Deciphering fact from fiction, choosing logic over emotions

Dear Mr. Imran Khan,  in your article entitled “Why the West craves materialism and why the East sticks to religion”, you made a few sweeping statements that I felt needed to be addressed.

“Science had replaced religion and if something couldn’t be logically proved it did not exist”.

Sir, I beg you, read up on positivism and post positivism. Should we also start blaming all mental and social disorder on Jinns and evil spirits? Should we also tell our psychologists that they are incorrect and all their wards need is a good dose of the Holy Books? Also, your statement is indeed sweeping. Can we see emotions? You wear yours on your sleeve but we can’t physically see them. Yet, science says they exist. We cant measure emotions, we cant put physical values on them and yet we know emotions are the reasons you appeal to your voter base using religion.

“Philosophers like Darwin, who with his half-baked theory of evolution had supposedly disproved the creation of men and hence religion, were read and revered”.

Again Sir, read up on the latest breakthroughs in proving Darwinism before you call his work half-baked. What is your basis for calling it half-baked? Is it because you feel less special if your forefathers emerged from a chaotic cesspool of chemicals and eventually turned into something remotely resembling you? If you wish to believe in creationism, at least do not be judgmental of people who do not. Sir, you call yourself a good man, someone who is not arrogant, but your self-professed moral superiority makes you more arrogant than not.

“…humans need to be intellectually convinced”. Sir, when have you used intellectual prowess to convince anyone of anything? Your article uses nothing but religion and your personal beliefs. It also states facts that cannot be verified. Your beliefs can never be universal which is why enlightened people rely on empiricism to win arguments. I really hope when you came across the word you will not need to look it up in a dictionary.

You go on to state that 60% of Americans go to psychiatrists, are you suggesting people in the Arab world and Asia are not depressed? Sir, please, look around you. Maybe not around your Banigala palace atop a hill, but the kachi abadis where the elderly find themselves homeless or sickly. Do you not think these people would happily go to psychiatrists if they had access to them or knew what psychiatrists were? Secondly, where do you get your facts and figures? I personally could not find this 60% of all Americans are depressed or disturbed claim anywhere. But what do I know? I am only a lowly researcher and lecturer. I am not a famous sports personality who because a political rock star by spewing anti Americanisms, or appealing to the lowest common denominator by using religion to get votes.

“Since all morality has it roots in religion, once religion was removed, immorality has progressively grown since the 70s. Its direct impact has been on family life. In the UK, the divorce rate is 60 percent, while it is estimated that there are over 35 percent single mothers”. Sir, this statement sounds a bit like David Cameron’s when he told Britain to embrace its Christian values.  Firstly, on behalf of families everywhere with divorced relatives, UP YOURS you divorced hypocrite! Equating divorce to immorality is disgusting. Your clearly patriarchal views offend many of us. Single mothers in the UK do not give birth to mass murdering terrorists the same way many married mothers tend to in Pakistan. But you don’t seem to care about that side of things do you sir? After all, the TTP doesn’t want to take over tracts of land from Pakistan, all it wants to do is eject Americans from Asia. Well sir, do you not remember Swat? Do you not read about Taliban strong holds all over specific areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan? Sir, your disregard for those who have become victims of terrorists activities is most upsetting. You choose to bemoan a child born out of wedlock in Britain because for you, that seems more immoral that shooting a 14-year-old Malala in the face.

Sir, your article was offensive for anyone with half a brain. Maybe that is why you personally were not offended by it but many of us were. I respect your religious view and your right to believe in anything you want. But sir, you have gone on to make your religion into a political tool for your own means. You use it to prove your worthiness to be a ruler. You use to whip up support, you use to make people forget that the PTI has a terrible track record of governance so far. Your hypocritical statements, your attacks on the Sindh, Punjab and Pakistani governments so people wont see PTI’s failures and corruption (that’s right, your PTI is not entirely corruption free as you allege from the tax evasions of the KP ministers to lying about not having officially financed residences).  What of the terrorist prison breaks? When it happens in KP its suddenly the fault of the agencies that warned your province something big was going to go down but when its under the PPP or PMLN, prison breaks are the fault of the ruling party.

Sir, once more, glorifying Islam in this age of phobias is an excellent way to make people be more tolerant. However, using it as a way to win cheap points is not only deplorable but does a disservice to your people and your religion.