Religious fanaticism ruining lives

Columnists
Thank you for giving me space to express my utter disgust with religious fanaticism and intolerance.

Thank you for giving me space to express my utter disgust with religious fanaticism and intolerance.

I have always, throughout my life, been against religious doctrines which try to restrict a good portion of people’s freedoms to choose what they would like to be.

I was horrified to hear a news broadcast about the shooting in the head and neck, of a 14-year-old Pakistan schoolgirl simply because she had decided to fight for her human right to a school education.

I wonder what sort of deity would prod a man carrying a lethal weapon to pull the trigger and shoot a girl in the head. The shooter must be the worst fanatic to have graced this God-given world of ours. To make matters worse, this evil man’s organisation, calling itself the Taliban, claimed responsibility for this dastardly deed.

The Taliban, I believe, is fighting in many parts of the world especially the Arab world in an effort to rewrite history. Arab civilisation goes back thousands of years and the world would not have  known about this civilisation had it not been for school education. Why is the Taliban scared of educated female members of its society?

My solemn prayers are with this girl until she recovers fully to go back to school. Shame on you, Taliban.

In Zimbabwe, we do have our own “Taliban”. We have parents who are trying to change the course of history. They are only interested in educating male children while girls are condemned to the kitchen as tradition dictates.

This is as bad as Pakistan talibanism. The attitude against girls has been the norm among the majority of ordinary Zimbabweans. Sadly, our politicians  just pretend to hate Western countries, while in private they enroll most of their female children in these countries’ schools.

Fanatics are a great danger to society because what they do in the name of their religion is really anti-God and very inhumane. Besides inventing a world without education for females, the fanatics have invented another evil, the suicide bomber. The whole world, including Africa, should stand as one and fight extremists.

KF