War in Middle East actually War of Religions?

It's not really a war of religion of course, the US government knows how to inspire people to fight for them, that is all.
The US and the rest of the West have nothing against Muslims or Arabs in particular imo.

 

war of geopolitical and economic interests.
religion is just present in the societies involved.

 

I gotta say its true the fighting in the middle east is about religion. Who but the secular people think islam cares about the land for anything other than religious reasons? I always find it funny talking to people about this cuz they will know the details like the temple mount being the 3rd most holy place in islam but in the same breath they will say its not about religion. Talk about ignoring the 10 ton elephant in the room.

The temple mount is the holiest in Judaism. The wailing wall is also extremely important to Jews we have all seen the videos of hundreds of Jews standing at the wall praying. To Jews the land was given to them by God himself. Also I duno how many of you know this but if you look down on Jerusalem from the air you will quickly see the geography of the city is the Hebrew word for God with the Temple mount right in the middle of the word. It's like God wrote his name in the land it's self.

The temple mount is not particularly holy to Christians but the entire land is holy because nearly all the major events in the bible happened there. Just outside the city of Jerusalem is where the Romans hung Jesus up on the cross not far from there is the tomb Jesus rose from the dead at. Not far away is the place Jesus was born the same for the place Jesus was baptized by John the baptist. The list of places where Biblical events took place just keeps going. It is without a doubt the holiest land in Christianity because of all the major Biblical events that took place in the land.


The world's 3 biggest religions all hold the land in high regards namely the Jews and Christians because there is no land on the entire planet that comes anywhere close to it. Muslims also hold the land in high regards but its only the 3rd holiest site to them IRC the first 2 are in Saudi Arabia. So to ignore the religious importance of the land is foolish to say the least. I know alot of people on these boards don't believe in God but to most that do believe in God there is no piece of land on the planet more important (with the exception of muslims).

 

very true. The 'west' is in the middle east to protect oil supply lines. Governments are good at concealing their true motives. I learned recently that wars used to be fought over salt mines before refrigeration was invented. So the key is inventing a fuel source cheaper than oil.

 

Ha mandatory fun days!

 

I would have to disagree. Yes it is "Holy Land" but that has nothing to do with why the USA is there. Maybe thats why the Arabs\Muslims and Isrealies want the land. The USA it for natural resources and strategic positioning.

 

The US Military would like it's soldiers to be Christian or Jewish and believe that the war is about religion, because religion is a great motivator. More so than oil, the Military Indiustrial Complex profits, and reconstruction contracts.


Likewise, the "Islamic fundamentalists" like Al Zawahiri and Bin Laden like their followers to believe it's about religion. Because it's easier to get someone to do a suicide bomb mission in the name of Allah, than in the name of their opium Cartel, their own oil contracts, or because they're still on the CIA payroll and have the same motivations as the US Military - just continuing the war for the sake of war money.


Yes. To the soldiers who do the dying, it's probably at least partly about religion.

But religion is not the real reason we are at war.

 

And for the atheist/agnostic soldiers, you have Rambo.

 

This. And keep in mind Bush was fed scriptures with the reports on the war, so I think this suggests that he was as much a pawn as the soldiers with scripture on their weapons.

 

The different actors in the ongoing conflict in the middle-east, have different motives for their engagement.

If you look at the different sides rethorics and strategy, there are three basic interests that is the source of the conflict.

First, the security interests of Israel. Israel have been the victim of aggression since the day the state was founded. To them, the situation is one of simple survival. Either defend their little island of civilization against the barbaric hordes that surround them and want them dead, or perish.

Then we got the West and the US, who seek stability. Not for its own sake or any concideration for the local population, but rather to keep the oil flowing as unimpeded as possible to our very oil-addicted economies. Which gives rise to some very strange bedfellows.

And last you got the religious aspect. This is most prevalent in the muslim camp. Islam is basically an expansionist supremacist political ideology, with a thin veneer of theology working as a lubricant for the masses to follow its rather regressive and misanthropic teachings. It is no coincidence, that the borders of islam is burning in violence. It is islam trying to spread by the only way it knows how, by the sword, by holy-war.

The good news, is that before long the West and the US, will loose interest in the region. Once oil is no longer a vital part of our energy-budget, we can wash our hands off the entire quagmire. Ofcourse, this will also implode the local economies. Lacking oil-exports, the arab-world is left with essentially no commodities to trade. Making the region about as interesting (in strategic terms) as most of Africa. That is, not at all, apart from keeping the Suez canal open for traffic.

As for Israel, the conflict is less likely to end anytime soon. For the Israelis part, there is no incentive to end the conflict. Whatever treaty is achieved, no matter the price and concessions given, there is no reason to think it will be anything but a temporary cease-fire.

But that is ok. As oil revenue goes from a flood to a trickle, the available resources to the militant islamists, will be insignificant. And local arab powers, will have more than enough on their plate keeping internal social unrest at bay, than worry about launching futile wars against Israel.

 

uhhhh no. we would be bombing them to hell if that was the case.

this shits about oil son, dont trip.

 

While I never was in the military, I did go to military school for 4 years. The school was run by ex-military personnel and I was most certainly punished for not participating in christian activities. Namely, we were expected to go to church every Sunday, I told them I was an atheist, so I got punished.

Now I know that's not exactly a real world example and is a policy implemented by a private institution, but I think the fact that it was all staffed by ex-military has a little bit of relevance.

As to whether or not wars in the Middle East are religious wars...on the surface, I would have to say no. But, I think that underlying it is, even if people won't admit it. Mainly, I think any war in any region are just aiming for strategic position and really don't care what any ideological beliefs are (on a large scale, I understand that there are still ethnic and religious disputes around the world).

 

People saying that the Military forces religion on you, have obviously never served in the Military.. A private military type school doesn't count..

This specific artical is pointing out one crazy Commander, who was born again and thinks that every soldier would benefit from religion, in my opinion the guy should be relived of his command. He doesn't represent anybody but himself here.. He thought it would be good to let the troops listen to a live band, its just to bad the band was some religious garbage.

The Military does allow religious services and freedom of religion, from Muslim to Christian, they don't force you to participate in any of them though..

In a school environment its different, you are under strict control and usually majority rules when it comes to off time, they don't just let everybody do there own thing.

I served for 11 years as an Infantry soldier, Ranger and scout sniper, spent over 4 years in combat zones and was never forced to participate in any religious BS ever.. Some guys would bow there heads and pray before some missions, but not in my unit, other units sure, but my unit was mostly packed full of Atheist and non God fearing killers. We stayed far away from the Chaplin and religious goof balls..

I would say the war is partly about building up our military strength, I mean look at all the money that has been dumped into the Military since the war.. We have lots of new toys and weapons now. Our military was looking pretty weak before 9/11, now we got all new shit from uniforms to tanks.

 

Unfortunately, the United States is one of the most religious countries in the world, and this is very much a Christian nation. Religion breeds ignorance and hatred. I went to a High School, and we had a pastor lead us in prayer before every football game, so I'm not surprised to hear that the same kind of stuff occurs in the military.

 

I'm so sick of people calling this whole thing the new Crusades or holy war or whatever

Give ONE example of how this is a war of religion

just one