Replacing religion's false comforts

It wasn't quite billed as a clash of titans, religion versus science, but with the Rocky walk-on music, it hinted that we might be in for something special.

In the end, what we got was a rather tame affair — shadow-boxing if you will. There were a few reasons for that. For one, the format certainly didn't help.

After opening statements, each man was given separate, alternate questions to answer. So it made it difficult for a robust, heated encounter to develop. A time limit on those answers would have done no harm either.

Clash of the heavyweights - well, not quite ...

Another reason why sparks weren't exactly flying is that the opposing sides weren't actually that much opposed to each other — at least that's how it appeared.

We're referring to Javeriana University Bogotá's "debate" titled 'Is God an illusion?' (¿Es Dios una ilusión?). 

The protagonists were Colombian Jesuit priest and author Father Gerardo Remolina and the British evolutionary biologist, author and atheist Professor Richard Dawkins.

We more or less knew what we were going to get from Dawkins.

It was Fr Remolina who surprised us somewhat. He basically came across as a man of reason and some science who just happened to have made a good living from something he doesn't entirely believe in. Or if he does fully believe in it, he's not very convincing.

He effectively reduced all the core tenets of Catholicism to symbols. 'Is God an illusion?' 'Well, what is God?' 'Eh, you tell us, Father.' 'Does heaven exist?' 'Well, what is heaven exactly?' OK, we're using a bit of poetic licence here but many of his answers to questions that are at the core of Christianity were abstract, to say the least.

This aspect to proceedings did not surprise us. He had a fair idea of the gallery he was playing to. (In one way, at the risk of being facetious, it was like the 'That would be an ecumenical matter' scene from the Irish sitcom Father Ted.)

It would have been much more entertaining to have a fundamentalist Christian from Bible Belt USA on stage. A creationist to the core. Their phoney arguments are much more engrossing. 

It's not for nothing that the influence of the traditional Christian churches is on the wane. These new guys on the block have a far sexier story to sell. And selling it they certainly are. There's money in that crucifix, you know. (They definitely would have felt at home with the Rocky entrance music anyway.)

Of course, religion's greatest strength in the face of rigorous scientific enquiry is the comfort it provides. It's a release from the trials and tribulations of this mortal world we toil in.

It tells us that there is something more than our present existence, something greater. It can give hope in the midst of despair. Who cares if the evidence suggests otherwise? Remember, 'happy are those who have not seen yet still believe.'

Stony-faced science, in contrast, can leave us cold. Take Dawkins' rebuttal to that comforting aspect of religion, quoting the Canadian cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker: 'If you're being chased by a tiger it may comfort you to believe it's a rabbit. But it's a tiger and it's going to eat you.' Doesn't tend to leave one all that chirpy, does it?

Yet, science isn't in the game of emotions. It's about truth-seeking. Fantasy and fiction, on the other hand, by definition operate without the inconveniences of having to prove themselves. In this regard, a fantastical story of everlasting life is generally going to appeal more than the theory that when we die, that's it.

Religions across the world, despite the many glaring holes and contradictions in their stories (it's not called 'having faith' for nothing), still trump atheism.

Thus, when asked if he felt we were coming near the end of religion, Dawkins said he can only hope that that's the case. The reality, however, suggests we're still some way off that juncture at this stage in our development as a species.

Some people might ask, 'So what? What's the big deal?' As we wrote about before, getting personal comfort, strength even, from belief in a higher power is one thing — what you do in private is your own business after all. Forming whole societies based on religious doctrine that doesn't stand to reason is quite another thing.

We're not going to take up space here disputing the argument that a religion-free world would be some sort of immoral, violent backwater.

Coming back to comfort, it's not like an atheist is devoid of it. Science can provide it. And it's arguably a more reassuring one than what religions offer because it comes more from fact.

Take an individual's very existence. It's a remarkable achievement in itself when we consider all the things that had to happen by chance to actually get us on this planet. Isn't that something worth celebrating and living for? Not to mention making the most of it for the short period we are here.

What's more, it could be argued that parents have a lesser need for religion than childless, singletons (even if, in reality, the opposite seems to be the case). Who needs a god or organised religion when you have your children and later, perhaps, grandchildren to get behind, your raison d'être?

