I had to put other writing aside, to say this, and I hope it gets you thinking. But to make sure, I’d like to put a quote of Noam Chomsky’s down first. Please keep referring back to it as you read this article.
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while at the same time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.” ~ Noam Chomsky
The spectrum of allowed debate, that I am referring to, is that of the Abrahamic god of the three great monotheisms; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The presupposition is that the Abrahamic god is real and we must not offend his believers, when discussing the genocide in Gaza. Say anything, but god forbid you say he doesn't exist. Now, you've ruined the friendship. Also, the biggest gas lighting of the lot, is that I'm only barely allowed to criticise Zionism and Israel, but under no circumstances may I conflate Zionism with Judaism (even though Zionist Jews do this openly and unashamedly all the time).
All sides are allowed to scream at each other from the rooftops. We can accuse each other of not following the correct interpretation of Hashem, Jesus or Allah’s word. We can all laugh at each others rituals and profess we are in the correct sect or branch of the one true religion. Our religion is the most ‘civilised’. We are allowed to say the fallen in Gaza will either be flying up to heaven or burning in hell. We can throw mud at each other, all day long 247365. But, under no circumstances, may we say that the Abrahamic god, is an outdated myth, and the fallen in Gaza, are gone for ever, because of this myth. I'm suggesting, when it comes to Abrahamic religion, the genocide in Gaza, is a limited hangout. In order to end it, we must be brave enough to confront, what actually started it.
It is important to keep in your top presence of mind, that little children lie traumatised, shaking uncontrollably, missing limbs, faces burnt off, bones crushed, as the life slowly drains out of their tiny bodies. They are in pain, frightened and confused, as they bleed out on the cold and indifferent hospital floor. “Why did the world do this to me?”, they ask.
The world did it, you did it to these children, because you are all religious fanatics. So completely and blindly deluded, that even a genocide won't excommunicate you from your Abrahamic fairytale. Everyone, including the kind old Christian granny that puts 10 dollars in her local church's collection bowl for Israel every Sunday, the Pastor who screams from the pulpit about defending Jerusalem, the Muslim who believes in Jerusalem, the prophet Moses, the sanctity of the Abrahamic god and pays taxes for weapons to Israel, including normalising relationships with the genocidal, ethno apartheid state. Right up to the Zionist Jews, who claim to be liberal, while collecting Christian and Muslim money, in order to maintain the most brutal apartheid occupation, the world has ever known. You all disgust me. Without exception.
Palestine is an ancient and noble land, with Semitic people having lived there for centuries as a defined ethnic group, within a defined set of borders, practicing a distinct culture. Ironically, the Palestinians being slaughtered today, may even have converted from Judaism, millennia ago and have more Jewish ancestry than the European Jews murdering them in cold blood, at this very moment. The point is, Palestinians are indigenous to the land, and entitled to believe whatever they want on their own land and vote for whoever they want, on their own land.
Somehow, I am cruel and offensive if I say your Abrahamic god does not exist and the fighting must stop. You want me to say the war must stop, but only in the name of your fictitious Abrahamic version of god. A million dead babies wouldn’t be enough to convince you of his non existence. The Jews will kill 2 million Gazans and thank Hashem for the victory and the Muslims and Christians who manage to witness one baby being pulled out from beneath the rubble, even after its entire family have been martyred, will thank Allah and Jesus for the miracle. Everyone's faith, will remain stubbornly and quite frankly, bizarrely unshaken.
How did it come to this? Why do we keep going through ages of Abrahamic hyper religiosity, specifically? Crusades, Spanish inquisition, Salem witch hunts, ethnic cleansing of the holy land … This surely has to come to an end at some point. But how many genocides, until we can call an end to the Abrahamic epoch? If all the inmates in the mental asylum are playing different versions of the same game, with an invisible friend, does that make the person who calls them out, and doesn’t want to play along, the insane one?
You will look under any rock and point your finger at everyone and everything, except for your own beliefs. Beliefs that have thrown gasoline on the genocide in Gaza.
If you believe in this Abrahamic god, part of the blood of the dead in Gaza is squarely, on your hands. I do not absolve you of this mortal sin. I will also never forgive you. It's time to wake up from your childish religion.
Yes, I am angry, very angry. Over 14 000 children are dead. They will never know why they were targeted for death. But the religious answer is, they were the children of a lesser god, not worthy of licking the boots of god’s chosen race.
With that in mind, let's discuss Abrahamic eschatology. How are the end times looking for the 3 front runners of genocide, crusades and jihad? I'm sure you'll tell me, your god is on his way any minute now. You evidence this by just how dire everything is looking at the moment, and only the god of Abraham, your god, can fix things now. Your eschatological wet dreams are in overdrive.
