Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
Dude... incorrect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife#Judaism
There are most certainly some peopel on the Israeli side motivated by religious fanaticism. The government and nation is clearly more secular than Hamas, but there are most certainly some people who believe the entirety of the land is promissed to them. |
The same point I made in my initial post in this thread.
Religious extremism exists on both sides. Israel is not, and cannot be, a secular state. It is not a Western-style democracy. It is a Jewish state created to be a homeland for the Jewish people. Unfortunately for Israel (and very fortunately for the world's Jewish population) it's not the only place for Jews to live, and it's not the place that provides Jews with the best opportunities to live successful, peaceful, happy lives. This is why so many Israelis have chosen to leave Israel for America, and those that have left have tended to be the most moderate Israelis. Immigration the other way consists largely of highly religious Jews, which makes sense, because what other reason would, say, a Jewish American have for leaving the US and going to Israel?
The result, of course, is an increasingly religious state surrounded by extremely religious (and extremely hostile) states. Because of the influence of religious extremism, the actions and responses of both sides are less likely to be reasonable than one might expect of secular states. Unless, of course, one adopts the position that basing one's beliefs and actions largely on religious imperatives is "reasonable."
Otherwise, religion is going to continue to play what I think is a destructive role on both sides.