The Insidious Problem of
Interpretations
The connection between radical Islamic fundamentalism and the epidemic of terrorism going on in the world is simply too strong to deny. The Islamic radicals draw on militant prescriptions embedded in the text of the Qur'an as divine justification for their holy war against Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, America and other infidel influences in the contemporary world. Just like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is a monotheistic religious ideology. In its purity, it subscribes to only a single omnipotent mythological super-god to the exclusion of all other gods and religions, which by doctrinal necessity are all false, idolatrous, and evil. Therein resides what some of us truly believe is one of the deepest historical impediments of all.
"The great unmentionable evil at the center of our culture is monotheism. From a barbaric Bronze Age text known as the Old Testament, three anti-human religions have evolved--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These are sky-god religions. They are, literally, patriarchal--God is the Omnipotent Father--hence the loathing of women for 2,000 years in those countries afflicted by the sky-god and his earthly male delegates. The sky-god is a jealous god, of course. He requires total obedience from everyone on earth, as he is not just in place for one tribe, but for all creation. Those who would reject him must be converted or killed for their own good." Gore Vidal, 1998
When challenged about matters of doctrinal defect, Muslims in good standing argue that the fault does not reside in Islamic doctrine, but rather with the people who misinterpret its meaning to justify their own agenda. That kind of apology is by no means unique to Muslims. In fact, it seems to be virtually universal among all religionists. Extremely questionable if not blatantly defective doctrinal ideologies and percepts exist in the venerated works of every monolithic religion on the planet. In each case the religion's devotees are forced to either accept the literal meaning as divinely inspired truth, turn a blind eye, or maneuver around the defective passages with interpretations intended to make the words mean something quite different from what they actually do. Certainly, finding ways to "interpret" defective and dangerous passages to neutralize them is a laudable endeavor as far as it goes. Certainly also, it would be remiss not to observe that the devices of "interpretation" can just as well be used to crush reasonable and just percept into impotency. Nevertheless, as long as the literal defects are there to be seized upon, the despots will continue to exploit them as divine justification for their perverted ends. This is the syndrome created and sustained by the presence of defective passages. It is the weight of primal ignorance imposed on the human species by antiquated religious law. (Fallacies of the Qur'an) (More Qur'an Fallacies) (Ten Commandments) (More Biblical Fallacies)
Religion is a deeply embedded attribute of human culture and it would be foolish to believe that it will ever go away. Issues of bad economic theory notwithstanding, the collapse of the Soviet Union and its anti-religious Marxist ideology is evidence enough of that. Still, it is equally as foolish for the monotheists to think that the peoples of the earth will ever relinquish their unalienable will to diversity of religion, culture, philosophy, and life style. Not all of history's bloody attempts at repression have managed to extinguish any of that. Rather, the attempts have served only to produce generations of senseless persecution, suffering, and bloodshed. Undoubtedly, religion can act as a stabilizing cultural influence. Religion also tends to be dogmatically unyielding in matters of theology, morality, tradition, and ritual. It is thus also susceptible to blind acts of indolence and defensiveness when confronted with its own failings of historical insight, wisdom, and purpose in the face of civilization's advancement through the ages. The fact that doctrinal deficiencies and inequities exist virtually universally will never justify their continued preservation and veneration in the living scriptural faith of any religious tradition.
Irrespective of what other factors may be involved; the international community cannot afford to turn a blind eye toward the worst offenders of the present age. With all apology set aside, it's troubling indeed that the larger Islamic world seems so manifestly disinterested in cleaning up its own back yard regarding the radical fundamentalist elements among them. Where this shortcoming is concerned, the clerical aristocracy of Islam is clearly not beyond accountability. Equally as troubling in its regional specificity, however, is the current lack of a clearly distinguishable boundary between Palestine and Israel in the Middle East. Two monotheistic religious traditions, historical enemies for fourteen centuries, are entangled in ways they are incapable of resolving either peacefully or justly. For that, however, the rabbinical leadership of Judaism is not beyond accountability either. Both religious traditions claim lineage back to Moses, Abraham, and the mythological Adam. Modern day Israel and Islam in the Middle East are like two relatives warring over mutually coveted family property. The Zionists declare their historical claims supercede those of all other peoples and faiths while the Muslims vigorously declare the same for their own (note). Then there is the matter of the third relative and thus the Christian crusades to "liberate the 'holy lands'". This mixed with the resurrection of Israel, which apocalyptic New Testament prophecy requires for the "second coming". Talk about an apparition of bi-polar ecclesiastical madness, ready made for exploitation. Depending on one's interpretational taste for the biblical messiah or the macabre, the Book of Revelations keeps the legend of historical Israel center stage, fueling the spirit of the faithful for the Zionistic cause, while at the same time provoking the worst kind of passions among its adversaries. In counterpoint, Islamic doctrine carries a closely parallel end- time prophecy, but with Islam emerging as the master of the world on the bones of the Jews, Christians, and all other competitors secular and religious. (Culture, Religion, Apocalypse). May religion and religion's practitioners be held accountable for their crimes against humanity.