Without exception, I could travel anywhere along the Abrahamic timeline of history, be it ancient Canaan or modern day Jerusalem. Speak to any person of the book, and they would give me a compelling argument, that we are living in the end of days and that the new world of god and peace is on the horizon. They were incorrect then, they're incorrect now and they'll be incorrect a thousand years from now (if we survive their wars). Genocides will be explained away, as the will of god. Not the abject stupidity of people.
I'll start with Judaism. God's chosen people get to have their cake and eat it. What do I mean? Well, they're simultaneously a religion and a race. Just by being born a Jew, you're automatically in god's chosen tribe. You can be an absolute bastard, never attend synagogue, and commit murder. But that won't effect your standing among the sub-humans below you. Your fingernail is still more important than the most pious gentile. Even if you become an atheist, you're still a Jewish atheist. A bit of an oxymoron, but don't think about it. Religion is good about the not thinking part.
Lucky for the Jews, there's no day of judgment either, Rosh Hashanah and swinging a chicken over your head (the ritual of Kapparot) once a year, takes care of that. One swing of a chicken can erase the sin of a genocide. Sick.
It will be peace on earth after the Messiah arrives, with every gentile, subjugated and happy to be in servitude of the chosen. What did I hear you say? You're not like that? You're a modern and hip non practicing Jew? Sorry, but if you don't believe, then why have the religion at all, and pander to those in your community who do? I've never heard a single one of you speaking up against this. Religious apologists, are enablers of the very worst kind within their religions. I count you as even bigger zealots, because your money and sympathy, goes into the bank accounts of those who commit genocide in your name. I have more respect for those who come out and openly say they're better than the rest of us, than I do for those who keep it a secret to their racist and bigoted selves. Better the devil you know …
This is not known to most people (on purpose), but one of the main reasons the Hamas resistance fighters broke out of the Gaza concentration camp (now an extermination and final solution death camp), was because of extremist Jewish eschatological beliefs. A sect of religious zealots from the temple institute, have been preparing to slaughter a red heifer and signal in the rebuilding of the temple and arrival of the Messiah.
This could put the Al-Aqsa Mosque under threat from destruction by Jewish extremists. The red heifers have already been prepared and are ready to be slaughtered. Along with this comes some incredibly creepy and disturbing rituals, including raising ‘pure’ children in a compound carved from stone. You can learn more here: https://templeinstitute.org/para-aduma-the-red-heifer/
Christians, you are no better. Having adopted your religion completely, subsequent to being conquered successfully, by emperor Constantine’s Christianity and the council of Nicaea. Of course, Christianity is still Judaism and would not exist without Judaism. It is merely an offshoot of the first Abrahamic cult. It too, bases its entire premise off of a man who heard god speaking to him and asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac, with which he was quite happy to oblige (today Abraham would have been sent to a mental institution or imprisoned). Christianity culminated in sacrificing another son, this time, god's only son, Jesus Christ, who allegedly arose from the dead, along with a lot of other people in the New testament. So, it wasn't even a big deal at the time. But this Messiah is coming back and many dates have been set and predictions made, for his arrival (thousands of those dates have already come and gone). Spoiler alert, he's never coming back, and arguably was never here to begin with.
This sect of Judaism, is obsessed with a holy rapture and a final religious war called Armageddon, in which god will finally be victorious over the devil (another fictional character in the great Abrahamic epic). The righteous are assured a place in one of god’s many mansions, if they accept Jesus, while the damned burn in hell. Again, I wouldn't give a shit, if this belief wasn't indifferent to Palestinian lives and the overall mental stability of the planet. By believing in this cult, you endorse the god of Abraham that promised the land in which the Palestinians reside, to the Jews, tacitly imbuing them, with divine permission to commit genocide. Congratulations, Israel salutes you. Please don’t stop believing in the Abrahamic god.
Lastly, we have the final major offshoot (I say major offshoot, because as you know, there are so many smaller ones that keep cropping up) of the Judaic cult, Islam. By propping up the hard core beliefs and endorsing the prophets of the first two cults that came before it, we get no closer to breaking free from Abrahamic mythology. In fact, this third sect of Judaism, doubles down on the literalism of its religious texts. Accordingly, Muhammad has split the moon in two and ridden some type of winged horse into the heavens to meet Jesus Christ and various other biblical prophets, including Abraham personally.
Islam's eschatology also has angels and demons featured heavily. Ending in a day of final judgment, with the righteous going to heaven and the damned falling off a bridge, into burning hellfire.
Believing in this Judaic cult, gives Israel all the permission it needs to genocide other races from the ‘holy land’. You endorse and believe in their patriarch Abraham, so Israel is overjoyed with your support for their mythical deity. Keep complaining about genocide, just as long as you don't ever stop believing in the Abrahamic god of the ancient Israelites.