So a world without religion doesn't have to be a gloomy, hopeless, meaningless place. 

Remember, it's only in recent years that the more established religions, from a Christian perspective in any case, 'jazzed up' their message to the masses. In the not-too-distant past, the stick was preferred to the carrot. 'It's God's will or it's eternal damnation.'

Atheism can be appealing, too, liberating even. Don't dismiss it right out of hand.
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The thieving Catholics

We've written here before that you can never become too relaxed going about your daily business in Colombia. 

Let the guard down briefly in terms of watching your personal belongings and there's a high chance somebody will be on hand to take advantage.

In the almost six years that Bogotá has been our base, we've had a few face-to-face run-ins with thieves. Most of these incidents were down to our own risk taking, at times buoyed up on Dutch courage, doing things that others might see as outright stupidity.

A seat of thievery?

On only three occasions — three too many, albeit — have we been robbed clandestinely: the 'quintessential' 'dando papaya', that annoying phrase here that seems to blame the victim for allowing the crime to happen. 

Whatever about being confronted by knife-wielding thugs, letting yourself be robbed by somebody who sneakily takes something out of your pocket, bigger fool you, eh?

That aside, the lamentable thing in all of this is that it happens. That people, remorselessly so it seems, take another individual's belongings at the slightest opportunity.

Yes, we can't talk about this without referring to the poverty that many who do resort to theft find themselves in, as well as a myriad of other social problems that they have to contend with.

Many also point to the corruption, nepotism and 'what have you' of the better-off types running the show as justification for illegal acts. (Alas, it's those in the hard-pressed working classes who tend to get shafted more than most, be it from politicians or underground criminals.)

Now, it's not just Colombia we're on about here. The same can be said for a host of countries, but ones with an important connection.

That's because if we look at global stats on robberies — difficult as it is to get a true picture for various reasons — alongside anecdotal evidence and personal experience, this temptation to steal from others appears more prevalent in countries with a strong Christian, more specifically Catholic, background. 

Make the sign of the cross before and after your immoral act and all will be fine. (To be extra sure you could say a prayer or two for forgiveness from the 'Almighty'.)

Across the Middle East and Asia, where you have people in even greater poverty, especially so in Asia, than what you'll find in Latin America never mind Europe, this thieving mentality seems to be far weaker.

From a Middle Eastern perspective, it could be said this comes down to strong, what some might consider inhumane deterrents in some countries; or at least the threat of them.

Certainly in Catholic/Christian countries many are quick to talk about human rights in this regard, yet aren't as vociferous about human responsibilities. Punishments for petty crimes such as theft usually amount to nothing; a slap on the wrist and off you go.

We're not asking here for extremes such as cutting off that wrist, but how about a 21st-century version of the chain gang? 

Something like a fenced-off area in a rural location where convicted thieves can grow their own food and learn to become self-sufficient (and work). Just a thought. There are variants on the theme.

Effective deterrents aside, there also seems to be something else at play. In general, this appears to be bad schooling, where it seems that taking advantage of somebody else is seen as a better quality than helping another person.

Whatever the case, the thieving mentality isn't going to dissipate any moment soon. For the time being, it's a case of being on high alert at all times.
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The Colombian sex files

Colombia's recent high-level gay sex scandal that has caused somewhat of a sensation brings into question, yet again, journalism's role as a watchdog with the public’s interests at its heart (it's always been a grand theory that).

Carlos Ferro: Caught with his, um, pants down ...

This latest episode is basically being viewed from two angles. One is that the journalists, chief among them Vicky Dávila, who revealed a video of the now former Interior vice-minister Carlos Ferro speaking (and a little more) with a police officer about performing lewd homosexual acts did the state some amount of service. 

This 'Comunidad del Anillo' (Fellowship of the Ring) as it's being dubbed — an alleged gay prostitution network in the police force which has also led to the resignation of its chief, General Rodolfo Palomino — cannot be tolerated in such circles.

The other view is that the broadcasting and publishing of this was nothing more than an attempt at character assassination on the powerful public figures at its centre — an attempt that proved successful. Their sex lives have little to do, or at least should have little to do, with their professional lives.

You can make a case for both perspectives.

