Dr. Reza Aslan discusses the subject of his upcoming book ("How to Win a Cosmic War" -- to be published in 2008 by Random House) at Herzl Ner Tamid, a synagogue on Mercer Island, on February 10, 2007. This talk concludes with a Q&A session.
"If we don't figure out a way to strip these conflicts of their religious connotations, then we will never figure out a way to put an end to them. Because as long as these remain cosmic conflicts, they will go on for eternity...
"Now, there is an optimistic part to this...
e live in a country in which a Muslim can stand in a temple, addressing Jewish brothers and sisters, about this fear of a religious war, and that we can do something about it... That this is the only country in the world in which this can happen. That we are in a position of great responsibility to make sure that the inter-religious dialogue that is not taking place out there, takes place in here. That the stripping of the religious connotations of these conflicts that is not taking place out there, begins to take place here... Because the frightening reality is, is that if we don't do it, no one will. If it can't happen in the United States, it can't happen anywhere else...
"Let's start thinking about this one thing: How do we begin to "de-religionize" these conflicts? How do we begin to stop thinking about this "clash," this "war on terror," as not a cosmic war, but as a criminal enterprise, as an investigation into bringing criminals to justice? How do we begin thinking about the civil war in Iraq as an issue of security, an issue of identity, and not an issue over whether who should have succeeded the prophet Muhammad fourteen centuries ago -- that's not what's taking place in Iraq. And how do we, most importantly, and most urgently, begin to take this ongoing, never-ending cycle of violence that is taking place in Israel, the holiest place on Earth -- how do we take that and strip it of its religious connotations and begin treating it, not as a cosmic war, but as a political conflict, as an economic conflict, as a social conflict, as a conflict that is going to be settled here on Earth, not in the heavenly realm at the end of Apocalypse -- because I don't know about you, but I cannot wait that long."
Online at: www.rezaaslan.com
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