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You know there’s something wrong with your religion when…

…Your deity wills mass death during the grand finale:

Nearly 250 Muslim worshipers died in a hajj stampede Sunday during the annual stoning of Satan ritual in one of the deadliest tragedies at the notoriously perilous ceremony.
The stampede, during a peak event of the annual Muslim pilgrimage, or hajj, lasted about a half-hour, Saudi officials said. There were 244 dead and hundreds of other worshippers injured, some critically, Hajj Minister Iyad Madani said.
“All precautions were taken to prevent such an incident, but this is God’s will. Caution isn’t stronger than fate,” Madani said.

…Last year, 14 pilgrims were trampled to death during the ritual and 35 died in a 2001 stampede. In 1998, 180 pilgrims died.

Posted by David on Sunday, February 1st, 2004 at 2:13 pm.

3 Responses to “You know there’s something wrong with your religion when…”

Come on, David. Something wrong with the religion? I hope you’re kidding. Clearly, these sorts of stampedes (this isn’t the first one, and there was that horrible fire previously, as well) are results of improper planning. Allowing so many people at the same time, contrary to safety regulations, is bound to result in accidents. While your other attacks on Islam have drawn from uncontextualized material or generalizations, this one is hardly justified.

Left by sharleen UNITED STATES on February 1st, 2004

Agreed on points 1 and 3. Point 2 I would contest; I don’t think *all* pilgrims *want* to die at Hajj (although yes, it might be considered a blessed place to die) - I imagine many look forward to returning to their families after the trying journey. As for point 4, I concur that there can be an unhealthy adherence to faith (which I’d term “fundamentalism”), though I don’t know that faith is always necessarily fundamentalist.

Left by sharleen UNITED STATES on February 8th, 2004

First, I was referring to the particular beliefs of the Saudi officials, who clearly do not care how many people die every year.
Second, these pilgrims *want* to die - they consider death during the hajj a first-class ticket to heaven.
Third, there is something very wrong with saying that “God” wills hundreds of human sacrifices.
Fourth, yes, there is something wrong with Islam, as there is with all religions — in particular, the reliance on faith, which is the root of such death-worship on the part of fundamentalists of all flavors.

Left by David UNITED STATES on February 8th, 2004

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