The other day I came across this on-air and online feud between Sean Hannity and Russell Brand.

Brand accused Hannity of being unreasonable in the way he treated a guest who was sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

I agreed with Brand by posting his video and commenting about it to that effect on my Facebook profile.

That set off a string of comments, including a few by a young Jewish man from Tel Aviv.

The debate has been cordial and this morning I reviewed a couple of the videos posted by my new Israeli friend. Both took a hard-line view in support of recent Israeli action.

Both were from Prager University, an organization that advances a view of the world that is steeped in Judeo-Christian ideology.

And therein lies the problem, as I see it.

I am currently 53 years old and I cannot remember a time in my life when conflict did not exist in the Middle East. Perhaps what’s happening now is about as bad as I can remember, but it’s just more of the same old thing.

And old it is.

In fact, it goes back thousands of years…all the way back to a biblical character named Abraham, who, according to the Old Testament, was gifted this small piece of land by God himself.

Funny thing is, both groups (Muslims and Jews) trace their ancestry to this same guy!

So, it’s no wonder they are fighting over a piece of land that was once a god-given gift to their common forefather.

Remember the Parable of the Orange I recently posted…

“It’s mine!”, declared the warring siblings.

Check out this little animated video I came across that kinda captures the essence of this age-old continuous fight over a patch of dirt.

So, what’s really at the heart of this conflict?

Religion…pure and not so simple.

And what do I like to call religion in this blog?

An Impact Blinder!

Currently there is a great debate within the U.S. as to who is RIGHT and who is WRONG in the current stage of this age-old conflict…being played out before the eyes of the world.

And everyone points to the very complicated past, as well as the murky present facts about what might constitute a “human shield”, to establish their claim to rightness and moral superiority.

But what about the future?

Ah, you see, when religion enters into the picture, the future doesn’t really matter that much. At least not the one that will be occupied by the flesh and blood.

No, what’s more important is the moral superiority that will gain us a rightful place in the next world.

OK, great, if you want to believe that, or have faith in that, fine, go ahead.

But the very idea that one would be willing to kill in order to advance what is at its essence, a religiously-based position, is in my view, grossly immoral…

and highly threatening to People and Planet.

Here is my bottom line after you cut through all the smoke and rhetoric…

People are dying at the hands of people, innocent women and children (not to discount the lives of men)…

and over what?

Competing religious ideologies.

I don’t know for sure, but I would conjecture that when we identify with a certain religiously oriented group, either by natural birth or religious “re-birth”, we feel the need to be right about it.

And being right about it often means, no, usually means, proving that everyone else is wrong.

There have been many wars fought throughout human history to accomplish just that.

The Crusades come to mind.

And did they?

No!

What they did accomplish was a whole lot of death and destruction.

The cycle continues to this day and right now its focal point, once again, is that tiny strip of land called Israel…

Actually when it was established back in 1948 in its modern form, David Ben-Gurion declared it Eretz Israel.

Why “Eretz Israel?”

Because Eretz Yisrael is the Hebrew name for the Land of Israel given by God to Abraham.

You see, it all comes down to religion.

Two groups willing to kill each other to advance an ideology.

That, my friends, is the quintessential essence of an Impact Blinder…

And in my opinion, it is wrong.

Peace is what’s important, not being religiously right.

I know folks will read this (well, I hope at least someone reads it…why else would I take the time to write it?) and say that I’m simply anti-religious.

No, I’m not suggesting that anyone abandon his or her religious faith…

But only to stop killing one another over it.

Doing that is not moral, nor right…it’s just plain evil.

We need more people to take off the Impact Blinder of religion and appeal for peace in the Middle East…

That’s much more impactful than being religiously right…in my humble opinion.

image credit: Jews and Arabs Refuse to be Enemies