Dyspiety

My new word. Woke up with it this morning, rushed to Google. NOTHING. Mine, all mine. So I published a copyright announcement on Facebook. No, I know you can't copyright a word, but I'm not letting somebody else get the credit for it. That's date-stamped for posterity.

I hereby wish it to be known, for all dictionaries and copyright purposes that I have created a new word in English, previously unused and unknown: DYSPIETY. From two elements: The prefix dys-, meaning bad (Greek), as in faulty or abnormal, leading to bad effect, and piety, meaning religious devotion (from Latin)

Is there a need for yet another word? Oh yes. In none of the comments and editorials, no matter how erudite, about atrocities committed in the name of religion, have I been able to find a single word that exactly expresses it.

It seems to me, as an independent observer, that there is a fear of telling it like it is. That if we acknowledge that religious belief is really, truly involved in acts of cruelty, we are somehow maligning the religion concerned. It has even become politically incorrect in some circles to describe a person by his religion when he commits an act of terror.

If we stopped worrying about which particular religion is involved, perhaps it would help. Because it really doesn't make any difference. Horrific acts have been committed by humans using God as an excuse since the beginning of recorded history, and I have no doubt that it went on prior to that too.

Whether you believe in God or not makes no difference either. Many do, and will continue to do so, but we have to set some ground rules. Because we simply cannot have one human's interpretation of "what God wants" having sway over another. Basic, humane rules of conduct, agreed upon by humans over millennia, absolutely must be the guiding principle behind civil and international law. There must be no exceptions. Civilization itself rests on the idea that we have to somehow live together in peace, despite ideological differences.

It is not enough to be tolerant, and in fact there are plenty of occasions where tolerance is inappropriate. Dyspiety, like any dysfunction, causes great harm, not just to those immediately involved, but makes waves throughout our society, leading inevitably to responses of fear and helplessness. A cycle of vengeance is easily to begin, and so very difficult to end.