Imagine

At this critical period in the history of the world I think of the John Lennon song Imagine. One of the verses is:

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion to
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

When this song was released over 30 years ago, these lyrics created much controversy, but its wisdom has been confirmed, in my opinion, by the events that have occurred in the United States since 9/11. There is a certain sense of fundamentalist religion, specifically Islamic, that has been perceived as the root cause of the problems we are experiencing today. The radical fundamentalist Christians have hijacked the Republican Party and want to turn the clock back to the “middle ages” when scientific advancement was considered to be heretical. Galileo was excommunicated from the Church for his belief in the Copernican theory of the solar system. The latest example is the challenge by these Christian fundamentalists to our school systems in their desire to teach “creationism” and “intelligent design” as an alternative to the Darwinian Theory. And the corporate media does nothing about this in spite of how preposterous this may be.

There was an initial strong sense of nationalism in America as our reaction to the events of September 11, 2001. The Bush administration has exploited this sense of nationalism to create an irrational sense of fear and self righteousness for U.S. foreign policy That is why the lyrics of Imagine may have more meaning today than ever before.

The point John Lennon was making in his song was that so many unnecessary deaths have been caused by differences in religious, cultural, and nationalistic views. History is replete with this kind of violence over the years. In order to evaluate the current situation objectively, we are obligated to revisit the past to put these beliefs in true prospective.

I would like to first address fundamentalist religion and analyze whether it is unique to Islam. The answer is obviously no. In the past two thousand years, there is ample evidence that religious wars involving all major religions have taken place. I can further state without exception that each religion had as its basis for violence a fundamentalist interpretation of scripture. Whether it was the Koran, the New Testament, or the Hebrew Bible, one could extract language from each to justify violence and the superiority of one religious belief over another. As an example, the New Testament clearly attributes the death of Jesus to the conspiracy of the Jewish priests of that time. In effect, the Jewish people are accused of deicide from the Christian point of view. As Christianity evolved, this belief was the cause of many Jewish pogroms culminating in the Holocaust of Nazi Germany. In fact, Hitler quoted Martin Luther as his excuse for the destruction and burning of synagogues in November, 1938. This event known as Kristalnacht was foretold by Luther in his later writings when he suggested that the Jews could not be saved and that their houses of worship should be destroyed. These kinds of fundamentalist Christian beliefs led to the killing of 2/3 of European Jews by what was considered a well developed country, Germany.

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, there have also been some examples of violence caused by those who have a fundamentalist belief about Judaism. As an American Jew, I am concerned that the policies of Israel, although generally democratic, are significantly affected by the extreme orthodox element of the population. This is a complicated matter for which we need more open and objective discussion. One can be pro Israeli or pro American without agreeing with the government on all issues. I am one who believes that the Palestinian issue is a diversion used by the oppressive Arab states to distract the suffering population from the extreme poverty and suppression of liberty caused by these dictatorships. The United States needs Israel to be strong and has been the main supplier of its armaments. Many Jews believe that the United States is doing this out of pure generosity. I disagree. The United States support of Israel is primarily caused by the need to control the oil rich Arab states whose governments cannot be trusted. The United States has a powerful surrogate army in Israel. Without Israel, the United States would have no power to influence these Arab states. It is important for Israel to understand this and not allow itself and the Palestinian issue to be used any more as an excuse for these Arab countries to deflect their own corrupt behavior. In fact, these corrupt Arab states have not lifted a finger to help the Palestinians in the past and consider them a nuisance even to their own interests.

There has been much talk lately about the Muslim fundamentalists in many of the oppressed countries throughout the Middle East and other parts of Asia. There may even be a belief that Muslims and their culture are intrinsically violent and backward. It is important for those of us who are not informed to educate themselves about that culture historically. In fact, for hundreds of years, the Muslims had a powerful empire and in many cases exhibited great tolerance for other religions. During the so called “dark ages” the Muslim empire encouraged sophisticated studies of science and philosophy. The Catholic Church of that era suppressed any studies of science and philosophy. The fall of the Muslim empire, and the rise of European colonialism have left this area of the world in a mess. At the end of World War II, the United States replaced Europe as the major influence around the world. U.S. foreign policy has effectively ignored the needs of the people in that region. The U.S. has only been concerned about supporting governments in this region to protect its interests in the oil rich countries. So, as has happened many times before, the root cause of fundamentalism is poverty and a deflection of problems to a scapegoat by oppressive regimes as Hitler did with the German people when he blamed the Jews for their problems.

Until September 11, 2001, we were very focused upon our own problems and clearly the Bush Administration was supporting a policy of isolationism. Isolationism was disastrous before World War II and will not be effective today. But, does our necessary involvement in the global community require only a military capability? I believe that the solution will not come from exertion of power in these less developed and oppressed countries. Americans are not intrinsically better than the people of other countries and our sense of entitlement because we are more developed and richer is false. If anything makes sense in the world it is that we are one humanity responsible for the needs of others. We are not one country self absorbed in our own needs. This humanistic policy is the only way the human race will survive. Limiting human concerns to national boundaries will be no more effective than it has been in the past and the stakes are much higher given the state of weapons of mass destruction.

The great Jewish philosopher, Maimanides, lived in the 12th century under Muslim rule. He generally was allowed to practice his faith under a very tolerant ruler until he was exiled in his later years by an oppressive new ruler. Most of his writings were in fact recorded in Arabic. His commentaries and philosophic beliefs had a dramatic affect on Judaism and its sister religions. In his most famous book, The Guide for the Perplexed, he tried to explain that it was difficult for humans to understand scripture and that one must be in a constant search for understanding of the reasons for the creation of the universe. His most meaningful discussion about the nature of God is that one can only define God in very subjective ways. Maimonides therefore has given us a guide to the understanding that those who define God in their own terms as to who he is or who has the pathway to God is practicing religious beliefs that cause a sense of false self righteousness. That is very dangerous to all who have an abiding faith that there is a just and righteous Creator and that humanity has a noble destiny.

So I end this article by stating that John Lennon was not asking us to lack faith or not be patriotic to our species by imagining that there were no countries or religions. He was telling us that the countries and religions may create artificial senses of righteousness for which people unnecessarily die. In defining the human destiny and the nature of God, Maimonides would only say that God could not love any humans less because of religious beliefs and national interests.