It has been reported the Jews came out of exile hauling a Babylonian storm god called Yahweh. They decided it was indelicate to use that name, so they settled on Jehovah.
The Jews then wrote what the Christians now call the Old Testament, and while many Christians hate the Jews (for killing Christ), they greatly revere the sacred book those guys wrote—every word of which Born-again Christians know to be literally true.
Eventually, some Jews decided the biggest problem in life originated in the Book of Genesis—when Adam and Eve defied the Lord by eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Causing life to suck ever since.
The solution was to appoint a Messiah to take on this major sin as his own, a sacrifice designed to open up the path to Heaven.
Thus, Christianity was born.
Some time later, a guy named Muhammad had a vision (or a dream) in a cave in Arabia, beginning a process that can be seen as a reboot of Judaism. It was called Islam.
These two upstart religions, Christianity and Islam, have proved enormously destructive over the years, spilling blood in vast quantities.
And it all began with the Jews.
Ironically, I suppose, both these new religions have made trouble for their Jewish progenitors—for various reasons.
The Christians think the Jews killed Jesus, but that's obviously nonsense. Their true crime was inventing the fellow—twice—first as a mythical creature called Christ Jesus (the title means Anointed Savior), then as a fictional character named Jesus of Nazareth.
That second creation was a very effective piece of PR designed to buoy up a religious cult in free fall, its leaders having all been executed by then. And the whole mishegoss was also meant to self-destruct in a matter of months, when the crucified Jesus returned after forty years to preside over the end of the world.
(The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD was probably the most legible road sign heralding the End. The Gospels of the New Testament directly follow this event.)
For their part, Muslims fight the Jews over the holy city of Jerusalem, after Muhammad allegedly flew there on a magic horse to meet Allah. Also, Muhammad was annoyed the Jews failed to convert to Islam. After all, it's based on the Jewish holy book, with the same cast of outrageous players.
These two new religions also fight one another, of course, in an endless war for domination of the world. Since Islam is the Third Revelation, it naturally expects to win. Moses, Jesus, Muhammad: three guys who received the holy word of God. Surely, the Muslims think, the most recent utterance ought to be given priority.
The same supernatural authority that began with Yahweh (which was somebody else's god) ends with Islam (a word that means submission). Followers of this faith are convinced they own the moral high ground.
It's a baseless notion which has grave consequences in Afghanistan, where America's longest-lasting war rages on.
Our major opponent there, the Taliban, is a contingent of deeply religious Muslims who believe they hold every advantage over the invading non-believers (us). To them, it's unthinkable anyone else could prevail in their own country.
(The war is also proof the West is trying to destroy Islam, which validates al-Qaida's attack on 9/11, the act that brought us to Afghanistan in the first place. Are we just running in circles?)
The American strategy is to kill as many of the Taliban as possible, forcing them to the negotiating table. Unfortunately, killing all of them is not an option.
In fact, killing large numbers of the Taliban will only draw endless replacements out of the ground. The country is a prolific source of Islamic extremists—folks fighting for their own land alongside the most fanatically pious men in the world, all those guys existing in a philosophical environment where being religious is always a good thing. There is simply no practical way to defeat them.
Maybe it's time to stop trying.
No comments:
Post a Comment