OT: Jibjab, Politics, the Big Bang and more!

[Arryn]

Boron,

That all religious conflicts (wars) have 'poverty' as their root cause (if you use a very loose definition of the term 'poverty') is true. Religion is an excuse that people use to justify aggression used to achieve other goals. The Crusades weren't about faith. They were about land-grabbing abroad, and political maneuvering at home. The Holocaust wasn't about a difference of faith between Nazis and Jews. It was about a redistribution of wealth and the elimination of ideological threats. The Arab-Israeli conflict is not about faith, but about controlling land and revenge.

If you eliminate greed, vengeance, and true poverty, then you remove the excuses used for religious intolerance. But you have to get rid of all three. Curing poverty is not enough. Though it would take care of 99% of the problem, probably making the rest manageable.

EDIT: typo

[ July 28, 2004, 15:20: Message edited by: Arryn ]