By: Shabtai Gold
17 October 2003, Jerusalem
I recently received an e-mail, initiated by a former Israeli right-wing member of Knesset, telling me that Muslims are to blame for all the world’s problems. The e-mail claimed that 98% of the conflicts in the world involve Muslims. It is unimportant whether this number is true or not. Looking at the map that was including in the email, I was able to make out that in nearly every conflict (except for Israel and one in south east Asia) Christians were involved. Does this mean that Christianity is also an anti-peace religion? Maybe the problem lies in monotheism. Only in India and in Papua New Guinea were polytheistic religions involved.
However, I am not convinced that it is the fault of one religion, or one type of religion, or another. My personal belief is that religion in general, and not one specific type, is the problem. In every single conflict listed in this email, the conflict can be summed up as one religion fighting another, if one so wishes to view things. It can be the Jews against the Muslims (Middle East), the Muslims against the Russian Orthodox Christians (Chechnya), the Hindis and the Muslims (Kashmir) and on and on. I feel no need to defend one religion or another. They are all equally bad in my eyes, since each one claims an absolute truth, which cannot be proven. It therefore seems ridiculous to fight and kill over something like this. As George Carlin, may he rest in peace, said: God is the leading cause of death.
However, I bring up this issue because I feel that two things lie behind this email sent to me. One: the anti-Islam parade which is dancing all over the world these days. Two: instead of seeking to solve the problems, the various right-wingers are looking to solve the question “who’s to blame?” In Nazi Germany that question was answered quite easily: the Jews, Blacks, Gays, Gypsies and Communists. These people were then carted off to concentration camps. 12 million people- including six million Jews- were killed in these camps. Isn’t playing the hate game fun?
Instead of playing this silly and deadly game people should spend their time looking for solutions. Indeed, in Chechnya the war is between Muslims and Christians. However, it just happens to be so. The reason why the Chechens are fighting has nothing to do with some religious conflict between the Muslims and the Christians in that region. It has everything to do with the fact that the Russians- for over 100 years now- have brutally abused the Chechens. Even today, President Putin – a Christian- continues to persecute the Chechens. Is it any wonder that they are demanding liberation and their own independent country? They have in fact been demanding this for decades now. Does the fact that Russia has an oil line running through Chechnya to the sea have anything to do with the continued Russian occupation of the Chechen homeland?
And can anyone honestly say that the Palestinians are fighting a Muslim war? Indeed, the use of suicide bombers might strengthen the claim. However, this is far from the truth. The means of the fight are radical Islamic (anyone whoever truly investigated Islam can understand that the concept of the “Jihad” and the Palestinian uprising have little to do with each other). Nevertheless, the fight itself has everything to do with land, refugees and typical politics. Just like in Algeria during the last years of French colonialism, Islam is considered the “religion of resistance”, and is therefore gaining much popularity. However, the Christian and atheist Palestinians are not taking a different stand on the main issue: ending the Israeli occupation. They too agree with their Muslim brothers that the occupation must go. Therefore, it is incorrect to look at this as a religious war. To say that the conflict in Kashmir is religious is also incorrect. Here the case has to do with demographics, history and national pride and little to do with religion. Most of the people in Kashmir want independence- not to join India or Pakistan. Colonialism had its hand in creating this conflict.
The same is true in many other parts of the world. Islam has deep roots in Africa. It has been there before Christianity ever arrived (yes, even if we include Ethiopia). Africa is the most highly populated continent in the world. Additionally, it was under brutal colonial rule until the 1960’s and 70’s and still suffers from the rule of the worst opponent of all: neo-colonialism. For example, until 1997, Congo (Zaire) was ruled for over 30 years by an American supported tyrant named Mobutu. Just like other dictators, such as Saddam Hussein, the Iranian Shah (who overthrew the elected Prime Minister together with American help, and led to the Islamic Revolution, which rules Iran today) and General Pinochet in Chile (who overthrew together with the CIA the democratically elected president and claimed that “democracy is a breeding ground for communism”), the US supported these human rights violators and murders as part of its proxy war. Franco, who brutally rules Spain until his death in 1974 is another example of an American supported dictator. Today this support continues to reach brutes like Ariel Sharon and the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, and until recently, the Taliban in Afghanistan. The current conflicts in Africa have little to do with religion, but rather have everything to do with the effects of colonialism. For example, under colonial rule (especially British and French) the Christians and those who agreed to convert to Christianity were treated much better than the non-Christians. The Christians received many more rights, including better education. This of course led to sever class distinctions: the rich were of one religion and the poor of others. In Nigeria we are still witnessing the violence that this colonial practice gave birth to. Oh, the colonialists were Christians - just like the Nazis.
In my opinion, 98% of the conflicts in the world have their roots not in a religious struggle but in post-colonialist regroupings that more often than not lead to violence. The problem is that most of the Westerners do not wish to look at their colonial past. Belgium only recently (2002) admitted to certain crimes (but not all) against the people of Congo, which they committed 40 years ago. Has America truly recognized that it wiped out dozens of Native American tribes? The Zionists do not want to upset the Christians (Americans and British), who for the most part support Israel in its war against the Palestinians. Therefore, we are left with only a minority of western scholars who are willing to attack the west for what it has done during its colonial period, and instead they will blame Islam, which just happens to be one of the largest and fastest growing religions in the world. The true culprit- Christian paternalism and imperialism, which, just by chance, had a great affect on the Zionist movement- gets away, free as a bird.
__________
Is Israel a peace loving state? No.
Well, don’t blame me, and don’t call me anti-Israeli. I didn’t say this. Natan Sharansky, the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs in Sharon’s government wrote an op-ed in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz newspaper the other day, saying that: “peace is not a goal that for its sake the State of Israel was established”. The name of the article is: “The Temple Mount is more important than peace”. Here, Mr. Sharansky says very clearly that maintaining control over the temple mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and is where the Al-Aqsa mosque sits, is more important to Israel than any peace deal.
The fact that the only significance the temple mount has to Jews is religious, and according to the Jewish religion Jews are not allowed to even touch the temple mount, does not bother Sharansky. Neither does the fact that the Muslims use the compound five times daily. Just like Sharon when he went up to the temple mount in 2000 and set off the Intifada, Sharansky is certain that symbols- even useless ones- are more important than human rights, including the right to life. Sharansky is willing to blow any peace deal, unless he gets Al-Aqsa. Way to go. And to think that human rights activists the world over spent time and money to get this man out of jail in the Soviet Union.
As I said above, George Carlin said it best: god is indeed the leading cause of death. Put aside AIDS and set cancer on the back burner. We need a cure for the worst and most ancient disease of them all: organized religion.
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