The Gods of War

So the international burning of the Koran (Quran) has been postponed... {yawn}. If you are looking for a topic that will ugly up the conversation faster than politics, go for religion. The patriarchal Yahweh/Jehovah/Allah rules his subjects through the fear of his jealous wrath.

Davidson Loehr: The Story of God's Birth
"The earliest Hebrew traditions show that Yahweh was a Bedouin war god from the deserts of Edom and the surrounding regions. His warlike characteristics are shown in his name: "Yahweh" is an abbreviation of his official, longer name, "Yahweh Sabaoth," which means, "he assembles armies." Yahweh's name identifies this god as primarily the military commander of his people. When he became identified with the tribe of ancient Hebrews, he kept his war god attributes, and added a “tribal chief” character.

The covenant he made with “his” people was modeled on an ancient Hittite sovereignty treaty, and was what we would expect from a war god or tribal chief. He would be their god, and they would be his people. If they obeyed him, he would protect them; if they disobeyed, he could destroy them..."

Christianity, Judaism and Islam all claim to seek and work toward peace - but the central character in monotheistic religions is an entity who does not share power or the allegiance of his followers. He is a stern, jealous ruler. There can be no peace until all humans are following the one of the those three sects, and after one is chosen, then everybody has to narrow it down to one particular brand (such as Catholic/Protestant or Sunni/Shiite). The "narrowing down" process is done partly through conversion but mostly through killing the ones who are different from you. Then, after there is just one religion in charge it has to keep a stern hand over people who choose to think for themselves.

[heresy: from the Greek hairetikos "able to choose" (haireisthai "to choose").]

Also under the thumb of the rulers are those who have broken religious laws as interpreted by the rulers, and punishment is carried out accordingly. A broken law could be as simple as cutting hair or shaving, dressing improperly, eating something you shouldn't, maybe just eating it on the wrong day, speaking to the wrong person, etc. Punishment will vary widely and might include death. This is Theocracy, and it's why it's soooo important to preserve freedom of religion (which also includes freedom from religion).

This is 9/11, and the anniversary of when the USA was attacked on our own soil. The tactics of neoconservative nation-building, being in bed with the likes of Bin Laden and the most unsavory types in the world via the CIA, World Bank, NSA, all the other TLAs (3-letter acronyms) and the long list of International corporations who want to own all the valuable resources in the world - by hook or crook - to use an old-fashioned phrase. The religious idealogy war that smolders on the surface of all the Wars the USA gets itself into just provides enough of a spark to ignite a real shitstorm like we had on 9/11 and afterward.

Seems like the best way to observe this anniversary would be to put aside ALL religious activity that has any measure of intolerance for different beliefs. Put aside nation-building, leader toppling, and war for resources conducted in other countries. This goes for everybody. Oh yeah, and hug a firefighter if there's one nearby.