Taking the first viewpoint on board, that both Ferro and Palomino portrayed a public image of happily married, heterosexual men can be seen as a grand act of deception towards the Colombian public. As is said of any aspiring US president, it appears most Colombians like to know where and with whom their public figures sleep at night, and ideally that should be with their husband or wife.

Whatever about the legal status of prostitution in Colombia (for the record it is legal in certain 'tolerated zones'), the oldest profession in the book isn't seen in a positive light among the conservative majority, even more so when it's homosexual in nature.

Rodolfo Palomino (moustache) looks on as his successor is sworn in.

Yet, taking it from the opposite angle (sorry!), what these or any people do for sexual pleasure — as long as it's legal, obviously — should not even be a public concern, let alone a resigning matter. They should be judged by their professional performance, no more no less. This is the view President Santos, himself a former journalist, appears to side with.

What should also be considered are the beliefs of the journalists in question. As mentioned, the main protagonist is Vicky Dávila. As a Catholic, she may view homosexuality in a very negative light, that it is fundamentally wrong, something that a good number of strict and not-so-strict Colombian Catholics and Christians believe.

In such a scenario, there may have been a crusade element, bordering on vindictive, in her pursuing this story and bringing it to light. That is to ask, did she have a genuine public interest in revealing this — a true journalist's raison d'être — or was it more personal? Whatever the case she, like her targets, has paid a high price for her actions. She's now out of a job.

Official investigations have begun into the 'Fellowship of the Ring' to ascertain what crimes, if any, have been committed. 

Considering the daily life-or-death problems that Colombia faces, alongside more crippling corruption issues, you could see this whole episode as 'much ado about practically nothing'.

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In God we trust — and little else

It was with some bemusement I found myself watching the Fox News hosted US Republican Party presidential candidates' debate the other night ahead of the upcoming Iowa caucus. 

Most of it was utterly cringeworthy — no surprises there I hear you say. Perhaps we should cut them some slack; it is, after all, just a 'little' United States conservative affair to see who actually gets nominated, so they're playing to that particular gallery. None of them is running the whole show — for the time being anyway.

Rubio: Preaching from the pulpit.

Yet, I couldn't prevent myself from getting a little angry listening to some of the utterances by these potential leaders of the "free world". And the man who irked me the most was the one who has been touted to be US president someday — if not this time around, in future elections: the Republican's young saviour, Marco Rubio.

The number of times he spoke of Jesus Christ and 'almighty God' doing their (or 'his', it's the one "person", isn't it?) bit to make the United States of America 'great again' was actually quite disturbing. Who needs concrete, practical policies when God is standing by to lend a hand? Heck, this presidency gig is child's play.

OK, everyone is entitled to his/her beliefs, but when we're dealing with real-life issues, quoting from books of questionable veracity and putting your trust in something that we have scant evidence of its actual existence is worrying (on this front, do recall Iraq's 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'). 

Sure there's no need for science to find a remedy for the current Zika virus pandemic, God'll fix it. It's akin to an episode of the British/Irish sitcom Fr Ted, where one of the priests is in a life-threatening situation that required a practical solution but the original help he receives from his colleagues is a mass. Needless to say, there was no divine inspiration and a more hands-on approach won the day.

What's more, this fundamentalist Christian approach has the potential to be, and has been, as damaging and dangerous in a multi-ethnic USA and beyond as Muslim fundamentalism is. It seems that Rubio, of Cuban-Catholic origin, is trying to be more Wasp (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) than the Wasps themselves.

Is Mrs Clinton to be Trumped?

The Florida senator even had the temerity to have a little dig at Sweden. This is the Sweden that regularly features amongst the top in the world for access to and standard of education, good health care, quality of life and such like. The 'great' United States of America could do much worse than to follow the Nordic country in how it runs its affairs.

Indeed, an indication of the political acumen on display in the debate was that Jeb Bush actually came across as one of the ablest (Ben Carson also performed well, but in this show-biz contest he lamentably lacks the charisma to appeal to the masses). Missing on the night, it must be remembered, was the leading contender Donald Trump. That he's actually heading this race pretty much sums up what we're dealing with here.

Fair enough, there's not too much to inspire confidence on the Democratic side either, but is it a case of going with the lesser of two evils?

