the holiest time, in their sacred place, should put fear in all our hearts. There's some kind of pain we can all feel when we see people hurt, murdered even for their spiritual beliefs.
Like it or not, our religions, spiritual beliefs, faiths, traditions, myths, are essential to who we are, it's the core of humanity, it has existed since the dawn of time. It's what makes our earth so rich in culture and diversity. Before the expansion of scientism we had our spiritual beliefs, which believe me or not are increasingly being backed up by modern science. The Bible is currently the most stolen, most influential text.
Our spiritual existence and understanding is far more valuable than many would believe. That's why during the colonialization of Africa colonialists tried to strip African's of their spiritual beliefs. It's how we dehumanise each other so when we eventually cause harm to others, we don't have to feel as bad about it.
That's not to say people haven't done awful things in the name of religion. Of course they have and those people should be held accountable for every one of those things. But we don't have to strip individuals and society of spirituality all together.
As a non-Muslim I stand together in grief and shock at the mass shooting in Christchurch and in shock that Muslims are being held in concentration camps in China.
I wonder whether that's already enough time for us to forget about it. But the mass shooting of 30 innocent Muslims at prayer, in a sacred moment, shouldn't be so easy to forget. And it shouldn't be so easy for us to ignore the fact China is currently putting Muslims in concentration camps, forced to drink alcohol and eat pork. Yet no one has anything to say.
This world is big and vast and sometimes these issues feel like forever away, but they aren't. The rise of Islamophobia should make us all fear for our future, Muslims, non-Muslims, Christians, atheists. Everyone. The shooting of innocent men, women and children (the youngest victim being just three) at the holiest time, in their sacred place, should put fear in all our hearts. There's some kind of pain we can all feel when we see people hurt, murdered even for their spiritual beliefs.
Like it or not, our religions, spiritual beliefs, faiths, traditions, myths, are essential to who we are, it's the core of humanity, it has existed since the dawn of time. It's what makes our earth so rich in culture and diversity. Before the expansion of scientism we had our spiritual beliefs, which believe me or not are increasingly being backed up by modern science. The Bible is currently the most stolen, most influential text.
Our spiritual existence and understanding is far more valuable than many would believe. That's why during the colonialization of Africa colonialists tried to strip African's of their spiritual beliefs. It's how we dehumanise each other so when we eventually cause harm to others, we don't have to feel as bad about it.
That's not to say people haven't done awful things in the name of religion. Of course they have and those people should be held accountable for every one of those things. But we don't have to strip individuals and society of spirituality all together.
As a non-Muslim I stand together in grief and shock at the mass shooting in Christchurch and in shock that Muslims are being held in concentration camps in China.
This is about our humanity and protecting our right to freedom of religion.
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by Alicja Shannon
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