Charlie Hebdo, addressing the religious root of the evil.

Publico la respuesta que di en la web de Richard Dawkins que preguntaba "¿Cómo denunciamos la violencia musulmana sin denunciar descaradamente a los musulmanes?"

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No one is condemning Muslim people for crimes they did not commit. The belonging to a group does not imply responsibility, not at least any judicial responsibility, for the crimes committed by other member of the group.

Germans were not responsible for the crimes committed for Nazis, not even in the case of considering themselves Nazis (if no actual implication on particular crimes). These judicial principia applies also to actual case of Islamic violence. But they, innocent Germans of III Reich and innocent Muslims of nowadays, must face the fact that violence emerged from the same respective roots. The root of National Socialism is arguably “Mein Kampf”, and the one for Islam is undeniably the Koran. Of course I am not establishing a moral equivalence with both doctrines. Koran and Mein Kampf are not the same; the first one is a religion capable of doing good, much more than Mein Kampf which is a political legacy to destroy democracy. But the fact is that both have been used for violence in large number, and we should be able to determine where exactly those bad ideas come from. We should be able to reform it and, if necessary, to refund the religion in order to get a pure doctrine that get rid of evil seeds.

Many will say it is not Koran, but a possible misrepresentation of Koran. It´s certainly possible to have different interpretations for same texts, such as Bible, Koran or Don Quixote. But the massacres committed in the name of god, at least it would make me think that there is some sort of link between the genocides, vendettas, and bloodbaths ordered by god in the holly books, and terrorist attacks like the Charlie Hebdo last week. Same case for discrimination against homosexuals all around the world, and many other issues. Those who misrepresent these religions don’t have to invent that much, it is written down there, the evil and the seed for discrimination, intolerance and killing is inside the core of these religions. Of course geopolitical reasons can explain a lot of the phenomenon. Wars, invasions, imperialism, occidental arrogance, etc, it is worth to look at that. But it´s equally stupid to say that these factors do not exist, than saying that religious factor is does not exist, as French President and others have said.

Hitler repeatedly hold the need for killing all the Jews, in all possible ways, shape and forms, written and orally, promising what he almost accomplished. No one would say that “eliminationist antisemitism”, as Golhagen named, is not a factor. Actually it was the main factor, which of course benefit from economy, science, politics, war and previous anti-Semitism, etc,… but none denies the hate it resided in his ideology. Why the hell can´t we demand the same mental exercise for those crimes in the name of Ala? How many times we need to hear that suicide bombers hope 72 virgins awaiting for them on the paradise, to understand exactly what they are saying and the main religious character of their beliefs? Misrepresentation or not, it´s written down in the Koran.

It´s not the case, but if the Mein Kampf would have noble and moral instruction (as the Koran actually has) and many neo-nazis would be motivated to act in such a laudable way (as many Muslims actually do), we still should tell them their book maintain some parts, that history has proved enough dangerous to care about it. We simply cannot play dice hoping not to get a bad result. If those fictitious Germans were motivated genuinely for strong and kindhearted commitments, as many Muslim today in the real world, they wouldn´t mind to reform or even re-write Mein Kampf to adapt it to new times, and new principles they manage in a daily basis with others, despite their incoherence. The problem with Muslims, and well with any other religion, it´s that believers cannot accept such a reform, because they believe their roots are made by God, and therefore, perfect. The most insignificant reform is an outrage and produce schisms.

It is a moral demand and an intellectual challenge, to indicate what the religion has of evil in itself, and how dangerous can evolve with the same perseverance that we should stress to separate ourselves from those who want to discriminate religious people, just because of their beliefs or for cultural reasons.