That aside, it is only the president's gig we're talking about: just the dog (or should that be god?) being wagged by the unelected US and world financial tail that controls more or less everything. Ah well, at least we get a bit of TV drama from this election smoke screen.
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Simply having an indifferent (Colombian) Christmas time

This time of year is, of course, very family-orientated, especially for those from a Christian background. 

So the fact that we decided, yet again, to leave our clan with the Christmas period within earshot has left many here in our second home wondering why. And it hasn't just been the Colombians who have asked us this, but even fellow expats: 'Why didn't you wait until after the holiday season to return?'

Some of Bogotá's Christmas lights are pretty impressive.

It's not that we're anti-Christmas, far from it. Indeed, back home we really do enjoy the festive period and we always have. Even when we've had to work through some of it, as was the case in our most recent ones spent in Ireland, we've generally liked the whole atmosphere it generates.

Yet, this is perhaps the crux of the matter; Christmas for us is about home and everything that goes with it. 

Not being in the place where we spent 23 uninterrupted years merrily munching through turkey and ham dinners every 25 December (plus the very satisfying second, third and even fourth servings in the subsequent days) means we have a slight indifference towards it now that we're not there. 

Here in Bogotá, it just doesn't feel the same as we gear up for our third consecutive holiday season (we like to be politically correct every now and again) outside of the homeland.

In one sense it's a case of out of sight, out of mind. That is, while Colombia does obviously 'do Christmas', it's not the Western, winter version we know and love. 

(OK, credit is forthcoming for trying to replicate the winter scenes. Some of the lighting displays are impressive enough and accompanied by the odd relatively chilly night in Bogotá it can at times seem semi-Christmassy, but in the end, we just don't buy it. For starters, the daytime temperatures are just too mild.)

A large part of the Christmas ambience we like is the tried-and-trusted, cheesy as some may be, tunes; Fairytale of New York being one of our favourites (and, we hasten to add, it's far from cheesy).* 

Yes, Colombia has its Yuletide melodies, but again, as we haven't grown up with them, they just don't resonate; although this little radio advertisement for Café Aguila Roja, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egtQozVh50A, akin, perhaps, to the Irish clothing retailer Penneys' 'whole lot of things for Christmas' is beginning to grow on us (pickings are slim).** 

This year, we state without shame, we've found ourselves listening online to Ireland's Christmas FM just to get us in the mood – we even got ourselves a shout-out on it from across the waves.

So with all this, let's call it mild yearning for a traditional home Christmas in mind, why exactly didn't we stay? Well, we left just before the season got into full swing, so that helped. 

Plus, we had to balance any desire to remain with the fact that we had already spent longer in Ireland this year than we had envisaged, especially so when there were, and are, very few decent job opportunities around. 

We figured the money we'd spend during an Irish Christmas would easily pay, with a bit to spare, for flights back to Colombia, or anywhere for that matter.

Never mind a live crib, how about a live Bethlehem, Bogotá style?

Also, there is the case that we're perhaps being overly nostalgic, looking back on past Christmases a tad too fondly compared to what the reality was. For sure, it's better to have happy memories than sad ones. 

More significantly, though, some of those things that signalled Christmas to us have now gone and can't be replaced. 

This year we said goodbye to an uncle and good friend, somebody who was as much a part of our festive memories as those aforementioned turkey and ham dinners, the songs or, in our earliest years, Santa Claus.

Thus, as we all know, things are constantly changing, evolving – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. With time we might come to embrace a Colombian Christmas. Or maybe we've just moved on from getting too engrossed in it, no matter where we are.

One positive thing about being indifferent is that we don't have to face those January blues; there's no big low if you don't have the high. Steady as she goes and all that.

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*Any excuse for a blast of Fairytale of New York: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8.

**Not exactly the Penneys ad version we're looking for but it gives an idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP9hgpj0za4.

Finally, and regardless of your thoughts of the shenanigans at this time of year, we'd like to wish everybody a happy and peaceful Christmas/Holiday Season!

Colombia and Ireland — a tale of two old Catholic countries

One of the connections that can be made between Colombia and Ireland is the significant influence the Catholic Church has had on the two countries. Now, while this can be seen as a similarity, how that Roman authority manifested itself in both states has been quite different.

