Religion tends to be integrated into our lives from the day we are born. In fact, in relation to this course, religion showcases itself rather prevalently throughout the duration of a war. Stuart D. Leeās play titled, āThe Ghosts May Laugh,ā should pride itself in the fact that the charactersā lines do an excellent job of broadcasting to the reader how the war really was and not romanticizing the negative aspects involved. In contrast, yet in comparison, an article written by Andrew Heavens for Reuters UK told about Sudanese officials having to expel a United States aid group over unprecedented bibles. Simply stated, the play that was read for this course showed how war brings out the lie in religion and faith and what our parents and churches have brought us up to believe. In addition, the article shows how the Sudanese government claims that the aid group from the United States violated the boundaries of its rights by having the bibles there to promote.
āOfficials told Suna they had decided to expel the Texas-based group āfor its violation to the Voluntary Work Act, the Country Agreement and the regulations on registration of organizations in Sudanā.
Regulations dictate all aid groups have to give details of their activities to the Sudan government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) and are not allowed to start new projects without state approval.ā
http://uk.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUKLV258132
It seems to be that the message this article is broadcasting is that the Sudanese government is trying to hold true to religion but not in the way that the United States aid group wishes to carry that out. Religion can be an important and integral part of some societies, but shoving oneās particular beliefs down other individualās throats is not the right, or Godly, way to do so.
In addition, but from a rather different perspective, Stuart D. Leeās play, āThe Ghosts May Laugh,ā incorporates a refreshingly truthful view to religion and what our parents and churches attempt to instill into us. The character, JONES, states this rather well:
āA lie, the lie! A lie we have been told ever since we were born. A lie we were told in school, in church, by our parents, by the newspapers. All day, every dayā¦That even if you die here there will be something afterwards. But thatās not true. Itās just what your all hiding behind. You see thereās nothing special about us. Nothing that makes us better than the animals around usā¦We use that slight gain in understanding and awareness to think up new ways to kill each other, or to order other people to kill, because weāve all bought the lie that there is something we can go to after all of thisā¦And itās a cowardās insurance; weāre banking on the fact that the men we kill or allow to be killed will be going somewhere else. That they will be living on.ā
The truthfulness and raw, gritty, reality in this statement struck me to the core. The brutal realism of the war is that these men have become accustomed to killing and accustomed to scientific truth. Whether this is right or not, whether religion is right or not, one cannot deny the fact that we are molded into what our parents, and schools, and churches, and newspapers want us to be according to that so-called āreligion.ā Not only is this apparent through the soldiersā eyes in the play, but apparent as well through the Sudanese government denying the United States aid groupās integration of bibles and āhidden agendas.ā
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Say you want a revolution..Well, you know..We all wanna CHANGE the WORLD.. 