OMG

"You won't save him?"
"It's ok, God will save him."

This entry probably won't sit too well with some who frequent this space, but then I'm not exactly known for bending over for others. Not gonna mention names, but read on at your peril.

As a stupid, younger, chubbier, less hairy version of myself, I used to go to a religious school/class after "normal" school, twice a week. This was a run-down building, moss-covered and with carpets smelling like old people and old people smelling like carpets. Didn't help that the said old people were the ones running the joint, and they sought to impart their glorious wisdom onto the younger and open-minded generation. Which included my sister and I.

First thing? It was all in Malay. Big obstacle and turn off right there. I kid you not when I say that half the time I had no clue what was going on, and to say that I was going through the motions is being more accurate than the actual phrase suggests. What, God can't understand English? That's bullshit

Didn't help, of course, that most of the students there, looking back, were just shorter and squeakier versions of the tapered-jeans floater-cap mats that you see prowling around, looking for corners to commandeer. Didn't really fit in. They knew it, I knew it, and it was painfully obvious to this chubby Chinese-looking boy that the other very Melayu boys weren't gonna actively invite him to play football with them.

But what of the lessons, the teachings from the sacred texts that have guided our lives thus far? The experience through the years at Muhammadiyah, "private" mengaji lessons at home with neighbors, and even somewhat enforced group sessions with my extended family or former significant other only reinforced the idea incepted (I had to, sorry) so long ago.

Organized religion is a farce, at best, and Islam might be the joke of the lot.

Advocates of the Islamic way will point at the "advancements" that the culture has brought to the world in terms of technology, mathematics, architecture, music, art and other aspects of life, and I for one cannot and will not dispute or refute that. Certainly. But then almost every culture or religion has brought good and bad to the table we sit at now. I'm not even going to start on the whole terrorist angle, because that's really over-hyped in the media already, and I could go on and on and on about the atrocities committed in the name of any religion even without saying what I wanted to originally.

In this day and age, one of the biggest facets of Islam that disturb me the most is the way women are treated. We've all seen and made jokes about ninjas when seeing Muslim women dressing up like tents, and to be honest, I laugh almost every time even though I'm (technically) Muslim as well. Why? Because it's ridiculous to treat them like that, and they - man and woman alike - are jokes. The fact that France have banned the burka (or burqa?) and other countries are seriously looking to do the same might enrage the clerics and zealots that wish to see the flowing ninja robes of the women, but honestly, in the sweltering heat of summer (or the eternal summer of Singapore), would you actually want to don such a get up? I can't even wear a songkok for an hour without wanting to rip it off and burn it while doing a merry jig. Muslim women are treated as subordinates, at best, and are otherwise seen as lesser beings. That's bullshit.

Then there's the thing that got me thinking about it all in the first place. I can't even remember who told me this, but since then I've been told that it's more common across other religions than I previously thought as well; that anyone who is not a Muslim will burn in hell for all eternity, and those who are, whoever they may be, will transcend to heaven eventually. For the sake of functionality, one can substitute "Muslim" with something like "Christian" or whatever for the same effect, but you get my picture. You've heard it before. So my aged ustazah is trying to tell me that right now at this very moment in time, people like Mother Theresa and Princess Diana are being slow-roasted while rapists, pillagers and plunderers are enjoying their time up there because they glanced at the Arabic version of the Bible? That's bullshit.

See that's the other thing that got me thinking. Yes, I over-think. The three Abrahamic religions are too similar for any of them to be the "true" one, in my mind. Of course, one can argue that one is the real thing and the other two are cheap knock-offs, but it's just as, if not more likely that they're just three strikingly similar interpretations of the same hand-written and Man-written book originally penned as a way to control the masses with stories of doom and a higher power. Adam and Eve? Check. Noah and the flood? Check. Crucifixion? Check. Angels and demons? Check, even before Dan Brown. Even the names are the same. Adam, Nuh, Jibril, Mikhail correspond to Adam (duh), Noah, Gabriel and Michael exactly. And that's just off the top of my unlearned head. That's bullshit.

Everyone has the divine right (ironically) to live their lives the way they should. I get that, accept that, advocate and encourage that. It's just that when religion enters the picture, or is shoved down your throat by overzealous preachers (some priests shove other things down your throats, right?) and bigots, more often than not that freedom of will is forfeit. You're not letting those women be free. You're not letting congregates accept people with differing views as actual people, you're not even trying to be that different when ostracizing the rest of the world. That's bullshit.