SOCIAL STUDIES: Homework: Which god is God? : War for the Holy Land

Class Synthesis. Jews, Christians, and Muslims have many things in common. Their religions have a common origin in the North of Africa and in the Middle East. They are monotheist. They have sacred books that rule their practices, values and beliefs, which are all linked to the Seven Laws of Norah. And they even share some of their prophets and martyrs, such as Moses and Abraham. In brief, we can say that deep in the bottom they believe in the same god or, at least, an alike god. However, sharing the same god doesn't seem to matter much to their followers. They are more interested in the ownership of a piece of worldly territory and the power it can get them, than in a place in Heaven. European Christians faced the Muslims in a series of wars that lasted 200 years, called the Crusades (1095-1291), for the control of Jerusalem and other provinces under rule of an Islamic Empire that threatened to advance into Europe. Muslims kept control of most of the Middle East and North Africa until after World War I (1914-1918), when the Ottoman Empire fell and British continue its control over Palestine. 1948 would be the year of their withdrawal. But before, and persuaded by the horrors that the European Jewish population had suffered in the past and during World War II (1939-1945), they planned to divide Palestine and give Jews a place where they could practice their faith under their own laws. The League of Nations agreed. The British Mandate for Palestine had paved the way for a Jewish nation and the UN Partition Plan (1947) founded the State of Israel. Palestine was chosen because of its historical meaning for Jews and the large presence of Jewish pilgrimage in the area. Palestine saw this with disapproval and declared war to the new State (1948). Several wars have taken place since then (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1983), and Israel has carried the day of most confrontations, resulting not only in the confirmation of their State but also in its expansion into former Palestine territory that was not part of the British Mandate. What seemed to be a war for beliefs is actually a war for territory, since the roots of their religions boil down to a common ancestor. A war for territory hidden behind the curtains of divine will. A sacred war that is not such.

Which god is best?

When followers of Islamic and Jewish principles claim that their war is sacred, they actually feel it that way. Religion is an important part of their lives, and there is little fear to die for a "divine cause". As a matter of fact, martyrs are believed to have a booked place in Heaven. However, this belief is nothing but a paradox because it goes against the moral laws that are supposed to rule them, on the basis of a good cause. They kill for God, even if it is forbidden by all the laws of God. If the God they believe in accepts this contradiction, it is a God that is problematic. This laxity that accepts killing even if it is forbidden reminds the picture that Jorge Luis Borges makes of God. The Argentinean writer stated:
"The world is perhaps the rudimentary sketch of a childish god, who left it half done, ashamed by his deficient work; it is created by a subordinate god, at whom the superior gods laugh; it is the confused production of a decrepit and retiring divinity, who has already died" (The Analytical Language of John Wilkins).

Activity.
1. What does Borges mean?
2. What is your opinion about this idea, if considered the paradoxical nature of Sacred Wars?