Religion cannot be 'offended'

First question: How can a religion get offended? Religion is a thing, not a person. How can a thing get offended? Taking offence requires a brain and an ego – religion has neither. 

Now, if the problem of getting offended rests among the people who “defend” their religion, then it’s more understandable, because people can get offended easily. Indeed, of all creatures great and small, people are the only species capable of getting offended. You can shout abuse at a dog all day, and it might get annoyed or angry at the loud antics, but it won’t get offended. 

So, let’s call it as it is. Religion is incapable of being offended, but the upholders of that belief system are. Indeed, the reason they’re so thin-skinned may rest with them being so insecure about their belief system. If being offended is a problem for such folks, then I suggest they find ways to avoid being offended. Perhaps if they embraced a belief system that they weren’t so insecure about, then they could feel more secure in their beliefs and feel better about themselves – and they wouldn’t feel compelled to harass and criminalise others. They can do as I do: believe in nature and science. Nature and science have no egos wrapped around them – so it’s not possible for them to get offended. Neither do I become offended by whatever aspersions a person may cast toward science or nature. 

Kip Keino

Ban Nam Lat