I have been reading news articles and reports regarding the brutality of religious individuals inflicting cruelty upon other individuals in the name of their religion. Since the start of this year alone, I can site at least 10 cases where people have been burnt, killed and tortured for not converting to a religion or for being part of another religion. Just recently, I have come across cases upon cases of Christians being murdered and raped by Muslims for refusing to convert to Islam in Pakistan. These cases are shocking to read but after the initial shock, what puzzles me more is why don't we hear about these things in the mainstream media? Why not?

• Is it because they are not valid reports?
• Is it because they are deemed unimportant?
• Is it because they are afraid of how religious organisations might react?

Are these symptoms of problems for which we need solutions?

1. Could it be that special interest groups are simply making up news based on false or bad information?
2. Could it be that as a collective, we are finding it acceptable for many people to kill and die for their religion in front of our very eyes because we wrongly equate tolerance for secularity and so we ignore these stories and not want to know about them?
3. Could it be that mainstream media is able to make enough money for itself, publicising the trivial, entertaining people with the sex scandals of sports people and other celebrities or selling another yet-new product of another company; that their journalistic responsibilities become less important?
4. Could it be that organisations in mainstream media have too much to lose if they step on the toes of individuals and groups that exist within the power of our societies: religions, corporations and governments.
5. Could it be that organisations in the media have become players in the struggle for power and influence themselves?

Whatever the truth may be, I feel that people never have sufficient information to get a balanced perspective of who they are in the world they live in. Because of this, I shall be posting many of these articles in the future. They are not really the type of stories you and I want to hear about because they frustrate us and sometimes, they make us angry. I do not want to give the impression that I am a negative person by choosing to focus on these strories but if they are true, and we want to seek the truth, then we cannot not be satisfied with just knowing about the wonderful and beautiful aspects of our lives, our societies and our world. We must also be willing to bear witness to the ugly truths of humanity.

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Watch out for my next post, outlining what we can do in light of this issue.