A group of believers from the soldiers of the Caliphate . . . set out targeting the capital of prostitution and vice, the lead carrier of the cross in Europe—Paris." Thus did the Islamic State claim credit for its terror spree in the City of Light in November, the latest in a string of murderous attacks fueled by Islam. The jihadists, naturally, observe their violent struggle against the crusading West through a Koranic lens, insistent that their texts and traditions demand no less. But will this tendency ever change? Possibly, assuming that the past is prologue. "Christianity," Heinrich Heine observed nearly two centuries ago, "has somewhat mitigated that brutal German love of war, but it could not destroy it."
Exactly how religion both foments and tempers violence has bedeviled theologians, historians, and statesmen for centuries. Now, Lord Jonathan Sacks capably wrestles with this vexing question, explores its origins in biblical sibling rivalries, and presents a creative way of reframing it—along the way offering a hopeful, if not entirely realistic, pathway to peace.
Read Full Article »