Abrahamic Religions and Conflict

I am deeply convinced that the institutions of the Abrahamic relligions, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are THE single biggest reason for conflict in the Middle East and in the world. By institutions, I am incorporating the actual religious theological bodies and clergymen, as well as what Christians, Jews and Muslims have been led to believe by these institutions as indisputible mandates from God through the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Quran, and the historical accounts narrated by each religion.

All of the big three speak of a God that has created the universe. All three talk about the story of humans starting with Adam and Eve frolicking in Heaven. All three believe they hold the final and ultimate divine revelation and claim to be God's chosen people because they hold that revelation. Although it is Jews only that use the term "God's chosen people," Christians and Muslims have a different way of communicating what is essentially the same message.

First, Judaism: I would argue that Judaism did NOT start with Abraham altough it traces itself back to him. A close examination of Abraham in the Bible and in the Quran points to a person that reflected an ancient Greek thinker rather than a religious figure. Abraham never thought of himself as Jewish. The word "Jew" or "Judah" meant nothing to him. Abraham's legacy is monotheism, and it is a monotheism that is etched in meditation and reasoning. This is apparent even in the manipulated text of Bible and the Quran. Abraham did not claim to be a prophet, and he did not introduce any revealed scriptured in the same sense that Moses and Mohammad did. Abraham simply came to the conclusion that there has to be a Creator of the universe and, and that this universe did not happen by chance. He also came to the conclusion that God cannot reside in the pagan idols that were worshipped in his community. He came to the conclusion that all the things that we can sense are all subject to systems that they cannot break, and thus had to be created by a higher form of existence. Short of being a monotheist, he really does not have much in common with the Judaism that was established by Moses and his followers later. Abraham was not a founder of a religion. He did not introduce a highly complex religious order, or talk about religious conduct. He was a good man in the secular, scientific sense by questioning the superstitions of his time and advocating morality in its most generic sense. He was first and foremost a thinker with ideas not too different from those of Plato with regards the origins of the world.

Abraham's logical reasoning was a big hit with his decendants. Moses, whether instructed by God through revelation, through his imagination, or through events that we don't fully know because we don't have an adequate historical account; codified a moral code of conduct in order to keep the Jewish people from falling appart and to keep their society integrated in order to survive. Over time, the Jewish temple took the ten basic commendments that were "revealed" to Moses and made them into a extremely long and unweildy set of dos and don't that controlled to the nth degree every aspect of Jewish society in the name of what God wants, when indeed what Moses told us God wanted were 10 simple things according to Moses.



So here, we see the first creation of an Abrahamic club. This club deals specificially with Jews. We see that the leadership of Moses and his followers turns into established religious institutions that at once speak on behalf of God and give accounts of Jewish prophets in a way that enforces the authority of the temple in God's name. Simultaneously, Judaism classifies anything that is not Judaic, and thus non-monotheistic, as evil and anti-God. The first four commandments: 1- You shall have no other Gods but me. 2- You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it. 3- You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. 4- You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy. establish exactly that, and although they don't specify punishments for stepping outside these commandments, it clearly sets the stage for Jewish religious institutions to persecute who it wants in in the name of God.



This is the first time where religion begins to turn into an instrument in the hands of an elite few in order for them to take a spiritual concept and turn it into a tool of domination and control. According to this first institution, Jews, as the receipients of God's message and holders of his testaments declare that they are God's chosen people, and refer to those who are not Jewish as "Gentiles" in order to justify abuses against them.

Then Christianity came, and the Church emerged, and it introduced a totally different paradigm. Early on, the Church realized that in order to survive, spread, and grow, it had to distinguish itself from its Judaism and figure out a way to recruit people that are not ethnically jewish while building on the monotheistic judaic idea. Christianity also sought to combine monotheism with polytheism in order to penetrate the polytheistic framework of the Roman empire that was dominating the civilized world of the time. As a result, Christianity produced a hybrid of monotheism and polytheism in the form of the trinity, where three forms of a God represented in the Father (the Jewish one God), the Son (Christ) and the Holy Spirit (which means different things to different Christians).

