Thursday, July 15, 2004
Some religious extremists are better than others
The right wing in the U.S. has been raising a hue and cry about the alledged religious fanaticism amongst the "Islamofascists" fighting the U.S. The extent to which religion really effects all of this is open to debate. But what is not really open to debate is that there are religious fanatics on all sides of this. And the religious fantacism of the Jews and Christians certainly rivals anything the muslims have. Witness some quotes from todays front page article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Sharon Feels Wrath of Israeli Settlers He Long Supported":
"Members of the far right have stepped up verbal attacks no the Sharon plan. In early July, a leading Jewish rabbi sai that under Jewish law, anyone who gives away Israeli land - in which he included the West Bank and Gaza strip - faces the death penalty". Similar comments preceded the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, by an ultra-nationalist associated with the settler camp.
For the moment, Mr. Bratt [a West Bank settler] says, violence isn't warranted, and working within Israeli's democracy is the most effective path. If Mr. Sharon persists, he says, many settlers won't feel bound by Isreal's laws. He says violent struggle to secure the land he lives on isn't just an option but an obligation.
'This is a battle between the believers [in God] and the nonbelievers,' he said, as his children bounced around his living room in Yakir on a recent morning. 'I believe that no one has the authority, not the government, not the military, not even the Israeli majority, to take our land from us. Only He can do that ' Mr. Bratt said, gesturing toward the sky."
"This is a battle between the believers and the nonbelievers". So now we are hearing this from muslims, christians, and jews. I have to say though, I think their real enemy is each other, not "non-believers". So couldn't they jut leave us non-believers out of it?
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"Members of the far right have stepped up verbal attacks no the Sharon plan. In early July, a leading Jewish rabbi sai that under Jewish law, anyone who gives away Israeli land - in which he included the West Bank and Gaza strip - faces the death penalty". Similar comments preceded the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, by an ultra-nationalist associated with the settler camp.
For the moment, Mr. Bratt [a West Bank settler] says, violence isn't warranted, and working within Israeli's democracy is the most effective path. If Mr. Sharon persists, he says, many settlers won't feel bound by Isreal's laws. He says violent struggle to secure the land he lives on isn't just an option but an obligation.
'This is a battle between the believers [in God] and the nonbelievers,' he said, as his children bounced around his living room in Yakir on a recent morning. 'I believe that no one has the authority, not the government, not the military, not even the Israeli majority, to take our land from us. Only He can do that ' Mr. Bratt said, gesturing toward the sky."
"This is a battle between the believers and the nonbelievers". So now we are hearing this from muslims, christians, and jews. I have to say though, I think their real enemy is each other, not "non-believers". So couldn't they jut leave us non-believers out of it?
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