Imagine by Sheldon DrobnyAt 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 too
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. <snip>
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. <snip>
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.