In Christianity, you don't no longer have to be Jewish to be in the "in" crowd. You just have to accept Christ to be saved. In that sense, Christianity doesn't automatically doom people fom not being decendants of he twelve tribes of Israel. Christianity, as introduced to the world by St. Peter and St. Paul, does not descriminate based on ethnicity, but it does descriminate based on whether or not one believes that Jesus is the Son of God who died for the sins of his followers. It suffices to say that this idea goes against the basic principles of Abraham and in accordance with the ideas he rejected. Christianity claims that one has to subscribe to this Son God idea in order to belong to this new Abrahamic club and thus be guarranteed salvation from eternal torture. In order to establish credibility and independence from Judaism, Christianity embraced four framework principles upon which the Christian "Chosanality" is created, althought Christianity does not use the fraze "God's choosen people" to refer to itself. The principles are : 1- Offer hope for those who are not Christian that they have a place in God's plan, 2- Offer a compelling reason to abandon Judaism and Pagan religion through an intense focus on the pains of hell in the afterlife if one has not accepted Jesus Christ, and 3-cast negative light on Judaism as a whole by portraying the Jews as the source of all evil and corruption. My frame of reference here is the early days of the Church and in the pre-Islamic era. The third notion is the beginning of anti-Judaism in Christianity. In order for Christianity to grow and gain traction, the Jews had to become the bad people the same way the pagans became the bad people of the Jews. Religious institutions understood early on that in order to keep people together and under control, an external enemy had to exist. A fear of an outside group has always been an effective way of uniting a group of people and keeping them from questioning the inconsistencies in their own authorities. I am not by any means suggesting that Christians and Jews didn't face oppression for their sincere beliefs. What I am saying is that their own religious institutions took advantage of their own peoples' persecution to further their own dominance in much the same way a dictator exploits and rallies the support of his people during times of war. By the way, I avoided using anti-semetism intentionally because Jews are not the only Semetic peoples, and I believe that the term is often misused intentionally and unintentionally. 4- Incorporating and validating previous elements of pagan practices and Judaic practices as well as new rituals of its own. The idea is to make the new religion unique enough to be different from Judaism and pagan practices, but familiar enough to make the transition into the new religion easier.

Islam pretty much copy-catted the same four chosenlity ideas from Christianity and reverted back to the non-trinitarian beliefs of Judaism in building its own following. Islam, as described in the Quran, is the completion and correction of both Judaism and Christianity, taking ideas from both, and rejecting ideas from both. Once again, this newest of the big three Arbahamic religions opens the Abrahamic club to include a broader audience, while at the same time adding conditions and disclosures that were were absent or ignored in Judaism and Christianity. The four notions that were the basis for establishing Christianity are also used in Islam: 1- Hope that it's not too late or hopeless for non-Muslims to become Muslim, 2- Offer Islam as the only ticket out of Hell and into Paradise, 3- Demonize pagan religions and the preceding abrahamic doctrines. In Islam, a Son God savior idea is rejected in the Quran as a paganistic practice (it is). According to Islam, God is perfect and eternal, and as such, his need to have a Son that speaks on his behalf is a misinterpretation by the Christians of the once-divine-but-humanly altered Bible. Instead, Islam re-introduces the idea of the Prophet humans, and Muhammad emerges as the final and greatest prophet. This introduction is merely a theatrical distinction from Jesus, as Muslims at once, speak of Muhammad's humanity while considering him infallible, unquestionable, and even one worthy of the prayer of God Himself. Muslims are required to say Sala'llahu Alayhi Wa Salam when mentioning Muhammad's name. The literal translation to it is "God Prayed to Muhammad and cast peace upon him." It is quite ironic that a religion who deplores idolotry, iconism, and the idea of shared diety also believes that God, the Creator of everything would pray to one of His creations. However, in order to open the door a bit further for for prior "people of the book," Islam adds to Christianity a shelter-from-hell clause for those who are truly monotheistic of the Christians and Jews who have not received God's message of Islam. Islam proclaims that good deeds are necessary to be admitted into heaven, and that being Muslim is not a garrantee to avoid hell. Islam essentially filled a couple of unreconcilable points in Christianity such as the fact that people who died before Jesus or never received his message. Islam also refuted the idea of the trinity as a pagan invention, and as a concept as illogical as square circules: One God cannot be three Gods, and three Gods cannot be one God. 4- As in Christianity, Islam introduced its own set of rituals such as praying five times a day, facing Mecca instead of Jerusalem, and establishing Friday as the Muslim Sabbath instead of the Jewish Saturday or the Christian Sunday.

