We're not fighting Al-Queda. We're fighting Al-Queda's God, just as they fight the Judeo-Christian God. Coming up next! Lightsaber battle between 900-Foot Tall Jesus and `the Mountain' Mohammed! (Peace be upon them.)
Much as we don't want to admit it, it's a battle of ideologies. The Bushites are saying to the Iraqi people essentially that `your lifestyle sucks. Here, enjoy the fruits of democracy and embrace your new enlightened outlook.' How mature is that? Meanwhile, the Iraqi people are offended by our polytheistic worship of Jesus, combined with our worship of Jahweh. We obviously just don't get it, and we're stomping on their culture with steel-toed spiked boots.
More crap below the fold. Just some introspective thinking from an agnostic on Sunday afternoon... remember, these are my opinions only!
To help the Iraqis, we'd be better off looking at their religion than their oil flow problems.
When Christians took the Jewish faith and forged a new religion out of it, God changed its face. Today there are many different sects of Christianity.
In 622, Mohammed founded Islam, and based its principles upon the Old Testament. Since it's only been 1383 years since the religion was founded, it's had less time to evolve than Christianity.
So the question I have posed for myself is: What does Al-Queda's god look like? Well, since I don't have any Al-Queda to ask, I'm forced to look at how Christians perceive Jahweh.
Today we have many different views of the Christian God - as many as there are Christians. The Bible says that God made man in his own image, but really, it's more true to say that man made God in his own image. But we can group those views by generalities, from less to more sophisticated.
· Vengeful God: `I am a jealous God, and you shall worship no other gods before me.' As children, we're capable of grasping this version of God pretty easily. It's the giant invisible parent in the sky, who will spank you if you've done wrong. The problem with this version, for young and old, is that the world isn't always that accommodating. Sometimes bad things happen just because, and trying to attribute a cause is self-defeating and leads to lots of angst. Vengeful God grew up in a time period when people could die without warning, struck down by mysterious illnesses, or eaten by predators. Both Psychiatrist God and Powerful, Forgiving God were spawned by the Vengeful God archetype.
· Terminator God: He's like the ultimate mafioso fixer. He's not a happy God, he doesn't like flowers or puppies, but he'll take out your enemies for you, no problem. Or he'll lend you the strength in battle to fight your enemies. Then he'll forgive you for your sins. It's another construction of the Forgiving God, but with a dark twist.
· Powerful, Forgiving God: Many of the evangelical churches today with the huge congregations show their parishioners a miracle-working God. A God that can heal the sick, make blind men see, and bring happiness and fulfillment to your own life, can you say hallelujah. They promise that all their sins will be forgiven, and this is, in its own way, a kind of miracle for the congregation. Christians including George W. Bush who have grown up with the Vengeful God as their only protection like the Powerful, Forgiving God.
· Psychiatrist God: This God will help you with your troubles, but you have to want to change. Many churches try to foster this view of God for their parishioners. This is a much more healthy view of God, in that it doesn't promote a dependence upon religion to solve your problems for you. These churches are also good for the community, because they'll do community service programs.
· New-Age Hippie God: He's like, everywhere, man... And we're all like, part of him... Dude. Many Christians in the 70's have read Stranger in a Strange Land, and Perelandra, and other subversive materials which indicate that the Christian tenets could easily accept the concept of Buddhism without a burble. Mostly it's a low-energy kind of secular humanism, mixed with Unitarianism, but without the altruistic acts. Often Christians that have this image of God believe in the power of crystals, and pyramids, and other interesting and imaginative, but hardly scientifically substantiated, ideas. Which says something about the Christians, doesn't it?
· Forgiving God: Most Christians like to think they believe in a forgiving God. This God provides strength in times of trouble. He won't smite your enemies for you, or punish you, because he's not that kind of guy. But when we're facing danger, we all revert to wishing some deity would stop by and smite something for us. The Forgiving God is Aristotle's `perfect construction' of the Christian god. People who share this view of God are usually very calm individuals who spend much time in prayer.
Muslims today are very much like the Christians of varying doctrines that scatter the American landscape. The God of Islam is just, omnipotent and merciful. They believe that Jesus rose to Paradise, and escaped crucifixion - they do not believe in the resurrection. The God of Islam does not automatically forgive - repentance returns the Muslim to a state of sinlessness. The people of Al-Queda, a distinct minority, grew up in harsh conditions and a constant military presence. Their God isn't a happy one. Death is a constant. All sins will be tallied on the day of judgement. They're used to being commanded by leaders to attack, under dangerous conditions and with low odds of winning. Their pride is great. That region has been extremely territorial for as long as humans have lived there. In their minds, God's land has been invaded by infidels, and it's up to them to repel the invaders.
So the people of Al-Queda worship a war leader, a Vengeful God who will punish them if they fail, but also a Powerful Terminator God, who will help lead them to defeat their enemies. With death being a badge of honor, and their sense of pride constant, the battle against Al-Queda's God will go on as long as there are Muslims who believe in him.
What we're doing right now is fighting the symptoms. What we need to do is find a cure for the disease. We can find what makes the followers of Al-Queda believe in their God, and change the conditions so that it's no longer necessary for that God to exist. It's all about standards of living, folks. The sooner we can take the oppressors out and put the healers in, the better.
This may sound like pie-in-the-sky, but how else are we to change the hearts and minds of millions of people? We certainly can't kill them all, but I suppose we could die trying.
Next up - Tom Delay's God! What fun!