Where these matters are concerned, the gullibility and culpability of Christianity and its clergy can not be treated lightly. Nevertheless, Israel and Islam have been at odds with one another ever since the Rabies in Jerusalem told Mohamed and Allah to peddle their bag of "final" teachings somewhere else. Was it something about a jealous, selfish old god not wanting to share the neighborhood with any upstarts, new or old (note)? Anyway, whatever the exact details of those formative encounters, the two religions have clashed over godhead, doctrine, and holy turf ever since. Undoubtedly, the problems of the Middle East revolve heavily around material disputes over land ownership and control. Still, issues of religion and culture intervene heavily and the ruthless find ample opportunity to capitalize. The present lineup of shysters, religious zealots, warlords, and despots are real and they must be dealt with. Still, they are just the masks that false causes, tyranny, and inhumanity wear. In this, the real underlying enemies are primal ignorance, greed, selfishness, and their arch attendant, indiscriminant cherishment and veneration of the relics of religious antiquity.
Between the Islamic extremists who want nothing short of total annihilation of Israel and the Israeli settlement mongers who are out to sack the Palestinians of all land west of the Jordan, both sides are crippled by factional agendas that keep the fires of violence burning. If a peace accord that formally recognizes both Israel and Palestine as sovereign nations is ever to be brokered and enforced, then the extremists on both sides must be brought down. Without doubt, issues of innocence in matters of war are ambiguous. Nevertheless, the world community’s ability to intervene in Palestine's behalf will be hampered as long as the Islamic radicals continue to target civilians. Such targeting is against the international rules of war, but so is acquisition of land by military force, of which Israel is guilty.
Because of the al Qaeda suicide attacks on the World Trade Center, Israel has enjoyed an enhanced psychological edge in the minds of many Americans, even though it is fundamentally undeserved. Although the Palestinian population is heavily Islamic in persuasion, there were no Palestinians identified among the World Trade Center attackers. Still, Israel was able to exploit the associative implication as more "justification" for their expansionist aggressions. This in spite of the fact that Israel’s settlement agenda, the brainchild of Ariel Sharon, has been the most significant underlying cause of the fighting throughout the history of the conflict. Just the same, as long as militant Islamic organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and their clerics sabotage the Palestinian quest for peace and independence, then Palestine will remain impotent in its ability to effectively unite and turn circumstances and international support to its favor. Organizations like Hamas and their regional backers do not want Palestine to be a free and independent state. They intend Palestine to be a fundamentalist Islamic theocracy, one dedicated to the total annihilation of Israel and the Jews. The Israeli settlement agenda is clearly unacceptable, but also is the Islamic fundamentalist will to Israel's annihilation. This is what happens when monotheistic religion or any other totalitarian edifice is allowed to rule the roost of popular sentiment at the expense of fair and just secular law and government. Caught between the illegal land grab of the Israelis and the maniacal agenda of the Islamic fundamentalists, there is little that the Palestinians can do to defend their dwindling homelands that Israel will not claim to be an "act of terrorism". In parallel, if the powers that be in Washington continue to turn a callused eye toward the criminal injustices of a decades long occupation by Israel, their settlement agenda, and the plight of the Palestinian refugees, then it is virtually impossible for the Palestinians to care very much about the “rules” of either war or peace (Jimmy Carter). Organizations like Hamas will continue to rule their hearts and minds.
The colonialist aggressions of Israel have been a stone in the shoe of United Nations policy and US credibility in the Middle East for decades. In addition, Israel’s high-tech war machine has been a multi-billion dollar drain on the American taxpayer for an equally long period, while in comparison, the Palestinians have received little more than chump change from the US in foreign aid (Write Congress). For the majority of people in the world community who dearly want a lasting end to the hostilities, the enemies to peace and justice on both sides of the conflict must be stood down, even if it requires the insertion of an international peace keeping force. As it stands, only this is likely to produce a sound outcome. An outcome that forces Israel to honorably conform to the mandates of United Nations resolution 242 and thus also allows Palestine to achieve and sustain independence based on a fair and unambiguous drawing of territorial boundaries. If anything, history has proven that Israel will not conform on its own. Consider the recent allied campaign against Iraq for its violation of UN resolutions. In comparison, isn't it rather inequitable for the US and its allies to be so blasé about the decades long violations of Israel? And we wonder why we have so little credibility among the people of the Middle East.
The US and the rest of the world must come to grips with the essential issue of where the property lines are to be drawn between Palestine and Israel in the present era. There is no “perfect” solution, historical or otherwise for this ugly business. The ultimate hypocrisy being that the pre-1948 Zionists themselves used terrorism as a device to force resurrection of an independent Jewish state. Nevertheless, there is no legitimate place for the gross prejudice that much of the Islamic world in the Middle East has long manifested toward those of other cultural and religious persuasions, and that particularly would include the Jew. Certainly part of the motive for an independent Israel was just such prejudice. The compound price has been many decades of bitter conflict and suffering. Tragically, a substantial underlying element was the original United Nations partition of land between Israel and Palestine in 1947. It was whimsical and preferential at best, one virtually bound to plant the seeds of war. The bottom line is that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis will go away, and the offenses continue to mount on both sides of the religious and cultural line. What is achievable will only be the most correct solution for the circumstances that exist. If that means displaced Israeli settlers with "settlements" being abandoned and access to "holy" turf lost on both sides, then that is simply the way it is. As painful a solution as that may be to implement, it must be made to happen and the world community must make it happen.