I felt that it was necessary to state my prospective of the history of all three religions in order to highlight that the four principles that cause them to be at contention with one another and at the same time, have so much control over people's lives. Each religion had to establish itself as the axiomatic and realistic alternative for the corrupt predecessor(s) and put in place fear-based ideas to maintain control of people's minds (eternal suffering) if they do not join, or if they think about "unsubscribing". Each religion introduced its set of rituals and practices that give it its unique "look and feel" to distinguish it from the others and to keep people preoccupied with dos and don'ts dealing with every aspect of their existance: Who to Mary. What to Eat. What to teach your children. How to have sex. What to say, how to say it, and in what occasion. The three religions who were supposed to be based on the monotheistic examinations of Abraham became 1% monotheism and 99% superstitious practices. Instead of empowering people to look for the meaning of life and the origin of the universe, and come to their own conclusions as Abraham did, people were now being controlled by religious institutions that scares them into believing what is beneficial of the religious institution. The big three very successfully linked the questioning of their authority to the defiance of God's will, and convinced society that in order to avoid God's wrath, those trouble makers had to be dealt with in the most brutal of ways.

What makes these religions so powerful is their ability to scare their followers into defending the very institutions that oppress them and give them license to oppress others. And in the Middle East especially, these messages are spoon fed to Arabs and Israelis from the time they can speak and it grows and festers with them because they see the violence perpetrated by the other side as a proof to their religious teachings, not as an outcome of it.

This religious influence is pervasive even in the most secular and liberal of Western societies. Religion is so pervasive in everything that we see and experience that it has penetrated and shaped our sub-conscience. whether we believe in biblical teachings or reject biblical teachings, most of us take the position of a faithful spouse who stands by his partner out of love or fear of separation, or an ex-spouse who cannot see his/her ex-spouse except as a lying, crazy abuser who needs to be kept away with a restraining order at all times. The less liberal and more theocratic the country, the more religion seems to be like water is to fish. Religion is so entrenched in us (even if we aren't always good Muslims, or good Christians, or good Jews) that it is always a frame of reference to either follow or rebel against. The idea of being able to understand who we are, and understand our world ALWAYS, conscientiously or sub-consciously uses what we learned from the Institutions of Abrahamic Religions. To most Abrahamics, Religion is like Language. It is a way of thinking and a way to establish a framework for all else big questions can be answered.



In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is then easy to see how religion would be THE single biggest cause in the conflict. Some people would quickly point out that the problem is not of religion but one of lost security and lost land rights. Well, that's the truth... But it's not the whole truth. The fact of the matter is that if Israelis didn't see Palestinians as inferior gentiles living on their promised land, and if Palestinians didn't see Israelis as murderers of Christ and conspirators against Muhammad... If either side was not raised to hate the other in the name of God... If "God" didn't tell each side that they are good and the other side is evil finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would have been infinitely easier. Abrahamic religions are not, and cannot be a source of peace, but a source of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflic. Abrahamic faiths pour gasoline on the fire that is the Middle East conflict, not water.

If Peace in the Middle East is to even have a chance, the first thing on which Israelis and Palestinians have to agree is to highlight Christianity, Islam, and Judaism as underlying issues in the conflict, and that they need to be locked outside any attempt for conflict resolution. By Israelis and Palestinians, I don't mean the governments. I mean the individual people and the masses. Movements on both sides need to organize to inform their own communities of the flaws of their religions and accept and declare these shortcomings to friends and foes alike. The negative role of religion has to be exposed in order to start acheiving progress towards peace at a grass roots level.

And yes, I do believe that peace between Israelis and Palestinians does not have to be based on "painful concessions on both sides" as Ehud Olmert said. I refuse to believe that the ultimate success that either side can hope for is one that neither side really wants. If each side can see the other as an equal, the need to create a purely jewish zionist promise land, a purely Christian land, or a purely Islamic land becomes obsolete and irrelevent. The idea of a South-Africa-like state that includes all groups and moves towards equal citizenship rights for all becomes far more appealing. The hills of Juda can once again be the the Jews just as the Lands captured by Israel in 1948, which is now "Israel Proper" can once again belong to the displaced palestinians. Eliminating religion as a frame of reference for Israelis and Jews makes a single nation with a melting pot of Palestinians and Israelis not only possible, but favorable to all sides.

