WHY DO THEY HATE US???
By Derva Whirrlinger

It's way beyond ironic that a place called the Holy Land is the location of the fiercest, most deeply felt hatred in the world. George Carlin

I just came across some interesting information in The Columbia Encyclopedia that I never knew and that you may not know either. It's about the dark side of what many recognize as our three major religions. One of the silliest, quirkiest and most unfortunate items of history is how the three great prophet religions all arose in the same neighborhood sandbox, closely linked and all despising one another. We Judeo-Christians all know that Jesus was Jewish and that the Jewish establishment didn't like having this radical around. And that, at the same time, Jesus' followers tied him forever to the Jewish religion by claiming that he was its Messiah. And then, we know that when the Christian Church got into power, it tortured, murdered and persecuted Jews and "crucified" any new radical thinker who opposed its own ideas. So much for love, tolerance, understanding, universality and "mankind." Things you'd think prophets would have heard from God and then would have emphasized sufficiently when he came down from the hill so that they weren't ignored.

But this is something I never knew. Yes, Judaism and Christianity were wrapped around each other like two star-crossed lovers with syphilis, but it's really a threesome, a holy land menage de trois of dueling but inseparable "word of God" books. Mohammed and the Moslems, the last of the prophet religions, are in on it too. From the beginning, Mohammed believed that his teaching was a continuation of Judeo-Christianity, and that he was its true realization. Just as Christ was considered by Christians as the realization of Judaism. In addition, I was also surprised to learn that the early spread of Islam was often connected to conquests and victories in battles. The following information is taken from The Columbia Encyclopedia. All are direct quotes and I believe they speak for themselves:

"According to Moslem teaching, God has given men successive revelations through his prophets. Man constantly falls away from these prophets and the merciful God sends new ones; Mohammed is the last, and when the world falls away from Islam, the end of the world will come. The five principal early prophets are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus."

"Mohammed's relations with the Jews and Christians of Arabia became gradually worse. Since he believed firmly in his position as last of the prophets and as successor of Jesus Christ, Mohammed seems to have expected at first that the Jews and Christians would welcome him and accept his revelations, but he was soon disappointed."

"Medina had a large Jewish population, which controlled most of the wealth of the city, and they steadfastly refused to give their new ruler any kind of religious allegiance. Mohammed, after a long quarrel with them, appropriated much of their property, and his first actual conquest was the oasis of Khaibar, occupied by the Jews, in 628. At the same time his teaching became strictly condemnatory of the Jews. He never fell so far afoul of the Christians as of the Jews; but the failure of several missions among them made him distrustful of Christians as well as Jews."

"Wherever the Koran differs from the Old and New Testaments, it is explained that the Jews and the Christians have corrupted or perverted the biblical text."

"From c.620 Mohammed's affairs at Mecca were in a crisis; the city was actively hostile, since much of its revenues depended on its shrine, the KAABA, and an attack on the existing Arabian religion attacked the prosperity of Mecca. ... In the summer of 622 a plan was made at Mecca to murder Mohammed, but it was found out, and he escaped in the night from the city and made his way to Yathnb. From this event, the flight or HEGIRA of the Prophet (622), Islam counts its dates: The rest of his life Mohammed spent at Yathrib, henceforth called MEDINA, ... Medina lies on the caravan route N of Mecca, and the Koreiahites of Mecca could not endure the thought of their outlawed relative taking vengeance on his native city by plundering their caravans. There was a pitched battle between Mohammed's men and the Meccans at a place called Badr; the victory of an inferior force from the poorer city over the men of Mecca gave Islam great prestige in SW Arabia. ... By this time pagan Arabia had been converted, and the Prophet's missionaries or legates were active in the Eastern Empire, in Persia, and in Ethiopia. ... His renown increased, and in 629 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca without interference. There he won valuable converts, including Amr and Khalid (who had fought him at Uhud). In 630 he marched against Mecca, which fell without a fight. Arabia was won."

So what we have here is that oft-told biblical problem of the disputatious brothers; but in this case it's not Cain and Abel but three entire Cains, each believing that, yes, his sacrifice is the one and only one that Daddy loves.

And how did this warring then affect the situation of the world today? The alignments that we are finding amongst nations. Some time later, the conquistadores came and they weren't all Spanish. But they all were western European Christian nations. And some time after that, these were defined as "the oppressors" by the "Third World;" so it was only natural for many of the Third World nations and races, out of the necessity, to find their own identity in opposition: Islam. The preeminent and historical enemy to the Christians who were the missionaries and exploiters. Much of Asia, Africa , the mid-east converted. As did many mistreated descendants of African slaves in the U.S.A.

The question we must raise at Circle of the EarthTM is this: does this story, does this ancient series of events in our history, and their aftermath, does the accumulation and enduringness of hard feelings, bitterness, irrational commitment to that which is old, just because its old, really reflect the true religious understanding of our species? We do not think so.