【關於「神之怒、上帝的復仇」(Wrath of God)】
根本沒有所謂「神之怒、上帝的復仇或天譴」這回事。(There is no such thing as the Wrath of God.)
這是你們對神的謬誤信念(false beliefs about God)之一。但我很清楚你們認爲它是真的,而且你們相信:正如神這樣對待你們,你們如此對待他人也是恰當的。事實上,你們的宗教領袖已經這麼做了,他們呼籲所有的「真信徒」,去殺害「叛教徒」。
尼爾:嗯,有時我們是說殺害「異教徒」;然而,無論是異教徒或叛教徒,其意義是相同的,實際上並沒有差別。重點在於:其他人若與我們信仰不同,神說過我們就得要殺害他們。 基督徒這麼做過,回教徒這麼做過,許多信仰團體也這麼做過。
你是否知道這其中的一些歷史的真相?
尼爾:喔,是的。公元一 0 九五年時,教宗烏爾班二世 (PopeUrban Ⅱ) 在法國的克里蒙特(Clermont,France )發表了一篇鼓吹「十字軍東征」的宗教演說,導致西方的基督教徒隨後組成一系列的遠征軍,來對抗回教徒和其他的「異教徒」。這一系列的「十字軍東征」持續了兩百年,導致了成千上萬人的死亡。
穆斯林的回教領袖也同樣,幾世紀以來,以消除叛教徒的名義,發起了一次又一次的侵略,一次又一次的暗殺,一次又一次的屠殺。
而且這類的行爲並不限於中古世紀。記得一九八九年,當時伊朗革命宗教領袖柯梅尼曾公開譴責一本名爲《魔鬼詩篇》 (The Satanic Verses) 的書,並且對該書作者魯西迪 (salman Rushdie) 下達追殺令。
據說當時全世界的回教徒,只要見到魯西迪,都有職責將他處決,這麼做的回教徒將可直接上天堂。魯西迪因此藏匿了十年,直到伊朗政府最終廢除這項追殺令。
即使在最近的年代,一九九 0 年代晚期,許多居住在阿富汗的回教激進份子,也對西方文明宣戰,他們告訴全世界的回教徒,在衆多特定敵人中,回教徒的職責是 —— 讓「美國滅亡」和讓「以色列滅亡」。
換言之,你們的歷史一直在重蹈覆轍。
摘自《與神對話之新啟示》第4章
There is no such thing as the Wrath of God.
It is one of your false beliefs about God. But I am clear that you think it is true, and that you think it is appropriate to act with each other in the same way that you believe God acts with you. Your religious leaders have actually done this. They have called upon “all True believers” to “kill the apostates.”
Neale: Well, sometimes we say “Kill the infidels!” but it means the same thing. “Infidel,” “apostate,” it doesn’t matter. They’re just words. The point is, if others don’t believe what we believe, God says we get to kill them. Christians have done it. Muslims have done it. Many groups of believers have done it.
You know the history of some of this?
Neale: Oh, yes. Pope Urban II issued a call to a “crusade” at Clermont, France, in 1095 that resulted in a series of military expeditions organized by Western Christians against Muslims and other “infidels.” These crusades went on for two hundred years, resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands.
Neale: Muslim leaders, likewise, have sponsored through the centuries aggression after aggression, assassination after assassination, slaughter after slaughter, in the name of eradicating apostasy.
Neale: And these behaviors have not been limited to medieval times. In 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then the spiritual leader of revolutionary Iran, publicly condemned a book called The Satanic Verses and issued a fatwa against its author, Salman Rushdie.
Neale: It was said that Muslims around the world had a duty to execute Rushdie on sight, and that any Muslim doing so would go straight to heaven. The man had to go into hiding for ten years, until the Iranian government finally revoked the fatwa.
Neale: Most recently, in the late 1990s, radical Muslims, many of them living in Afghanistan, declared war on Western civilization, telling Muslims throughout the world that it was their duty to bring “death to America” and “death to Israel”— among other specified enemies.
In other words, your history is repeating itself.