[lbo-talk] You do realize

[Carl Remick]

>From: Wendy Lyon <wendy.lyon at gmail.com>
>
>On 5/11/05, uvj at vsnl.com <uvj at vsnl.com> wrote:
>
> > The conflict in Sri Lanka is between Sinhala and Tamil speaking people. 
>There is also a secondary conflict between Hindu Tamils and Muslim Tamils.
>
>I'd also take a bit of an issue with Northern Ireland being included
>on this list.  I don't disagree that religion "fueled" the conflict
>... but it didn't do so in the same sense as it fueled the Crusades or
>the 16th-17th century European wars.  The conflict in NI is
>essentially over national identity (Irish vs. British), not dogma
>(Catholic vs. Protestant); it's just that the one provides a closely
>accurate marker of the other.  Take religion out of the equation
>entirely and there would still be a conflict in Northern Ireland.

Yes, there would still be conflict, but adding religion to any ethnic 
dispute adds an element of literally insane self-righteousness to the 
struggle that is likely to produce a high body count.

My basic point is unexceptionable.  Religion is (as we used to say in the 
sixties) part of the problem, not part of the solution.  God is history's 
biggest troublemaker.

Carl