Freedom is not why they hate us
10/06/06 11:18
I’ve been
re-reading
Is Religion Killing Us? by Jack
Nelson-Pallmeyer and I wanted to post a couple of
blurbs from it that I have been cogitating on for a
while now.
The US is far and away the world leader in war spending, weapons sales, and military violence; 84% of US adults identify themselves as Christians.
The quality of our future depends on our capacity to see the world through the lens and experiences of our enemies.
The first is just a collection of facts. The second is, in my opinion, a profound statement of the single greatest weakness of our society. The vast majority of Americans lead lives so insular that we are completely ignorant of the existence of the rest of the world. At the same time we are taught from earliest childhood that the US is good and decent and righteous, etc. So it often comes as a shock when we learn that a lot of the world does not, in fact, see us that way. Our typical reaction to learning of our own ignorance is anger, and of course we direct that anger outward because we can’t or won’t take Nelson-Pallmeyer’s advice and look at ourselves as others do.
When I look at that first excerpt and try to imagine seeing those facts through the eyes of someone from the muslim world, it makes me sad for my country. I feel we’re traveling inexorably down a path to religious war and those never end well, if they end at all.
The US is far and away the world leader in war spending, weapons sales, and military violence; 84% of US adults identify themselves as Christians.
The quality of our future depends on our capacity to see the world through the lens and experiences of our enemies.
The first is just a collection of facts. The second is, in my opinion, a profound statement of the single greatest weakness of our society. The vast majority of Americans lead lives so insular that we are completely ignorant of the existence of the rest of the world. At the same time we are taught from earliest childhood that the US is good and decent and righteous, etc. So it often comes as a shock when we learn that a lot of the world does not, in fact, see us that way. Our typical reaction to learning of our own ignorance is anger, and of course we direct that anger outward because we can’t or won’t take Nelson-Pallmeyer’s advice and look at ourselves as others do.
When I look at that first excerpt and try to imagine seeing those facts through the eyes of someone from the muslim world, it makes me sad for my country. I feel we’re traveling inexorably down a path to religious war and those never end well, if they end at all.
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