is a fancy word for suicide.

I know, I'll piss off a lot of people who read this. If you're one of these people, blame Andrea for encouraging me to write this.

The other day I was watching one of those Bible movies on TBN (because I was sick and bored and I couldn't think of anything else to do). It was portraying men who died in holy wars as these noble heroes who will go to heaven. Depending on what you believe, that may or may not be true.

So what happens when you die fighting in a holy war? You die, of course. However, you're guaranteed a spot in heaven. You also get a page in the religious texts about what a noble thing you had done. Your wife and kids get to brag about how you were such a holy man and all that. Gee, dying must not be so bad after all, right?

What do you do when you go on a suicide mission? You disappear from this world and leave everything behind. By everything I mean your wife and kids (not husband because women with families are smart enough not to do this kind of thing). So you die in some holy war over who has the better god. Back home, your wife and kids have to fend for themselves. One less person providing for the family means the mother has to take over both roles. The kids have to grow up with no father figure and that can also cause a lot of problems. Why put them through this kind of torture?

I believe in God, and I have faith. However, I will never accept most of the things that religious people do. Holy wars, I believe, are insignificant arguments over who has the better imaginary friend. What's the point? If you ask 1000 people, you might get 2500 answers on what their religious beliefs are.

Also, what if you're following the wrong religion? Then being a martyr will just get you into a deeper circle of hell.

TO MY FEMALE READERS:
The males are always killing themselves in holy wars for some noble cause. It's always so easy to die, isn't it? When they do die, they leave their wives behind to do everything that they used to do together, especially raising the kids. Is that honestly the right thing to do? Would you be happy if your husband killed himself for some meaningless war so you would have to be all alone for the rest of your life? Maybe if you hated him, but in most cases, I think you would say no.