Religion: Starting Over

If I could change human nature, one of the things I would do is to hit the reset button on religion. Religion is the powerhouse behind some of the worst things in the world. It is at least part of the inspiration for the Israeli strikes this summer against Palestinians (and so far Palestinians have been almost the only casualties in the conflict), as well as the inspiration behind Palestinian rockets fired into Israel as well as the way the Palestinian militias have put civilians directly in the line of fire. The only thing that Palestinian militias and the Israelis agree on is that Palestinian civilians should get killed in the name of religion. And here in America, there are a lot of people who at least act as if the gospel is where Jesus said you should accumulate assault weapons and be ready to use them. And as the previous blog essay indicated, a lot of religion is just a scam. I wish I could hit the reset button.

And starting over might allow the good aspects of religion to grow back. If there is a God of love, then this power might be able to find greater expression. There are many loving Christians (and Jews, and Muslims, and Buddhists, etc.) but the people who use religion as a justification for hatred crowd them out like tender seedlings among gigantic weeds.

I suspect that religion is inherently illogical and cannot have a reasonable basis. But suppose I am wrong. If there is a true God of love, then our minds ought to be able to reasonably choose that God and that religion. One of the main reasons this cannot happen now is the religious part of most people’s minds is filled with religious junk that we have inherited from previous millennia. If we could just hit the reset button and make a reasonable choice about what form our religious instinct should take…maybe Christianity would more closely resemble what Jesus said than what violent conservative Christians believe we should say using His Name as a justification.

Dream over. Time to get back to real life.

The Biblical Solution to the Palestinian Crisis

As of today, about 1800 Palestinians, mostly civilians including children, have been killed by Israel, while Palestinians have killed only about 70 Israelis, mostly soldiers. It is clear that both sides are committing horrible acts, but the about 25-to-1 disparity shows that the main result of this conflict is the death of Palestinian civilians. The Israeli prime minister has made it clear that he has no interest in what the rest of the world may think about his response to this crisis.

The reason that this matters to many Americans is that American conservatives consider Israel to be (second only to the USA) God’s nation on the face of the Earth. Israel, in their view, can do whatever they want to do, because God has approved of them in advance. And conservative American Christians base their views on the Old Testament. This raises the question about what the Biblical response to the Palestinian crisis might be—a response that American conservative Christians should clearly champion.

The Old Testament makes it clear that God led the tribes of Israel into the region that some of their descendants now possess, told them the land was theirs, and not only authorized but commanded them to slaughter every Canaanite man, woman, and child. In fact, in some instances, when they left a few Canaanites alive, God took retribution against Israel for disobedience. Genocide was, according to the Bible, God’s clear command. And if, as Christians believe, God is unchanging forever, then genocide must still be God’s command. In order to be consistent with their Biblical literalism, American conservative Christians should demand that Israel carry out a campaign of genocide against the Palestinians (who are Arabs, not Canaanites, but are still residents of the land the Bible says God gave to Israel). And the Republican Party, based solidly on whatever the Christian Right wants them to do, should demand that the United States support this genocide. As it is, Israel is just playing around; just 1800 Palestinian deaths? This can only mean that, despite his protestations, the Israeli prime minister does in fact have some fear of world opinion.

Of course I do not believe genocide would be the right solution. The very idea makes me personally sick, especially since one of the best students I ever had was a Palestinian American woman and whom I very much respect. But I also do not believe the Bible is a set of commands for what we must do. I believe the Old Testament is a record of the primitive and often evil actions of people who used God’s name to justify whatever they wanted to do. I believe the incomplete genocide carried out by ancient Israel is exactly the wrong, not exactly the right, thing to do. What I do not understand is why American conservative Christians do not wave their Bibles in the air and demand a campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people.