It’s true to say that, these days, the Church’s power is very much on the wane in the two republics, perhaps much more so in Ireland than Colombia based on what we’ve seen and who we’ve spoken to here in the latter location. 

However, after dominating for so long, the residue of its long reign remains pretty strong in the minds of those brought up with its teachings.

Sure just showing up for religious events is all that's needed, right?

In terms of how Catholic each state has been, it could be said that in the last 20 years or so, in an Irish context anyway, we’ve been outwardly drifting away from Rome yet inwardly staying quite close to the Church’s beliefs and morals. 

From our experiences here in Colombia, the opposite appears to be the case. Outwardly, many profess to be ‘strong Catholics’, yet in reality, their day-to-day practices betray this.

What we’re really getting at here are attitudes to relationships and, perhaps more appropriately in this regard, sex. It has been well documented – mocked even – the traditional Irish reluctance to just talk about sex let alone see it as something enjoyable/recreational. 

Sex before marriage, in line with Catholic thinking, was a big no, no. It should be used as a means to procreate, no more, no less, within a secure family unit. 

You don’t have to go back too long in Ireland’s past to find a time when the local priest – and by extension, the Catholic Church – was one of the most respected individuals in the community. His line on a host of issues, including sex, took precedence over many others.

In this context, considering most "Fathers'" lack of practical knowledge in the whole sex area (let’s leave all the abuse scandals out of this for now) an awkwardness, embarrassment even, on the subject permeated through Irish society. 

The effects of this may be losing significance in 21st-century Ireland but it’s true to state that, for some, the old uneasiness about love-making remains.

Contrast this with Colombia. As alluded to above, numerous people here – and we’re talking specifically about those in their early 20s up to their late 30s – speak and superficially act a good Catholic game, something you’re less inclined to find among those in the same age bracket in Ireland. 

Basically, they are regular churchgoers and bless themselves all the time with that double or treble sign of the cross manoeuvre followed by kissing their thumb or something like that. It certainly looks the part, as if they mean it.

Just missing the 'ours' Mr & Mrs Brady.

Yet, their attitudes to premarital sex – thankfully, many might say – are far more liberal, free-spirited if you will. 

No doubt they are aware of Rome’s line on the subject but because, perhaps, it just doesn’t seem to make natural sense to them, they overlook it. It could be seen as one good instance where the Colombian tendency not to stick to the "rules" is beneficial.

Expanding into relationships in general, the number of ‘mine, yours and ours’ Catholic/Christian families here in Colombia seems to be, anecdotally speaking, practically the norm. That is a family where the mother has a child/children from a different relationship (the mine), as does her husband (yours) while they also have offspring that they created together (ours). 

Then, of course, you still have plenty of single-mother families where the father provides support – if he does at all – from a distance while he also caters for the other children he has with other women. You can be hard-pressed to find a family where both parents are in their first marriage and any children they have are "products" of both.

We’re not saying that the traditional family unit is all that exists in Ireland – of course not. But in general, an Irish husband and wife do appear to be more reluctant to go their separate ways, especially when there are children involved, compared to Colombians – in a number of cases that’s often to the detriment of all involved. Sometimes it’s better for mind and body to realise the game is up.

'Father knows best, my child.'

So two old Catholic countries they may be, but how that association has shaped their social development has been quite different. 

It could be argued that the Irish tendency to maintain the traditional family unit is better for society in general.

However, our traditional awkwardness, if you will, of the whole sex area has had mixed results. 

In one, perhaps positive, sense, it may have seen us take a more considered approach regarding whom we jumped into bed with – it may have, that is. In another way, for some, the art was practically demonised. Not too healthy for mind and body that.

Issues and problems are bound to arise when you take counsel from those who know relatively little about the subject area in question. 

As many Colombians have learned, sometimes it’s best to go with your natural instincts.

*For related articles, see: "'Mi Amor' - or perhaps not?" http://bit.ly/NsJyB5 & 'Strength in Belief' http://bit.ly/OPvJBC

'¿Por qué Colombia?'

