The Jaded Africano Speaks

I had never heard of Marcus Brigstocke, but I came across this video of his a couple of days ago. Sheer brilliance. He takes on the three Abrahamic religions in an awesome rant that sounds neither too angry, nor too preachy, and that has just the right amount of humour in it. You really should listen to it.

Some gems from the video

• “… have a cup of tea, put on a Cat Stevens record, and chill out!”
• “… have another go as a worm!”
• “… the Transformers film!”
• “… get married like the rest of us.”
• “… truth has given up and gone to the pub for a pint.”
• And finally, an awesome quip to end it “… a cure for James Blunt!”

Religion honestly has to be the most pointless reason for fighting one another. And yet most of the killing and fighting around the world is driven by religious hate. The Middle East, Northern Ireland, the Al Qaida movement, the Godhra riots, the Bombay riots, whatever — it really sucks.

I gave up my religion a long time ago. After I saw the mindless violence — and the even more mindless support of it from people I thought were sane — that was called the Godhra riots, I could not stay a Hindu. And I am glad I did it. All I believe in now is God as a manifestation of all that we do not know. Science and rationality above all else.

This is probably a controversial statement to make — but I still think that most Hindus in India, and in Gujarat especially, still think that the Godhra riots were justified. Or maybe this is not such a controversial statement after all — if they think it’s justified, they won’t get offended by me saying so.

A lot of my friends are religious. As long as you’ve chosen to be part of a religion, and you’re not blindly following it just because your parents are from that faith — I respect your choice. All I ask from you, in return, is that you respect mine.

This is a morbid topic to be blogging about so early in the morning. I am off to Munich, and the Vienna! España vs Italia!! Goooo España!!!