THIS ARTICLE IS AN EXCELLENT READ THAT PUTS RELIGIOUS STEREOTYPES INTO CONTEXT. It strikes me that if you peel back many religions (including the three Abrahamic faiths)... leaders exploit those religions for tribal or national interests. In Islam, the early caliph Umar immediately used his military to expand the Islamic empire. And soon Muslims had captured thousands of cities from North Africa to the Indus River. And their treatment of non-Muslims was less than admirable. Even Christianity whose founder was powerless and ended up on a cross inspired a community committed to servanthood and sacrifice but also was followed by others who would turn their faith into an ideology of conquest. The Byzantines and later Latin kingdoms of Europe are textbook examples. Need I mention the Crusades or more recently Serbia or the Lebanese Christian militias? Id like to say that Christians are different. But we have a complicated history as well. But perhaps the deeper issue here isnt simply your religious preference. The issue is our humanity. We have a remarkable tendency to co-opt religion in the service of our private interests. When he wants land, the Jewish settler in the Occupied West Bank claims God has promised it to me and he takes it. When he wants to conquer, the Muslim fighter in Syria conveniently distorts the Islamic spiritual idea of Jihad and he kills. And then there is the relationship of the church to colonialism for at least 200 years.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 15:17:06 +0000
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