Religion can be used to justify war and is often a disguise for nationalism.
So says retired Cal State Bakersfield professor Gary Kessler, who taught the philosophy of religion and other philosophy courses at CSUB from 1970 to 2004.
Kessler, who currently resides in Bellingham, Washington and is the author of several books including “Eastern Ways of Being Religious,” “Voices of Wisdom: A Multicultural Philosophy Reader” as well as others, spoke to a group of Bakersfield College professors and students in the Executive Boardroom in CC4 April 23.Kessler, in his talk, delved into the paradox of religion; religion can be a potent force for either good or evil. Violence cannot be divorced from religion, he said in this talk. That violence in religion often takes the form of sacrifice, and sacrifice is found in most religions. An irony of religion is that violence through the sacrificial act of scapegoating is meant to purify a community of its violence. Kessler said that he derives a lot of inspiration from fellow scholar and writer, UC Berkeley professor Rene Gerard, who wrote “Violence and the Sacred,” which first came out in French in 1972.
Kessler’s lecture brought up the question of whether or not religious terrorism is really religious and whether the so-called “holy wars” are actually nationalistic movements.
Kessler believes that often in these alleged “holy wars,” religious language is used as a means of justifying a cause. Often religious rhetoric and religious terrorism are used as tools to force people to conform to certain policies. Religious terrorism is a tactic to frighten people into behaving in certain ways. Kessler cited the example of the “pious, poorly educated Zealots” of Christ’s time who wanted to overthrow the brutal Roman government. He also noted that the so-called “Crusaders” were supposedly driven to reclaim Palestine for religious reasons when overpopulation was the real instigating factor.
“The goal of religious terrorism is political and economical although religious terrorists give religious reasons for it,” Kessler said.
Kessler also cited a study by scholar Jessica Stern, a Harvard lecturer on public policy, who wrote that religious zeal is often used as a weapon to monopolize natural resources and political power. Kessler cited political science scholar Robert A. Pape’s book “Dying to Win,” which states that the suicide terrorism occurring in the Middle East is really nationalist based and is not truly connected with Islam or religion.
“‘Islam terrorists are a new breed of anarchists,'” Kessler quoted scholar James Galvan.Often those recruited for suicide bombing are the unemployed who feel that they have no future.Often religious terror is nothing more than an elaborate performance, a theatrical statement and the concern is upon that rather than on what is accomplished, said Kessler. This is not “strategic” terrorism, according to Kessler. Of course, religious terrorists must dehumanize the opposition. Religious terrorists must call innocents of the opposition such as women and children evil, and this qualifies the killing of them. Islamic terrorists have to label the opposition “infidels” because it justifies the political cause and the consequence of murdering innocents.
“Evil is a religious concept,” said Kessler. “Anything evil doesn’t deserve to exist, and once you’re labeled ‘evil,’ there’s nothing good that can be associated with you.”According to Kessler, religious terrorism won’t acknowledge human complexity or the gray area between good and evil in human character. To acknowledge this would not be a justification for the random killing that terrorists think they must engage in.Some lecture attendees commented on the way religion is often a disguise for political agendas.”The IRA always says this: ‘Let’s say that we’re doing this for the pope and to liberate Ireland,'” said retired BC philosophy professor Jack Hernandez of the infamous organization. “‘This is for God. We’re oppressed, but we’re doing this for God.'”
“There seems to be a religious element under much racist rhetoric,” said Nick Strobel, BC astronomy professor.