The Great Alliance

by Robert Thompson

These comments are addressed above all to those among you who follow Judaism, Christianity or Islam, but it might be useful for others to ponder on the points raised.

At the end of June, when I wrote on the subject of the "Misappropriation of Christianity (or of any other religion)", I ended with the advice "Above all, pray for guidance to our loving, compassionate and merciful God, who cannot be served with evil actions".

This has since become even more urgent, and we have heard politicians at the Republican Party Convention basing their appeals to the voters on fear and hatred. The reply from the Democratic Party has been half-hearted, since their spokespersons seem to be scared of being described as "liberal" merely because they are willing to question aggressive ultra-nationalist anti-Jewish, anti Christian and anti-Muslim policies.

All genuine followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (to take these great monotheistic religions in the chronological order in which they made their impact on the world) base their beliefs on the Great Alliance proposed by God to Abraham, our common father in faith. Any Jew, Christian or Muslim who refuses to accept this common basis is most probably, in my view, a hypocrite and/or blinded by the most hideous sinful pride, since he or she cannot justify such a refusal.

Attempts to use any of these religions as a justification for evil actions have been made, as we all have to admit, by persons and groups claiming to be saving that to which they belong. Committed practising Catholic Christians, such as myself, have first to face up to, and condemn, the violent brigandage in and around the Holy Land which took the name of the "Crusades". There was also the manner in which supposedly Catholic invaders treated indigenous peoples in the Americas, and it was a great pleasure to hear our present Pope apologise in the name of the Church for such behaviour. Between differing groups claiming to be Christian there have also been the most horrible persecutions, such as that of Protestants in France and of Catholics in England and Wales.

In the same way, every Muslim must look squarely at the attrocities committed in the name of Islam and condemn them, as so many leading Islamic scholars have already done over the past few terrible days.

The longest lasting such misappropriation of religion in recent history is the invasion of the Holy Land by the Zionists in the name of the mythical "Jewish race". This incredible concept was invented by Theodor Herzl, and adopted rather differently (but logically) by the Nazis. Nobody has tried to make out that there is a "Christian race" or a "Muslim race", and one only has to attend, or see on the television, any large meeting of any group of followers of either religion, to see the diversity of skin colour (so often a factor in considering others to be of another race) among them and their leaders - e.g. just look at a gathering of Catholic Cardinals.

In the same way, genuine Jews also have sharply differing skin colouring, as can be noted when we see those of Ethiopian or Indian origin, and Mr Herzl’s ideas, which formed the foundation of the Nazi racist theory, although enthusiastically adopted by the Zionist movement which he effectively founded, have no basis in reality. These ideas also gave rise to the belief that there is such a thing as anti-semitism, meaning anti-Jewish, as though there were such a thing as a semitic race. Many dishonest politicians, who love to use such equally dishonest claims to get support from some of the most ignorant voters, know full well that the word "semitic" has absolutely no connections with race, but merely relates to the language spoken by any particular individual. These dishonest persons try hard to conceal the fact that the principal semitic language is Arabic, and that Hebrew is merely one of the others, as are also, for example, Aramaic, Syriac and Maltese.

Zionism is a ghastly example of the misappropriation of religion, since many traditional Jews are strongly opposed to its claim that every Jew owes his or her first duty and loyalty to the "State of Israel" over and beyond the country of which he or she happens to be a national. You are now in the middle of allegations of a spy scandal concerning one of the principal Zionist organisations in the USA, but there are already far too many citizens of the USA in positions of power in your country whose first loyalty is clearly to the ruthless invaders of Palestine rather than to their own (and your) country.

Strange interpretations of the Book of the Revelation to Saint John (as translated into the English language) lead a number of persons who claim to be Christian to believe that they must drive the Christian and Muslim indigenous inhabitants out of the Holy Land to allow the Jews to occupy the whole land in order that they might then be wiped out in a new battle at Armageddon. They are also at severe risk of being led astray by those in favour of Zionism, regardless of justice towards the children of Abraham whose families have lived in the Holy Land for centuries Such people, if they wish to prove their Christian credentials, should refuse such injustice and reject the idea of a racist state as so precisely defined by Theodor Herzl.

Let each of us, whether Jew, Christian or Muslim, work and pray for justice, reconciliation and peace for the people of the Holy Land, and refuse to accept that this should be left to the generosity of Zionists such as Mr Sharon, the self-confessed murderer of so many, or to his backers in the USA. Never forget the Great Alliance and the duty of love which we should all have towards every other spiritual child of Abraham.

Article sent to Axis of Logic (USA) on 06.09.2004