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Kathmandu Saturday March 17, 2001 Chaitra 04, 2057.
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Promote
polytheism
The tragic fate suffered by the two colossal
Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan should be blamed on the monotheistic belief system of the
Taliban fanatics. Along with Judaism and Christianity, the two other major religions of
the Western civilization, Islam has throughout history tried to undermine other
polytheistic iconic systems of belief such as Hinduism and Buddhism by literally kicking
off their idols from their pedestals. If all the skulls of the victims of the
afore-mentioned three monotheistic western religions could be piled up in one place, I am
sure they would challenge the Himalayas.
By nature, monotheism fosters intolerance. It
refuses to recognize others’ viewpoints and insists on its own infallibility and
righteousness. The evils of monotheism do not always manifest themselves as grossly as the
destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, though. They can find a more elusive and insidious
channel in such things as the western world’s complacency over their own political,
social, legal and economic systems and their righteous rage over those of other nations
pursuing their own paths independently.
Ram Limbu
Sydney |