==========================================

The Issue of Jerusalem:

As for Jerusalem, which is the crux of the conflict between all three religions, resolving the issue of religion is definitely the only way to figure out how to resolve the issue of Jerusalem, thus resolving the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I find it Ironic that Muslims and Jews claim to be monotheistic, and claim to have freed people from worshipping false Gods.. Yet here they are hundreds and thosands of years later incapable of resolving a dispute over a rock and a whaling wall. How do Muslims know that the Rock under the golden dome is indeed the one that Muhammad used to climb to the heavens, particularly when no one witnessed the event? And isn't the moral of the stories that the Prophet Muhammad spoke about more relevant than the rock upon which he stood? Ultimately I respect their rights to worship whatever they want as long as they do it peacefully, but if that rock is THE rock, and if that rock in and of itself has Holy value, then why not just move it a few hundred yards out of harms way? Besides, isn't treating a rock as a holy object in direct conflict with the Monotheistic message of Islam, and in contradiction to Muhammad's war against idolatry?

As for the whaling wall and the construction of the temple of Solomon, I say to the Jews that after the destruction of the temple and after being scattered all over the world, the Jews still managed to hold on to their faith and traditions. You don't need a specific temple in a specific place to pray to a God. You don't need a temple at all. The Jewish God does not live there! Get over it! Why can't one side scoot the rock a little and the other side build a smaller temple, or also scoot it out a little bit?

It seems like once again, monotheists are once again worshipping, and more importantly, fighting over a stones. If the Abrahamics where truely monotheistic, then moving a few rocks to the right or to the left is merely a logistical issue that is not worth a single drop of blood on either side.

But I have an even grander image than the logistical accomodation I suggested above. Wouldn't it be nice if Christians Muslims and Jews can come up with a joint place of worship that is dedicated to God where all three faiths worship Him together in peace? Wouldn't we all be closer to God if we didn't wish our neighors harm, or at least step on their toes while we pray to God? But even if we didn't want to pray together, let's at least take comfort in the fact that the three faiths' prayer days and times are different! Christians can bring their Crosses and worship on Sundays and put the crosses away when they are done. Muslims can bring their prayer rugs and Qurans on Fridays and put them away before Saturday morning for the Jews to put up ther Menoras who then take them down for the Christians to put up their Crosses. It would be absolutely beautiful. We can even have automated mechanisms similar to those in theaters that automatically change the look, feel, symbols and mood from Church to Mosque to Temple... We have the techology to do it. It's a little funny, but I am not kidding! The answer is a lot simpler if we slaughter the sacred cows (no punt intended) around the structures and rocks that we worship, and that at the heart of this conflict, and start worshipping God who is not confined to these highly undivine structures.

If all sides work collaboratively, the construction of Solomon's temple can encompass the Rock and can encompass the Church. If we can figure out how to put someone on the moon, building this monotheistic structure would be a breeze for Disney, or for whoever constructed the Luxor or the Taj Mahal in Las Vegas, or by the architechure firm of Ahmed, John, and Lipstein. It would be a true and unique marvel that would be the epitome of peace and reconciliation instead of conflict and segregation. I would even include a section for Hindus and Buddists, a religious bigotry meuseum, offices for peace-oriented organizations, metal detectors to keep the wackos out, and a falafel stand. The structure would invoke the image of a white dove carrying an olive branch and be powered by solar energy that is plentiful in that region. It would be accoustically optimized to deliver the maximum impact of Friday Sermons, Saturday Congregations, and Sunday masses. It would truly be divine. Peace can be acheived far more quickly in the Middle East if Palestinians and Israelis merge their religious identities into one harmoneous national religious identity that selects all of peaceful elements of the three religions, rejects all the violence elements of all three religions, and declares the interpretations of God in each religion a personal belief that does not have to fit any paticular mold. I would write this into the constitution of the joint country right after "we the people."

Polititians cannot do that and theologeans and zealots on both sides will fiercely resist it. These are the types of ideas that have to be explored by joint grassroots movements on both sides.