One of the most popular questions we get thrown at us here by some of the locals when they realise we’ve been in the country for a bit is ‘¿Por qué Colombia?’, ‘Why Colombia?’ 

Many are quick to suggest an answer themselves with ‘a girlfriend’. But no, that’s not the reason for us. 

In this land of ‘beautiful and plenty’ on the ladies' front – granted that many of them fall firmly into the crazy category even more so than the average woman (see ‘Colombia’s Locas’ http://bit.ly/XzHltA, amongst others) – we’ve yet to be overly enthused to commit to just one. A lot of that is really down to our honesty – and frugality – to be honest. 

For if we were to play it the Colombian men’s way we’d commit to a number of women at the same time – indeed, most of the girls here expect as much (you could, in a sense, equate this kind of behaviour as taking the "best bits" out of the Muslim and Christian religions). 

However, we’re just not in the commitment mood at this moment in time, full stop.

Bogotá has its charms. The weather, though, isn't usually one of them!

So then, why indeed Colombia? Well, sticking with the reasons why we didn’t come here, making sack-loads of money is one of them. There are plenty of other countries across the globe we could hit for – we think, anyway – where we could make and save much more money doing more or less the same thing. 

In terms of Bogotá specifically, our home for the best part of a year, we’re not here for the glorious weather and/or laid-back coastal lifestyle. The fact that we’re in a gas-guzzling construction-site of a city, with a population of about eight million, perched well inland at an altitude of over 2,600 metres accounts for that.

It would certainly be untrue to say, though, that we’re here against our will or wholly by accident. 

What is a fact, though, is what we’ve termed our second coming to South America, in June 2011, was aimed more at Chile than here. 

That was because we wanted to give ourselves a more concrete reason to return to this continent than just willy-nilly travelling and we found the grounds for that in signing up as a volunteer for an English media group in Santiago. 

Yet, tellingly enough, perhaps, we firstly spent two weeks in Bogotá and its surrounds before hitting overland for Chile. Now, that wasn’t just because it was far cheaper to fly here compared to Santiago – the chance to catch up with some friends from our first visit to Colombia (February 2009) was a much greater reason.

Cheap flights back to Ireland were, though, the biggest factor in our brief return to Colombia in October last year – a visit that was a more sobering experience of the country than previous ones, a few days in the company of a good friend in Cartagena excepted. 

That ‘sobering experience’ was our first taste of how crazy Colombian women can turn for no apparent reason – what we thought was a good friend aggressively blanking us from her life.

Landscape-wise, Colombia is up there with the best of them.

However, after a necessary four-week stop in the home country, back we came, like suckers for punishment in a see-what-happens approach. 

An initial spell of wandering around to less-visited spots in this physically stunning country with its amazing and diverse wildlife helped us get over that aforementioned ‘defriending’ by someone who had been a strong initial reason in tempting us back in the first place (she is part of our life once more, however – we can be quite forgiving and lenient at times).

It was always likely that we’d return to Bogotá – Colombia’s ‘city of opportunity’, the best place for a local or expat to find work. It wasn’t that we were really stuck and needed money but we figured we’d give living here a go for a bit. 

So after a slow, admittedly reluctant start, we did manage to find ourselves some steady, semi-profitable English teaching work (for more on this see ‘The Money Tongue’ http://bit.ly/V8ELH4). Not forgetting the odd bit of relatively enjoyable TV extras work – something different anyway (see ‘Giving just a little bit ‘Extra’’ http://bit.ly/NrbPc3) – a change being as good as a break.

After a while, though, like in any place, city living can become quite stale – even here in Bogotá. A lot of this is probably more to do with our own itchy-feet nature, especially when we have very few serious ties to a place and are relatively free. 

The return of a very good local friend to this city after a 12-month absence coupled with our already existing good friends here is making it harder for us to take flight once more. 

The Colombian authorities have also played their part – they make it pretty easy to stay on a mid- to long-term basis. If we had to put more effort and cost into staying here we might reconsider.

Is the sun setting on our time in Colombia?

There is, of course, much more to Colombia than Bogotá and while we have seen a fair bit of the country there are still many other places worth discovering. With the seasonal slow-down in teaching work upcoming that may give us the opportunity to get moving.

