Speaking of degrees of intractability I'm surprised that no one pans out enough to get to the heart of the conflict. Oddly it's also what the Israelis and Palestinians have in common, i.e. religious belief/delusion.
The historical fact that the two religions in question are also actually derived from the same book is likely never mentione…
Speaking of degrees of intractability I'm surprised that no one pans out enough to get to the heart of the conflict. Oddly it's also what the Israelis and Palestinians have in common, i.e. religious belief/delusion.
The historical fact that the two religions in question are also actually derived from the same book is likely never mentioned because they have ended up in such different places. Arguably Judaism has evolved far more than Islam; the litmus test being that secular versions of the original creed are now common, making it less of a full-blown cult and more of a benign culture as in sharing of traditions and rituals. But their uniquely persecuted history also appeals to enough far-flung relatives to entice many to the biblically designated "Jewish homeland," joining extended family who not only share the centuries long history of persecution, but also the ultimate historical human horror that was the holocaust. Unfortunately and intractably, the Palestinian people already lived there, also for centuries.
Ta-Nehisis Coates makes the common mistake of conflating religion with race which isn't true because only one is immutable. But it does serve as an example of why this post-truth world has bred so much chaos; in fact widespread religious delusion can rightly be seen as both the first, worst "big lie" AND a proper platform for the current plethora of misinformation/disinformation. Arguably the truth IS all we really have and can indeed set us free.
Since religion is ultimately a set of ideas though it can't be destroyed by war; only deeply inflamed fellow believers would gloss over a reality so obvious to the rest of us.
But objective fellow atheist Sam Harris has a good piece on this that can be summed up with: "there's no living with jihadists."
Blowing themselves up is only one atrocity that sets Islam apart; (the conservatives weren't wrong to talk about "barbaric cultural practices"), there's also the appalling and persistent gender apartheid. While everyone puzzles about what to do about "Islamophobia" I'd say it's entirely understandable to have an aversion to this religion apart from its indoctrinated adherents; it's rightly the absolute worst in a bad field. But anti-Semitism is something else entirely.
Furthermore, I think the political left's early embrace of Muslims after 9-11 and then the coining of the term "Islamophobia" was one of our first missteps, an affectation and a posturing that still weakens our credibility.
Speaking of degrees of intractability I'm surprised that no one pans out enough to get to the heart of the conflict. Oddly it's also what the Israelis and Palestinians have in common, i.e. religious belief/delusion.
The historical fact that the two religions in question are also actually derived from the same book is likely never mentioned because they have ended up in such different places. Arguably Judaism has evolved far more than Islam; the litmus test being that secular versions of the original creed are now common, making it less of a full-blown cult and more of a benign culture as in sharing of traditions and rituals. But their uniquely persecuted history also appeals to enough far-flung relatives to entice many to the biblically designated "Jewish homeland," joining extended family who not only share the centuries long history of persecution, but also the ultimate historical human horror that was the holocaust. Unfortunately and intractably, the Palestinian people already lived there, also for centuries.
Ta-Nehisis Coates makes the common mistake of conflating religion with race which isn't true because only one is immutable. But it does serve as an example of why this post-truth world has bred so much chaos; in fact widespread religious delusion can rightly be seen as both the first, worst "big lie" AND a proper platform for the current plethora of misinformation/disinformation. Arguably the truth IS all we really have and can indeed set us free.
Since religion is ultimately a set of ideas though it can't be destroyed by war; only deeply inflamed fellow believers would gloss over a reality so obvious to the rest of us.
But objective fellow atheist Sam Harris has a good piece on this that can be summed up with: "there's no living with jihadists."
Blowing themselves up is only one atrocity that sets Islam apart; (the conservatives weren't wrong to talk about "barbaric cultural practices"), there's also the appalling and persistent gender apartheid. While everyone puzzles about what to do about "Islamophobia" I'd say it's entirely understandable to have an aversion to this religion apart from its indoctrinated adherents; it's rightly the absolute worst in a bad field. But anti-Semitism is something else entirely.
Furthermore, I think the political left's early embrace of Muslims after 9-11 and then the coining of the term "Islamophobia" was one of our first missteps, an affectation and a posturing that still weakens our credibility.