9/29: Malnourished Afghan child
 

http://cellar.org/pictures/malnourishedafghan.jpg

A malnourished Afghan child is held by his father. The two of them are in Pakistan as refugees.

Dad looks like he's seen better days, too.

And they're the lucky ones. They made it across the border.

The Taliban is yelling Holy War for Allah, yet they can't even feed their own people. Perhaps the refugees are smarter than their leaders. Religion doesn't feed a widow and her 5 young children.

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Actually, according to <a href="http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2001/June/Afghan/index.html">
this article</a>, religion does feed children.
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Most of the populus is dirt poor, and the only way to feed themselves is to either join the military or enlist with the Taliban. Want a bowl of hot soup and some bread? Suuuure...just sit right here and listen to our religous rhetoric.
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-- juju

Very good article...

I think of those two American women that are currently being held in Afghanistan for "proselytizing." Their families say that they were not preaching Christianity. As suspicious as I am, I tend to believe them, particularly given what seems to be the downright paranoid and brutal nature of the Taliban.

I think it comes back to how religion is used to blind people from their suffering, and how some people follow it so blindly. A distortion on both ends. What did Marx call it? "An opiate for the masses"? I don't have any objection to religion, as I consider myself a Christian and was raised semi-Catholic. But I find it both amazing and scary how something so subjective is used so effectively at times.