It's Sunday

Did you know? Nadir and zenith are Arabic words. Without the geniuses of Arab culture, the concept of the zero would never have been invented. Most of our named stars bear Arabic names. Yet is the Muslim religion, born in the Arabic peninsula, that is being used as a pretext for atrocities around the world.

Similarly. Some of the greatest composers of classical music were German. Some of the greatest writers and scientists were German. Did you know that it is thanks to Werner von Braun that rockets have flown to the Moon, the planets and beyond? Yet it was the same man who invented the V2 rockets that were fired at England at the end of the Second World War. It was the Germans who killed 6 million Jews on the pretext of religious discrimination.

I attended a church service today. I found the sermon uplifting and edifying, potentially of help to me and many others in the congregation. Religion is a force for good. It is also a force for great evil. We are all only human. There was only one true Christian in history. He was born a little over 2,000 years ago on what's now the West Bank, still a site of religious strife. He was killed by crucifixion a few decades later. Religion says it was to absolve us from our sins. That's fine. To me, he tried to set an example. You try following it. I'll never succeed. Doesn't make me a bad person. I'm just human and fallible. So is everybody else.