Subject Of Controversy

For this past few weeks, I have been doing alot of research and debate about Islam, and Christianity. It all started about a few days ago, right after SJGC's play at Segi College. After sending Chai off, Ping Fuan and I walked towards my car. As we were walking, we started discussing religion in general and about how wars were and are still being fought just because of religion. Of course, the both of us did have differing viewpoints on the subject and due to that, we ended up debating and trying to persuade each other for quite an amount of time. In fact, as this entry is being written, we are still at it. He is trying to persuade me not to go ahead on my planned speech topic, Islam and Terrorism, stating that I would be walking o very thin and dangerous lines if I do so. But I think that I should do it. The reason is, the more the controversy, the more the disagreement, the more the questioning, the more spicier my presentation becomes. It's just me. I just can't see myself giving a persuasive speech which title is "How Chocolate Milk Helps You Loose Weight", which I expect half or more of the class to be doing so because that would be deemed as "entertaining."

But anyways getting back to the point. I have always been very interested in the study of religion and god. My objective is to understand why religion exists and why have so many issues, in the name of religion, divided the world into so many pieces and fragments? Why debates are still held to argue the existence or in some cases the very necessity of god and religion? Some have even claimed that religion is highly unethical. I want to understand that claim too. Honestly, don't you find it amazing how religion can unite so many of its believers under one roof and make them have similar ideas and beliefs? Don't you find it amazing how some people are willing to die and kill others just to protect the honor of their religion? I don't know about you, but I do find it to be a very interesting topic of study. Mind you, this is a highly controversial study worth over thousands of years of history.

By writing the preceding paragraphs, I do not wish to imply or conclude a disrespect towards any form of religion, as most of you have claimed. All I wish to do is to study it and hopefully come to a solid conclusion. That's all.

Therefore, in my speech about Islam and terrorism, I will indeed do as much research and interviewing as I possibly could. My hypothesis is that Islam does not breed terrorism. Its the radical fanatics who hide behind the banner of Islam who actually promote terrorism. And as a result of that, Islam has indeed received bad press for it.

Of course, there have been highly controversial verses in the Quran about killing the non believers but perhaps that too must have been misinterpreted by those who seek to turn Islam into a scapegoat for all the worlds troubles. But whether or not this is true, will depend on what I will see for myself in the not so distant future. But until then, I do hope to swim in the high seas of controversy. Braving its choppy waves with nothing more than a tiny fishing boat for protection.