The Ten Commandments

In response to Ryan Holguin:

An eye for an eye, we’ll all be blind. Stoning to death a woman because she violated religious beliefs. Is that what you really think of God, Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Holguin? We murder murderers with the death penalty. Your religions excommunicated people like Galileo Galilei and burned people at stake for their ideas including people who said that the earth went around the sun.

I’m definitly not a religious person but I have read the bible. Don’t mock me, Mr. Holguin but I do know the ideas of Jesus and they could be better applied to your ideas. Love thy neighbour (“Who is thy neighbour lord? Everyone), recognise that, Mr. Holguin? That’s from the Bible. I definitly support this idea and I think people should have a clearer view of this idea. There are many stories with morals and this is one of them, and we all should learn from them. I’m a historian and I do believe in the Evolution theory, but I also think there was a person, a good Samitarian, who went by the name Jesus that spread the feeling of being good. Daniel Fitzpatrick, Padraic Carey, and Ryan Holguin, I’m pretty sure you all are smart cookies but you need to get along.

I have another point to make that Mr. Holguin commented in his letter, “If more people believed in God and actually spent time reading his words, the world would be much better off.” Explain why people get their arms cut off for just stealing a piece of bread? Why a woman, during the Taliban regime, gets shot in the head for trying to teach girls? I can’t explain what provokes people to do these awful acts but I do know what the cause is, religion. I have a novel idea. Why don’t we just get rid of religion? It divides us all, it makes us hate each other, it even kills each other. I’m not saying we should get rid of the Bible for it has good rules to abide by. As a former Catholic, I must say that when I narrowly escaped a devastating bomb in Omagh, Northern Ireland that I hated religion for what it was doing to civilisation. It was wiping out my relatives on both sides all because of a tiny difference in religion. I don’t understand that, but you might understand, Mr. Holguin, since you claim to know all about the Bible. Tell me why these people, who believe in the same God, are killing each other?

Religion also limits our free-thinking, if we didn’t have Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, and the countless other scientists that literally shaped our world, we’d be without science and be dumb to plants and animals. The Kansas Board of Education let back the evolution theory because without Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Mathematics, and even possibly… Physical Education we’d be at a loss for words. Hey, words are a part of evolution too!

We’d just go on being… beings. No advancement and certaintly no planes flying into buildings. Definitly no Civil War, and oh… no Revolutions… no Protestant Reformation…. no going onto other lands to live a better life and hopefully survive. How could we last in this state of being? Probably not long, and certaintly most animals would be greatful, like the Dodo. The earth would be cleaner, there would be no nuclear plants and no wheels to go around on.

We have evolved, physically, mentally, technologically. Even Jesus, I know you’ll disagree with me, is part of Evolution. How did he think up these ideals? How did he KNOW these ideals were the ideals we’re supposed to follow? It’s all based on the little area at the back of our head that gives us our gut instinct, and learning what we know is wrong. How did we learn all of these things? We indeed learned by doing. Our ancestors may have accidentally killed each other and realised that, once the person’s gone, they have no companionship and as you know, most humans cannot survive without companionship, whether it is in the form of a human or a dog. Therefore being killed is something they didn’t want to happen later on, they taught their children this ideal and this has carried on for millions of years.

If you say that Evolution is just a phase that you hope will soon pass. What will you tell your kids? How will their peers and teachers teach them? This is the 21st century and as more and more proof of the evolution theory appears, you cannot hide behind the Bible forever.

Finally, one thing people should do to learn to get along is open their minds more.

These are questions I want you to answer honestly and directly as a good Boston University student, in Boston, Massachusetts in the second year of the 21st century and the next time you consider writing a letter, don’t use your narrow minded views.

Sinead Clements CGS ’05