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The inherited intolerance of ‘my-god-the-only-god’. Why peace fails

3 Abrahamic nations in conflict in West Asia should force us to examine the nature of monotheistic animosity.

Over millennia, men, social groups, and countries have fought over land, resources, women, even honour, but the arrival of Abrahamic monotheism brought in a new edge to these usual causes of conflict. When God becomes the primary or additional cause of conflict, there are no easy off-ramps available. The ongoing war in West Asia, where three Abrahamic nations (Israel, US and Iran) are in conflict, and several other Abrahamic ones face collateral damage, should force us to examine the nature of monotheistic animosity.

The problem is not monotheism itself, for many people accept that there is a higher order or universal God who oversees the world that was created. The advent of science has not modified this belief in any way, except to the extent of acknowledging that both science and God can coexist, for the latter’s existence cannot be disproved. Belief in God is an unfalsifiable proposition.

So, regardless whether your belief system is polytheistic, henotheistic, pantheistic or monotheistic, the problem is not the belief per se. It is the super irrational monotheistic belief that there is one God, and he (always a he) happens to be the one I worship. Worse, this belief in My-God-The-Only-God comes with a binary vision and negative corollary: if you do not believe My God, you are worshipping false gods, the devil or shaitan. Abrahamic monotheism is thus a perversion of a more universal idea of monotheism, and specifically comes with the intolerance of rubbishing other gods and other faiths.

Worse, even God’s powers get limited here. If you believe in Allah, you must also believe that he has sent his last prophet, and that there will be no........

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