All right, before I sleep. One more for the road. This has been inspired by all this stuff about Bush and Saddam Hussain. And, 'the war against terror' and, whatever else you have.
We all dislike terrorists. They mess up our lives. They create mayhem wherever they go. They kill innocent people. In horrific ways. Why should the people who dies in the Twin Towers in New York or, the people who died in Spain recently, have to die? What did they do? i'm sure most of them were God fearing people who went about their ways. Crapped about in office a bit, went to say their prayers regularly and, all that. Normal folks. So, why them?
The terrorists have a different point of view althogether. They probably feel that they are waging a holy war against infidels who have spat upon the Word of God.
Look down the ages. Look at the history of man in the last few thousand years. While the motive may have been economic, the fact is that so many wars have been waged in the name of God. You have, starting from Christ, who was crucified on the Cross. And, the movie 'The Last Temptation of Christ' definitely deglamourises the Cross. You have the Crusades.
In India, you have discrimination based on caste, where the Brahmins even claim to control the mantras that control the Gods!! You have all the Muslim invaders through the ages.
You have witches being burned at the stake.
And, all these honourable gentlemen who fought these wars, no doubt, felt that they were carrying out the Word Of God. And, that all those who did not believe the Word, deserved to be killed. So, God spoke different things to different people. God must have had a hard time, through the ages, keeping up with all that he said to everyone!!
Well, in the end, I'm sure, it was all a game about money and power and, economics. But, it's easier to whip up religious passion than economic passion......