Holy Places
October 18, 2001
Day Fifty
Thursday

Here's an angry entry. It may or may not be pertinent to the terrorist attacks on September 11th, or to our war against the Taliban. The topic, though, is as current as it has always been -- contested holy places. And how might we solve these sensitive issues? How can we ease the tension? Certainly there are more than just two solutions. But frankly, they haven't been working. So I've come up with two ideas that should do the trick.

The first is clearly my preference. But if it is too much hassle, the second is easy to implement. And regarding the destruction? I dare say it would be less war and death than we've already experienced. And it would be less than is yet still to come.

Well, what about the first idea? We could make places like Jerusalem and Mecca international property, couldn't we? I'll go out on a limb and say that God doesn't have a nationality. And if anyone thinks she does, tough! We are going to blatantly discriminate against you and open it open to everyone. Deal with it. Sure, administration of these sacred places would be more than tricky. And though I could dream up some ideas, really it doesn't matter. Even if we could even get to this point (which we can't), better minds than mine could work out the details.

That brings me to my second idea. Evacuate the sites. When they're clear, bomb them to dust. Salt the Earth so nothing will grow there (symbolic only), and finish it off with some nuclear weapons so that nobody can visit. Then religion would have to live in the hearts and souls of men and women -- WHICH IS WHERE IT BELONGS IN THE FIRST PLACE!

What happened to spirituality? You can have spirituality without religion and be just fine. But religion without spirituality? It's nothing but trouble. Deadly trouble. And that's the fun part -- so what if we did get rid of these magnets of destruction? People would start fighting over the resulting Holy Glass. Who knows, it might even glow in the dark if there was enough radiation. . .

Yes, yes, I know. It would be Terrible to lose these historical treasures, these spiritual monuments. But I just don't think it is worth it anymore. It is our children who have to fight over these places. Israelis children. Palestinian children. Afghan children. American children. Children, children, and more children -- armies of children. Maybe if every time someone died for a "Holy Place" we painted the walls with their blood people would wise up. Isn't human sacrifice out of vogue these days? It seems not -- only that we call it something different.

Killing in the name of God. What the fuck?