Some of you might be aware of a recent article by an Israeli blogger that became controversial because it tried to advocate that there may be instances where genocide is morally justified. (
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/01/the-blogger-who-offered-an-argument-for-palestinian-genocide.html)
I am glad most people found the article and its argument disgusting but it also reminded me of something even more disgusting.
Consider this, many living in Western or Secular nations would unequivocally condemn genocide against any population, including myself. Yet what is this based on? At least in my case, it is based on the fact that at a very fundamental level, I work under a moral framework in which genocide is defined as immoral. I am going to assume the reasoning is similar for other secular-minded people.
Yet the question is whether the belief that
"genocide is morally unjustifiable" is a universal belief? (For the sake of argument, let us ignore the dictators of the world as outliers even though they are not)
Are there "normal" human beings who believe committing a genocide can be morally justified. I just realized there are; in fact they are a significant majority among the human population. They are, of course, the glorious religious descendants of the legendary Abraham. They are our Jews, our Christians, our Muslims and whoever has spawned afterwards.
Let us start with Abraham himself; what is he glorified for? For being willing to slaughter his own son as per God's command.
More than piety and faith, that religious folks usually attribute to Abraham, there is a more important and dangerous lesson to be found here. Consider the following quote;
"A famous example here is Kierkegaard (1813-55). In Fear and Trembling he considers the biblical story of Abraham being told by God to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22). He says that Abraham was bound to do what God commanded. 'Here', he adds, 'there can be no question of ethics in the sense of morality ... Ordinarily speaking, a temptation is something which tries to stop a man from doing his duty', but in the case, it is ethics itself which tries to prevent him from doing God's will. But what then is duty?" ~ Brian Davies 2000. Philosophy of Religion: A guide and Athology. Oxford University Press. pg 637
We are used to seeing ethics/morality as some kind of fundamental reality when in fact it has more in common with abstract concepts or virtues. Our moral intuition tells us that something either has to be moral or immoral; yet it becomes difficult to conceive that before that even occurs morality is something that can be accepted or abandoned.
From the story of Abraham, it is clear what the Abrahamic god wants us to do. When he demands submission, he isn't merely referring to us sacrificing material pleasures and vices,
but he also wants us to sacrifice our moral intuitions.Philosophers have given this moral (or anti-moral) framework a name and it is called
Divine Command Theory. It holds that whatever God commands is the rightful action.
With no surprise, this is what Judeo-Christian philosophers use to provide justification for the genocides committed by the Hebrews as told in the Old Testament. For example, see these articles by William Lane Craig.
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/did-god-commit-atrocities-in-the-old-testamenthttp://www.reasonablefaith.org/slaughter-of-the-canaanitesUpon further reflection, one would also come to the conclusion that Muslims also have to work under the same theory. They are also told the same story of Abraham and his willingness to slaughter a child. Additionally, we are told the story of Khidr who murders a boy with justification that if he grows up he will be disobedient to his parents. There are also verses in the Quran that claim that Israelites were chosen by Allah in the older times which one could read into that Allah also permits the genocides committed by Hebrews.
More strikingly, in all 3 religions, we are told about the stories of Noah and Lot where God himself destroys entire populations with natural disasters. Muslims also have the stories of Salih, Hud etc where God once again annihilates entire populations, sometimes for a reason as asinine as eating a she-camel in disobedience.
Now in all the latter cases, would it really have made a difference if, instead of Natural disasters, God decided to sent foot soldiers and murder every man, woman and child.
Wouldn't these Abrahamics still be using the same justification for such a Genocide?And there you have it, the Muslims and the Jews complain about
oppression and
terrorism and yet both groups hold that
Genocide is morally justifiable if done for God ...
Should anyone really be surprised that the place is such a stinking hole?
P.S. To think the world's problems are the result of ancient fables from the desert... what a tragedy?
(Also posted here -
http://www.reddit.com/r/exmuslim/comments/2cfpzt/is_a_palestinian_genocide_morally_justifiable/)
Topic: Is a Palestinian Genocide morally justifiable?