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On June 1 I met with Bishop Poole and the other clergy who will be leaving next Sunday for a 10-day course on “The Palestine of Jesus,” to be held at St. George’s College, Jerusalem.  The day before, Israel raided the flotilla of ships bound for Gaza, an act denounced as piracy on the high seas and as a massacre, since 9 lives were lost.  Bishop Poole had told us that our trip would not be a holiday, and this has now been confirmed: one does not normally spend one’s holiday in a war zone. 

The conflict in the Near East is perhaps the most intractable anywhere on earth. It is about land, and there have been land disputes since the beginning of the human race.  But what lends this conflict a special bitterness and hopelessness is the ideological component. 

Religious Jews believe that God promised the land to Abraham and his posterity as an everlasting inheritance.  So when Ariel Sharon gave the Palestinians control over Gaza, he was denounced by some Jews for disobedience against God, and some conservative Christians chimed in, since they see the return of the Jews to the promised land as a sign of the end time.  On the other hand, some Muslims contend that land conquered from the infidel must never be returned. 

Although I am no admirer of the President of Iran, I can see the point of his question, when he asks, How does the tragedy of the Jewish people in Europe entitle them to seize Arab land in Palestine?  Be that as it may, the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948, which Palestinians refer to as “the catastrophe,” must be accepted, just as Germany had to accept the loss of Silesia to Poland after World War II.

Land disputes can only be resolved through compromise, and religious ideology does not tolerate compromise.  We see that in our own church.  Sam Harris takes from the violence in the world today the stark alternative: if civilization is to survive, religion has got to go. 

Of course, religion is not going to disappear; it is inscribed in our DNA. Moreover, I believe that it is religious ideology, rather than religion per se, which is the problem.  But is it possible to have religion without ideology?  I think we have it here already at the Good Shepherd.  Each of you can take from our simple, dignified worship whatever you find healing and helpful. 

The homily is simply my take on the readings, or, as today, on some event of current concern to the parish, such as my trip to Israel. If you find the homily helpful, that’s fine; if you don’t, it only lasts 7 minutes.  So as I prepare for my departure for Israel, I am mindful of the saying, Doctrine divides; experience unites. 

June 13, 2010

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