YAHWEH-on-YAHWEH Violence

I quickly tripped through the pages of a book yesterday to see if I might be interested in a cover-to-cover reading. Did I want to give my time to this book in particular?

(I hold closely the advice of a mentor early in life: "Be careful which books you read. Every choice to read one book at any given time is a choice not to read every other book." In my neurosis, then, I don't do "casual reading" well!)

In one section the author wrote about the rise of monotheism, and the way that played out in the Abrahamic religious traditions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. I didn't catch the entire context, but he wrote about the violence of these three Abrahamic traditions toward one another. The phrase he used for that violence among these three faith traditions was, "YAHWEH-on-YAHWEH violence."

At once it struck me as a clever phrase and at the same time a very sad, even pathetic commentary on our faith traditions. That we should be known more for violence than for anything else really sets heavy with me. It feels like a tremendous weight, a burdensome sack that we must lug around. Indeed, much of the world sees these three great Abrahamic religions as violent and bloodthirsty.

Shortly after 9/11 I was forwarded an email that castigated all Muslims. The email noted that the United States is a "Christian" nation and railed on and on about the evil of Muslims in the general population, how each Muslim should be made to leave the United States, and about how anyone even suspected involvement in the 9/11 attacks should be killed.

Then, there was the line that said, "Muslims hate. Christians love. Let's get rid of the Muslims and get our country back to its Christian principles."

I doubt that the writer of the diatribe realized what he/she was saying. The email was anything but an expression of love. The difficulties in the email were too numerous to comment on here. It's enough for me to say that the spirit of the email seemed contrary to the spirit of Jesus.

"Yahweh-on-Yahweh violence" . . . it cuts every way, aimed by others toward us and often aimed outward from us.

I have no answers for our bent toward this violence and hatred . . . only my own wrestlings with the darkness and violence within me. And I notice that there are persons who live into a spiritual journey in such a way as to make a difference in their life-world, persons whose hearts are slowly tenderized by love in such a way that love then becomes what they have to give the world. That seems to be just about the last hope.