American conservative Christians today seem to consider physical force to be the preferable option in nearly every case. They were happy to have the Bush II Administration use torture against detainees (which they now blame on Obama). I vividly remember Pat Robertson calling for air strikes on Iran years ago. This is very different from the fundamentalist experience I had back when I was in high school. The Church of Christ sect of which I was a member was pacifist. Back when the draft was still in effect, nearly every young man in our sect published a prepared statement, “My position on carnal warfare,” in our nationwide newsletter, Old Paths Advocate, stating that the Bible clearly forbade us to kill our enemies. I think we were right, but virtually NO conservative Christian leaders today reflect this idea. Today, the Christian church seems to be primarily an arm of the military-industrial complex. Just think of all of the weapons we could sell to Israel if they took their Old Testament duty seriously and began a campaign of genocide that they have so far resisted.

Recent religious arrogance, part two. Israel.

In many entries in this blog, I criticize the arrogance of Protestants. In the previous blog entry, I criticized Ratzinger the pope. I will now dare to criticize Israel.

There are many positive things about the nation of Israel. It was a refuge for people who had suffered the most unspeakable atrocities of the twentieth century. And they made the desert bloom, literally. For example, they invented drip irrigation. They can get a lot of food out of a few drops of water. (Greeting card joke. Outside: In honor of your birthday, a tree has been planted in Israel. Inside: Wednesday is your day to water it.) And no other Middle Eastern country comes close to the scientific, technological, and scholarly achievements of Israel. Even outside of Israel, Jewish scholars are among the best; their list of Nobelists far exceeds that of any other cultural or ethnic group. This is largely due to the amazing historical achievements of the Jews, who have persisted for millennia in maintaining a culture that cherishes wisdom. As you can tell, I have a very positive view of Jews.

But the nation of Israel keeps itself alive by the mythology that God has given their government the authority to do whatever it wants. Many conservative Christian churches have bought into this mythology also. Many American Christians think that it is ungodly to criticize any action of the government of Israel. If that is the case, what about the dozens of prophets, whose writings are preserved in our Old Testament, who criticized the leadership of the ancient Israelite nation—not only criticizing, but condemning Israel? Are we to say that Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and others were ungodly for daring to criticize the leadership of God’s Holy Nation? This is blasphemous arrogance on the part of the Israeli leadership, especially the little impudent Binyamin Netanyahu. He assumes (apparently correctly) that the government of Israel can do anything it wants and the US will go along with it. Netanyahu’s government can deliberately derail the peace process (by announcing settlement plans in East Jerusalem) during Vice President Biden’s visit, insulting the US without whose billions of dollars of aid they would quickly become a steaming pile of waste, with full confidence that the American government will simply kiss their asses.

I have no opinion about whether Israel is God’s chosen nation (or about whether there is the kind of God who chooses nations). But being the Chosen Nation does not mean that their leaders can get away with anything and everything. Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon about 700 BCE. Maybe the modern leaders of Israel should re-read their Bibles and see that their God does not give them any basis for arrogantly assuming that they can force lies to become truth or that they can do anything they want without suffering the consequences. And certain powerful American Jewish lobbies think the US government is obligated to do whatever they say.

Israel has also pretended that their conflict with the Palestinians is an equal one. During recent conflict, their bombs killed several hundred Palestinians, mostly non-combatants, while fewer than twenty Israelis died. Probably five times as many Palestinian children died as all Israelis.

Israel has the right to exist. The United Nations made this decision over sixty years ago. But the United Nations did not, then or now, grant Israel the right to act like swaggering conquerors. And what do you bet that the Israeli leadership decides to attack Iran? They hint that they may do so. If this happens, the US will probably just go along with it, out of fear that our own Christian fundamentalists will rise up in arms if we do not.

I suspect that most Israelis want peace. They should get rid of their warmongering leadership. I read that 37 percent of Israelis were either agnostics or atheists. They should raise their voices and not tolerate a leadership that pretends to be God’s chosen conquerors.

And, please, can’t the US act like an independent country rather than like Israel’s little lap dog?