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Awara1984 Side Hero Username: Awara1984 Post Number: 4873 Registered: 12-2010 Posted From: 125.16.29.3 Rating: N/A |
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Awara1984 Side Hero Username: Awara1984 Post Number: 4872 Registered: 12-2010 Posted From: 125.16.29.3 Rating: N/A |
All Abrahamic religions are INHERENTLY political. We’re talking about ideological belief systems that use reward and punishment, on Earth AND beyond, to effect people’s individual and collective behavior. We're talking about authoritarian dictates prescribing how to live, eat, deal with authority, form a government, have sex, raise children, and punish those who don’t comply. We're talking about legal codes, both personal (e.g. the Ten Commandments) and societal (e.g. sharia or halakha). We're talking about economics, trade, and more. Nationalism, terms of law and order, and territorial claims are at the very root of what makes something political. The doctrine of Islamic jihadism is driven by a nationalism that is fiercely and violently protective of the religion from attacks -- including attacks from cartoonists and novelists -- or of encroachment on Muslim lands. Zionism, a nationalist movement, has a territorial claim at its very heart -- one also supported by many evangelical Christians who believe the Jews must first return to Israel in order for Christ to return (36% of all Americans believe this according to Pew research -- a pretty huge voting bloc). The Jews, of course, are mere pawns in the Christian version of this eagerly anticipated end-times scenario, making this belief simultaneously anti-Semitic and pro-Israel. Add to this the unfortunate fact that “pro-Israel” automatically means “anti-Muslim” to millions of Arabs and Muslims across the world, and it becomes all but impossible to see where religion ends and the politics begins. These religious nationalist movements aren't just political. Up to 65% of the Quran is dedicated to the fate of non-Muslims and/or how to deal with them. Zionism is a central theme in the Old Testament and is at the heart and soul of Judaism. And as for Christianity, Christopher Hitchens said it best: "...If your belief is that Jesus [is going to come] back very soon [and] is going to kill everyone who doesn’t agree with him -- how do you keep that out of politics? The belief IS political." With all due respect to semi-informed writers like Giles Fraser, the idea that the religious can be separated from the political in conflicts like this -- or even that the two are wholly separate entities in the first place -- is dangerously naïve. |