So what’s the real problem with humanity? It was not that all past wars were about religion though most all wars NOW are about religion. Even today religion plays second fiddle to both war and violence of all sorts.
The first chair in humanities’ historic carnage comes from vengeance / revenge. My two favorite books take on that subject, Moby DIck and The Count of Monte Cristo. Of course religion drives the vengeance in Moby Dick though both books are about the folly and horror of revenge.
BTW, there is another book that expresses the same revulsion with the circle of vengeance that causes so much pain, misery and trouble in the world. The New Testament.
This was brought to me once again recently with the botched execution in Georgia that caused the NEW VICTIM to squirm and suffer 50 injections over two hours strapped to a gurney before he died. The witnesses found it a horrible experience while the OLD VICTIM’S family said it was not a problem and he got what he deserved.
And there you have it. Whether it’s a brother killing a brother in a field, an assassination in the Balkans, a bad treaty, driving planes into buildings, Hamas rockets, or blowing up schools. The circle goes unbroken with few stepping up to the plate, we do know of one who did and he got nailed to a tree for it.
Down here in Dumbutt, Texas we get a news story on an execution every couple weeks. Been reading them for 35 years now. It’s always the same story. The newspaper states the facts of the execution, then a very long piece on the horror the executed was found guilty of, and then the words of the victim’s family rejoicing in that execution. That’s not news. What is news is when the family of victims channels Jesus Christ and asks for mercy, forgiveness and an end to the eye for an eye crap.