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May, 2002
The Judeo-Christian Menace
by Frank Scott
We are supposedly in a struggle with an Islamic world bent on taking
over “the west”. This, according to pundits , government figures, and
other bigots who use the worst racial and religious slanders, reducing
more than a billion human beings to hordes of terrorist madmen. But
where does the madness originate, and which religious doctrines are at
the root of the savagery that grips our world?
It is the political economics of capital that drive the global engines
of the market, and power its killing machines. But religion plays an
important supporting role, by preaching divine goodness to rationalize
earthly evil. Individual words of Judeo-christian piety and love,
spoken by sincere believers, rarely match its institutional deeds of
greed and hate, practioced on millions of people under its rule. Calling
Islam a threat to this kind of “western civilization” is a charge
empty of context, and full of bigotry.
Influenced by our mind managers, many accept that “they” are evil , and
that “we” are good . Of course, most humans are inherently decent, if
given the chance to act that way. But it is Judeo-Christianity,
propelled by its western capitalist motor, that is the worst killer,
molester and polluter the world has ever known. Islam, in its most
extreme forms, is the equivalent of a mob armed with pistols , while the
Judeo-Christians are the Crusades, World Wars, nuclear and biological
weapons, colonialism and racism, all rolled into one.
The Koran is cited by those who condemn all Muslims for the excesses of
some, but it is the older Bible that contains the seeds from which the
murderous policies of the west take root. Rejecting the moral message
of justice that some find in its scriptures, Its institutional lust has
been to dominate , slaughter and pollute , while depicting itself as
superior, divinely chosen, and when aggrieved, righteously vengeful in
acting on the will of god. Who are the real fanatics?
The present horror in israel-palestine is an example of this religious
bigotry. Palestinians are deemed fanatic when they are driven to
suicidal despair by their plight, and blow themselves apart to kill
their invaders . But the brutal, colonial power of Israel is depicted
as a nation of persecuted souls, seeking shelter and besieged by
suicidal madmen corrupted by their evil parents. It is as if rich young
Palestinians loll about on chaise lounges, and suddenly their wicked
parents say “ go blow yourselves up, and kill some innocent Jews”. The
lack of context given these bloody actions could lead simpletons to
conclude that Arabs hijacked four airplanes , killed themselves and
thousands of Amercans , because Western women hide their identities
behind cosmetics and hair coloring, instead of burquas and chadors.
In the wholesale terror of Judeo-christian war and the retail terror of
Islamic retaliation, victims are mostly innocent, and tragically so .
They are pawns of policy, and complicit only through ignorance and
subjection to propaganda . Despite tales of how misinformed “they” are,
it would be hard to find people more confused about the material world
than “we” are. The corporate west has the most powerful weapons of mass
destruction ever created, but it also has media weapons of mass
confusion. It uses both, and without mercy.
The tongue-twisted twit in the white house, who makes Reagan look quick
witted by comparison, is transformed by media into a bold, wise wartime
leader. Congress follows this line and alternates between being lap dogs
and boot lickers. Whether snuggling at his crotch or groveling at the
Israeli lobby’s feet, this disgraceful mob of bought and paid for
politicos has defamed democracy . With few exceptions, it praises the
occupying military force in Palestine, and supports our war on
everything labeled terrorist. It demands that the world treat the USA
as chosen people of the planet, above the rule of any law , save that of
its own Judeo-christian interpretation.
Our commissars of consciousness identify social realities only in
caricatured individuals. Whether these are ancient religious icons, as
in the Moses or Jesus legends, or contemporary figures , as in a heroic
Bill Clinton or Eli Weisel or a demonized Yasir Arafat or Ariel Sharon,
they misrepresent the material world, oversimplify complex issues, and
distort the humanity at the core of most religious belief.
We meddle in the lives of millions who never invited us into their
world. We disrespect their cultures, empower their dictators, and
murder them at will, all to maintain an energy system that endangers
the planet. Religious fables about people returning to a place where
they’ve never been, to collect real estate given them by god, and of a
virgin giving birth to god’s son, blend with political fables about
democratic societies protecting the world from terror. These are myths
which serve to cover for the global domination of corporate capital ,
and nothing more.
Judeo-christians who work for peace and justice can cite scripture for
the source of their moral ideals . But they are outnumbered by the
Judeo- Christians who practice war and injustice, citing the same
scriptures for their murderous beliefs. The outcome of a struggle
between these two groups is important for the future of humanity. The
west can and must help save the world, not because it’s superior, but
because it bears responsibility for threatening the world in the first
place.
The international movement for democracy and peace is a hopeful sign,
but for it to succeed it must not only stand against injustice and the
power of corporate capital. It must also understand that Islam did not
create the polluting economy, the weapons of mass destruction, nor the
racist practices that still curse humanity. The Islamic world is hardly
perfect, but it carries no major responsibility for the ugly mess that
is material reality. The religion of corporate capital’s states,
armies, banks and industries , is Judeo-Christian. And until it is
transformed, that is the religious menace to humanity, not Islam.
Copyright (c) 2002 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.
This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
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Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author
frank scott
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