Prayers Don’t Solve Terrorism
I’m writing this in anger. I am supposed to be enjoying my holiday today, instead I am enraged. I am angry to read about another terrorist attack on Saudi soil, not long after Baghdad, and not long after Istanbul. Even in countries where Holy Month is happening, innocent blood is spoiled.
And as usual, flood of #PrayFor[insert afflicted city here] is showing up on social media timeline.
It is said that one should never say anything in anger, and better to just bite your tongue. But today I just have to let this one out. Can’t take it anymore.
Prayers do NOT solve terrorism.
There, I said it.
If you were the sensitive, Jell-O type of the faint hearted, stop reading this and go back to making beautiful meme with touching quotes. But if you are sick of all this shit as I am, you are welcome to read on.
Ever heard of asymmetrical warfare? Well, I call this civilian version as asymmetrical struggle. And praying for cities bloodied by terrorism is a form of tragically hilarious yet asymmetrical struggle.
Because terrorists don’t just ‘pray’. They build suicide bomb vest, car bombs, they plan, they coordinate, they manipulate, they teach, they preach, they corrupt gullible minds, they post and share online, they fire guns. They END people’s lives with many more means than just “praying”.
Prayers don’t solve terrorism. Actions do.
I know that all of us will wonder, “But what can we do? We don’t have drones, bombers, guns to bear arms and fight. Let’s just ask (and pray) for the world governments to do all these things for us.”
Bollocks.
Every ONE of us can do our share in fighting terrorism more than just playing cute hashtags and memes.
Like calling spade a fucking spade. If you see hate speech or extremist text circulating around in social media, STOP its circulation. Be angry. Tell the sender off. Unfriend the bastards (I do the last one all the time). Isolate them. We are being bloody too tolerant to bad people. We don’t want to offend and hurt other people’s FEELINGS when their venomous words can literally kill other people.
Watch out for our schools and campuses. Don’t be naive. Higher education institutions are becoming hot recruitment sites for extremists – don’t lose our children and friends to the hands of these nefarious manipulators.
Protect our children’s minds. Immunize them from manipulation. Teach them critical thinking. Tell them it’s okay to question things most people take for granted. Believe in God, but don’t just trust anyone coming ‘in the name of God’. Raise intelligent children, not obedient cows.
Speak up against extremism within our own family and neighborhood. Don’t just accept anything clothed in sweet religious symbols. Ever heard of ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’? The wolves are real. And we are still easily enamored by beautiful sheep’s skin.
Stop being naive. Ungodly ambitions have been fought in the name of God for millennia. In the end, it’s about power over other human beings. If waving religion banner works to manipulate people, it WILL be used. Get smart. Just a bit. Please.
Every single one of us can do our share in fighting evil ideologies that pave the way for terrorism. I recently read that silence helps the bad guys more than the victims. I agree.
The world does not need another #PrayFor. Too much blood has been spilled. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough.
Categories: Uncategorized
The Laughing Phoenix 
Bener om piring. Bahkan ada hadits nya dalam islam
“Bila kamu melihat kemungkaran, ubahlah dengan tanganmu. Bila tak mampu ubahlah dengan lisanmu. bila tak sanggup, ubahlah dengan hatimu, dan itu adalah selemah-lemah iman.”
Itu mana sumbernya ya?
I have enough but those hashtag just to express our sympathy
well said om piring !
Pray is cheap, showing our condolences, etc. Praying is the act to ask for God’s help. It is a start to do the real thing, to prevent it. Praying doesn’t hurt anybody. It strengthen us, especially the family of the victims.
Same to me, and actually I do know if the sender of that hastag really do the pray, hehe. Instead of showing their sympathy. Well said.
I mean I don’t know
I like the line “raise intellegent children, not obedient cows.”
However, most people using that hastag. its not that easy to say that we have to blablabla unless we express it by the way people do.
But,
I dont use the hastag.
I do praying, like the real praying. my heart feels your words.
What a beautiful anger, Om Manampiring.
Hope someday i could wrote my anger to this world like you.
God bless us, god bless the people that doesnt want to live in silence.
the world will become a better place if we ACT as much as we pray
your article is spot on!
Makanya belajar bahasa inggris, jangan baca buku agama mulu. Udah tau gak ngerti tanya, pake google translate sono.
But her comment is grammatically correct, what’s the problem?
Kenapa harus bahasa inggris padahal kebanyakan yg baca orang Indonesia? Orak ngerti kulo, om
doing nothing also don’t solve terrorism. but both have differences, one to shows empathy and the other shows ignorance.
Hi sir. May I ask for your permission to copy and paste this to my facebook status? I will credit it to this blog. This one worth a thousands share.
Of course, as long as you include the original link 🙂
I agree that prayers don’t solve terrorism but showing these status images and using hash tags etc surely shows people uniting and expressing their love for those who have suffered? Not everyone knows the steps to take to help stop terrorism nor do some people have the courage or bravery to do this… i think anger towards people expressing their united feeling isnt the way to encourage unity either.
Of course, as long as you include the original link 🙂
The world is ignorant. Some people only know that some people were killed just by seeing your post. That is why I will still share that Pray for posts. But what you wrote is 100% true. I will take your advice and unfriend with my ‘dear’ friend. Bless you.
Express our sympathy is better than doing nothing at all. Plus #Prayfor hashtag can be very informative tho. But I agree with you Om Piring. We should start taking real action.
Well said, Om Piring!