I am in the mid-East now, and have had the opportunity to experience three of the world’s major religions “up close and personal”. Christianity (which has 2.2 billion believers), Islam (which has 1.3 billion believers) and Judaism (which has 14 million believers) account for about half the people on earth today. All three were founded in this area of the world. All three acknowledge one God (but by different names), and believe that human beings must obey the Will of this God. Two of the three believe in life after death (Judaism is not sure). All three have holy texts and scriptures which guide their believers, and many of the lessons contained in these writings are similar. There are even similarities in their religious practices and holidays. While there are differences in the “trappings” of these religions, the similarities in fundamentals are overwhelming.
His God And Those That He kills Are The Same God
When a terrorist says his religion justifies (even requires) the indiscriminate killing of those who practice another religion, he lies. His God, and the God of those he kills, are the same God. And the belief in after-life with this God, the written guidance which comes from this God, and indeed many of the practices of the religions, are fundamentally the same. We know the terrorist lies when he invokes his religion to justify his terrorism, because he is indiscriminately killing his religious brothers and sisters.
Why Does He Lie?
Why does he lie? Because he must obscure the reality of his heinous and despicable crimes against humanity in some sort of “cloak” which makes these acts appear “justified”. Otherwise, he could not commit these horrible killings. But the cloak of religion is transparent. His God and my God are the same God. His God would never sanction the killing of another who believed in the same God but worshipped through a different religion. Invoking the Holy Trinity, Allah or Yahweh to justify terrorism is the desperate act of an imbecile to rationalize that which he knows to be horribly wrong…Bill O’Neill
I agree 100% with your observations, Bill. Am so glad that you’ve had this opportunity to spend some time in the cradle of the montheistic traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Safe travels!
Have you read Joseph Campbell? His Hero theory resonates completely. The human psyche is universal, which is why so many humans follow the same religious architecture and/or explanations of human existence and experience.
I’d recommend The Hero with a Thousand Faces
A fast, intelligent read.
Thanks. I’ll read it.