Very hypothetical route to peace for Israel and Palestine

[nancylebov]

I got the impression [1] from Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation that major religions occasionally get started when people are faced with huge social problems that they don't know how to solve, perhaps especially if systems that used to work have stopped working.

Nothing we have now is enough to solve the war between Israel and Palestine (or the Palestinians, if you prefer). Nothing even looks promising. The three major western religions can't do it. Nor any smaller or less involved religion. Atheism, agnosticism, nationalism, and humanism aren't doing the job either.

Major new religions are very rare, but the middle east is where they happen for the western world. I don't know if it's ley lines or just that being in a place that keeping getting conquered supplies enough of the right kind of problems.

The great advantage of a new religion (preferably a benevolent one) is that it supplies a reset button that can eliminate old grudges and fears. If the religion is emotionally and ethically powerful, then you can and will trust your fellow converts.

I expect that if such a religion happens, there will be martyrs. I also expect that it will have narrative content, and probably miracles-- quickly debunked, but with the debunking ignored.

Could a new religion just make things worse? Yes, but I also think a new religion is as likely a way out as anything else available.

[1] I didn't finish reading the book, and it's back at the library.

Comments

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

I don't think it is a religious problem.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's exactly a religious problem either, in the sense that I don't think it was especially caused by religion. I do think there might be a religious solution, but no existing religion shows evidence of being able to supply it.

[avram]

Major new religions are very rare, but the middle east is where they happen for the western world.

It is? Let's see... Baha'i started in 19th century Persia, so that counts. Sikhism started in Punjab; is that in the middle east?

Mormonism started in the US, as did Scientology, Nation of Islam, Christian Science, and the Jehovah's Witnesses. (Mormonism should count as major, even if the others don't.) The Church of England started in England, and the Protestant Reformation started in Germany. Neopaganism started in Europe (though exactly where varies depending on what you consider the real starting point).

[holzman.livejournal.com]

The great advantage of a new religion (preferably a benevolent one) is that it supplies a reset button that can eliminate old grudges and fears.

The history of new religions such as Christianity, Islam, Baha'i, Sikhism, etc. seems to point away from new religions eliminating old grudges and fears, but rather creating new grudge and fears as the new and old religions tend to have an antagonistic relationship combined with a memetic persistance. I don't think throwing one more into the mix will help.

[madfilkentist]

I can't see any scenario in which a new religion would help. It might give one side or both a new enemy to focus on, but three-sided conflicts can be just as ugly as two-sided ones. Consider the Shi'ite Arabs, the Sunni Arabs, and the Kurds in Iraq.

[subnumine.livejournal.com]

I presume the suggestion here is that a new religion, converting both sides, would get them to act as brothers, or at least fellow communicants, and stop the present killing. That would probably work, if it happened (although new religions can also be as schismatic as fandom; the Muslims are still fighting over a decision taken in 632 - and there are a half-dozen flavors of LDS, already).

But I do regret to say that I don't think it's going to happen; Osewalrus' hope that Messiah will arrive and fix it all is more likely. The Baha'i are right down the coast, in Haifa, and as dedicated to "why can't we all be friends?" as any new religion is likely to be - and they have gotten nowhere.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much it, with the caveat that there's no need to convert everyone on both sides, just enough people to make for a willingness to change.

I don't know if it will really work, or just make things more complicated and violent. Maybe there's no hope, or maybe it's a matter of the public on both sides getting tired of war combined with simultaneous visionary leaders on both sides. I've even checked the geology, but there's no hope of that little chunk of land going away in the forseeable future.

My impression is that the Bahai, while a very nice religion, doesn't pack enough emotional oomph to do the job.