What's so terrible about people believing in Bronze Age mythology, you might ask? Well, if it isn't painfully obvious to you already, people like me, allowing you, to continue indulging in childish fantasies, is killing children in Gaza. But I mustn't talk about it, because it offends your religious sensibilities? Sorry, but no. Someone needs to be the voice of reason. More than words, I am offended by the physical and tangible, mass murder in the name of your fictitious deity.
Just like with a family member, who has a destructive drug addiction, religious believers in the Abrahamic god, need an urgent intervention and a much needed detox from their religions. You have gone too far, and the world is horrified. Disgusted, actually.
You want to keep fighting the symptoms (genocide) but you refuse to acknowledge the cause (Abrahamic mythology). It's the equivalent of hacking at the branches of evil instead of striking at the root.
There's an old saying, ‘hate the game, not the player’ but it's becoming more difficult for me to do that, as I see the innocent children's dead bodies pile up at the hands of adults who should know better. We're not talking Santa Klaus and the Easter Bunny here. People are murdering children in the name of a very racist, non existent, Abrahamic god.
Christians and Muslims, I've heard enough of your preaching, to understand your brand of Abrahamic mythology, also considers you, as ultimately being god’s chosen children. The last ‘good’ batch to find god's favour. So don't try to pin that ‘chosen’ rhetoric on the Jews. You all suffer from it, equally. The last word and final revelation bullshit, resonates with all of you. No one who thinks they’re going to heaven, while all the wrong kinds of people burn in hell, has the right to call themselves humble. that’s the antithesis of humble.
Will you ever grow up? Did you have the bravery to even read this far? Probably not. This is the hubris of the religious person. This is why a religious person with very little knowledge, will happily march into a debate in defense of their belief. They have such unfalteringly blind faith, that their god will provide them with all the right answers. Even if the audience laughs them out of the room, their brain will convince them, they conquered the opposition because god was beside them. It truly is something mind boggling to behold.
‘New’ Atheists, you're not off the hook either. After providing your convincing case against the Abrahamic god, you decided to go along with all the Judeo-Christian brainwashing against Muslims in the legacy media, and picked a side. So what makes you any different from believing in fairy tales? Absolutely nothing. You're so open minded, your brains fell on the floor. What happened to your scientific scepticism? Did you forget which Abrahamic cult kick-started the other two you complain about so much?
Behind all those wars in the Middle East, are a whole bunch of Christian and Jewish nationalist extremists (fascists), that have scapegoated Muslims and brown people, for twisted religious fantasies, imperial and financial gains. You had better open a real book, other than believing the New York Times and other Zionist dominated legacy media narratives. The ones that sanitise the words of settler colonialism, with terms like ‘disputed territories’ instead of ‘occupied territories’ and ‘terrorists’ instead of ‘armed resistance to occupation’. You know what I’m talking about, unless you’re a complete brainwashed idiot.
Conclusion:
Judaism, is the root cause for all the other Abrahamic mythologies that came after it. If it's adherents come clean today, that there is no such thing as an Abrahamic god, never was. Then there will be a domino effect and the other two equally false, Abrahamic offshoots called Christianity and Islam, will be forced to give up their fake god too. Seeing as they were built on, an original fabrication. This would usher in a new renaissance for humanity. Not quite peace yet, but a giant leap for humankind, towards peace.
Of course, this would dictate giving up all biblical claims to Israel and the long suffering Palestinians, being given their land and properties back. The question is, will Judaism, Christianity and Islam, continue to put their Abrahamic god above the holocaust of the Palestinians? It’s a very tall ask, but not impossible.
Believing in a god is fine, but zero evidence for an Abrahamic god exists. You are visiting terrible misery on our planet, by doubling down on insisting that an ancient Bronze Age, goat herding and semi-nomadic farming community’s, Abrahamic mythology is true. What more evidence do you need, than your biblically inspired genocide in Gaza right now?
About the author: Shilo Bunce holds degrees in Political Leadership & Citizenship & International Politics (Hon). He is interested in working towards sustainable world peace, universal healthcare, housing, food security and education for all earths inhabitants. He has a keen interest in propaganda, mythology and humankind’s persistent obsession with religious cults and pseudo science. When he isn’t doing this, he’s teaching and practicing calisthenics and enjoying life with his family.
Thank you, a very good article that anyone with a brain can understand, I believe in a God where ever this God may be, But the lies that people get taught to capture every single person into this cult you described is beyond evil, I'm sure this article will be a wake up call for many .
A brilliantly captured piece revealing the madness that we live in. It’s brutal to have to accept this is a factual snapshot of how we live and treat others. Thank you for writing.