Wole Soyinka: Religion Doesn't Justify Mayhem

Wole Soyinka: Religion Doesn't Justify Mayhem
Protesters hold sings during a demonstration in the city of Kaduna in Nigeria's mainly Muslim-populated north against a US-made film which mocks Islam on September 24, 2012. Thousands of people marched through the Nigerian city of Kaduna today in the latest protest in the country's mainly Muslim north against a US-made anti-Islam film. AFP PHOTO / VICTOR ULASI (Photo credit should read Victor Ulasi/AFP/GettyImages)
Protesters hold sings during a demonstration in the city of Kaduna in Nigeria's mainly Muslim-populated north against a US-made film which mocks Islam on September 24, 2012. Thousands of people marched through the Nigerian city of Kaduna today in the latest protest in the country's mainly Muslim north against a US-made anti-Islam film. AFP PHOTO / VICTOR ULASI (Photo credit should read Victor Ulasi/AFP/GettyImages)

To such a degree has religion fueled conflict, complicated politics, retarded social development and impaired human relations across the world that one is often tempted to propose that religion is innately an enemy of humanity, if not indeed of itself a crime against humanity. Certainly it cannot be denied that religion has proved again and again a spur, a motivator and a justification for the commission of some of the most horrifying crimes against humanity, despite its fervent affirmations of peace. Let us, however, steer away from hyperbolic propositions and simply settle for this moderating moral imperative: that it is time that the world adopt a position that refuses to countenance religion as an acceptable justification for, excuse or extenuation of crimes against humanity.

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