After that, perhaps our subconscious reasons for staying will abate somewhat and we’ll have less of a reluctance to leave? 

One thing is for sure, at this remove anyway, the Colombian tourist board's slogan of ‘the only risk is wanting to stay’ – be that subconsciously or not – is certainly ringing true. We just don’t really know why that is.

Mocking Muhammad

We were going to hold our counsel on the latest wave of violence by Muslims that has been sweeping across the Middle East and beyond, but not now. 

There are a number of observations we feel we must make. Our guiding principles on what we’re going to write about here come from two previous articles – ‘Survival of the Dumbest’ and ‘Strength in Belief’.

A more tranquil time in the Muslim world.

First of all, it must be stated that the United States-produced Muhammad ‘movie’ trailer (whether there is an actual full-length movie remains a doubt) that is being used as the catalyst for this fierce uproar in the Islamic world is an absolute joke – and that’s not in a funny way, it’s just complete rubbish. 

If you’ve seen it – as most of you probably have by now – you’ll know what we mean (heck, it even makes some of the Colombian telenovelas we’ve had the privilege to appear in seem like quality productions). 

So, while it obviously has infuriated the majority of Muslims, the fact that it is of such low quality, made by dimwits, would make you think that most reasonable people should be able to let it slide. It doesn’t even deserve comment. But for many followers of Muhammad it was all they needed to go on – in Libya and Pakistan, at least – a murderous rampage against the USA. 

From the outside looking in, it really appears that Muslims are just waiting for any slight excuse to take to the streets in angry, violent protests against the West. 

For these latest demonstrations are not cases of fighting fire with fire. 

Yes, the movie trailer is offensive – and you can also now throw in here the naked picture of Prophet Muhammad published in recent days by a French magazine – but no physical damage was caused and certainly no Muslims lost their lives because of it. 

The best thing that could have been done was to ignore it completely, to rise above such idiocy. Or at most make a film counter-attacking all that they see as daft and deplorable in the United States – it’s not like they wouldn’t have much ammunition in this regard.

"What did you call me?"

But no, a significant number of Muslims, seemingly drunk on their faith, think that rioting is the only response to such things. It certainly doesn’t paint a very good picture for the religion as one of ‘promoting peace’. 

Yes, there are fundamentalists in all religious sects, but there seems to be a proliferation of them in the Islamic world compared to elsewhere. 

By definition, it is next to impossible to reason with such fundamentalists – be they Muslim, Christian, Hindu or whatever.

Indeed, from our experiences, those closer to being peaceful beings are found more so in the agnostic/atheist camp than in organised religions. 

You can usually discuss different opinions and outlooks with such people without raising their ire. Their understanding tends to be more universal.

In terms of Islamic states, there are clear practices and laws in existence that in any enlightened society cannot be condoned – the freedom to express incompatible views without fear of death and the treatment of women to name two of the most obvious. 

Contrast this with the relative freedom Muslims are granted to practice their beliefs and customs in the Western world and you see apparent double standards. A little bit more reciprocity from the Islamic world wouldn’t go astray here. 

Of course, there are certain aspects of Muslim society that we generally like. There is a no nonsense approach to those found guilty of crimes. Find yourself on the wrong side of the law in an Islamic country and you’ll certainly know about it. 

It’s something that many Christian-based or secular societies could learn from – stronger, more meaningful deterrents rather than the softly-softly approach. 

In this regard, we refer to what might be considered as more ‘universal’ crimes – needless to say there are a number of things considered offences in the Muslim world that in other societies are certainly not.

We must also state that the brief time we spent in the past in countries that are predominantly Muslim was highly enjoyable. 

Friendly people where you don’t get a feeling that all they see you as is a talking cash machine there to be used and abused; something you can’t always say about the more Christian Latin America.

"Everybody in the graveyard votes the same."

However, as mentioned above, the radical streak when it comes to defending their religion only serves to deepen the chasm and suspicion that exists between themselves and the Christian/secular West. 

We’ve firmly nailed our colours to the mast previously here on what we think about organised religion – no matter what sect it is. Take away any form of reason or perspective and you get events like we’ve been witnessing in the last week across the Islamic world. 

You have to wonder what does God, along with his prophets Jesus and Muhammad, make of it all?