What if God was One of Us?

The Arab-Israeli conflict is scarcely a topic within which one can delve with an ounce of sympathy. Empathy for victims is natural. The so-called "collateral damage" in decades of warfare is unforgiveable. The tortoise-speed development towards some form of lasting peace is frustrating. And the farther away it moves from its origins, the conflict develops a life of its own - a monster that needs to be nurtured with guns, blood and hatred (and duh!merican dabbling of course). I never really could sympathise with any of the sides. In the last few years the temptation to view Israel as the unwieldy aggressor with its tanks and rockets shifted uneasily every time some so-called martyr would have us believe that God is really concerned with the geo-politics in a few plots of land in the middle east.

Killing in the name of.... Like the Irish, the Bosnian and many others. This sadistic human race needs petty excuses to start killing and then finds it extremely easy to continue doing so once the carnage has started. Whether the ultimate goal is Divine Retribution or the Exportation of Democracy the basis of this pattern of violent behaviour is a strong justification of one's own actions because one is Right and all the rest are Oh! So very Wrong!

And it is here that sometimes you sit back and wonder whether it is only your communication lines to the divine being that are full of static and erratic messages. Whether your prolonged absence from some place of worship is the reason why you have not yet heard that call to arms and go out there and kill the enemy (every one of them). Whether the fact that you have not been in that confession box for so long is the reason why you have not yet strapped on a belt full of explosives and rushed onto the nearest bus full of the enemy.

Or whether your misanthropy and lack of faith in the fellow human being has led you to stray away from the Great Message of Democratisation and away from the Great Battle against the Axis of Evil. Whether this lack of democratic values in you means that you have not stocked up on the latest (non-chemical) phosphorous-based weapon to shower on your neighbour who is guilty of not buying enough Coca-Cola or McDonalds Extra Meals.

Or maybe you are right after all. Maybe it is them who are wrong. Maybe it is their communication lines with their deity of choice that are wrong. It could be their self-righteous belief in democracy at all costs that are faulty. And sometimes God sends me messages about this. She shows me images of Hamas activists celebrating the fact that their opponent (Ariel Sharon) is in hospital with a brain haemhorrage. She shows me the costs of 'democratisation' by force. And She asks me to see and forgive.

I find it difficult. But then I might be misunderstanding what She really wants. So I will sit and listen. Maybe one day it will all be clear. In the meantime I can only try to pray....

Our Mother.... who art in heaven....

PS. And now a message for all those who think that the problem is religion (especially wishy-washy communists :) ). One sentence: Religion does not kill people. People kill people. And I know Clint Eastwood liked a similar sentence. So what? He's cool isn't he?