In Thionville, there is an altar dedicated to Reason. In the heydays of the French Revolution, the "citoyens" had decided that religion was a chief source of wars and conflicts, and that it was time to graduate out of superstitions, and into the worship of Reason. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine, all respected founding fathers of the young American Republic, were quite taken by this new philosophy. They by and large agreed with Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire, and subscribed to the idea of the universal Clockmaker.
But today it seems that we have been backtracking. We are in a new religious era. The rapturists dispute the loony prize to the islamists.
It would be inconsequential, or even ridiculous, if it did not kill thousands of people on behalf of God or Allah.
The theocratic State of Israel is pitched in a battle to the death against the Islamist Hezbollah sect. Both are competing for Holy territory and are inspired by God. Unfortunately, just as in past religious wars, the human carnage is horrendous. The Qana massacre today, the second time for Qana which had already lost 129 people in 1996 to Tsahal, is a replique to the bombing of Haifa and other civilian areas.
The Islamist fanatics want nothing less than the total destruction of the infidel West.
On Bill Moyers'excellent PBS program "Faith and Reason", Margaret Atwood gives the following explanation: We like the idea of a God because the alternative, billions of atoms, cannot talk to us nor take care of us. In the same broadcast,Martin Amis feels ashamed of sharing a specie with the faith based fanatics who orchestrated 9/11, and is afraid for its future.
Whereas Europeans have "graduated" from the mirage of religion, 64% of Americans still live in a pre-reason era.
2 comments:
Bien sûr que je ne suis pas d'accord avec toi cher gf.
Le parti de Dieu est pour la région la résistance à Israel. L'appui dont il bénéficie n'a rien de religieux. C'est une affaire de patriotisme. Je sais que tous les Libanais ne sont pas d'accord, mais les crimes israéliens rangent la plupart d'entre eux derrière le Hezbollah.
ms. annie, i respectfully disagree with your analysis. saying that it's a matter of patriotism is blind to the religious actualities on the ground. The Lebanese that disgree with each other but unite against the Israeli assault are ALL islamic. You don't see the Christian Lebanese supporting Hezbollah against Israel. This is the ages old argument of "who was there first" and "he did it first". Only this time there are rockets involved.
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