Words - what do you mean by that?

I decided when I was in my teens that formal religion is a political structure that both soothes people in the face of injustice and provides a power structure for the powerless. I was pretty pleased with that so I just moved on with life…after all, I was a teenager. I tried to make knowledge-based ethical decisions and overall I don’t have any long term regrets.

But by not actually examining what that meant I was pretty stuck in conundrums.

Like, how I accepted colonialism. Not just in how Canada was settled but by how Israel was treating the Palestinians. I accepted the narrative that Jews deserve a country and it would include land around Jerusalem. I guess I expected to see in real-time how newcomers and the existing people would come together to make a new nation while forgetting that while Canada and First Nations started out ok treaties were twisted to expand power to the newcomers. I truly believed that after how Jews were treated in WW2 they would be more compassionate and inclusive (words I can use now to express by fuzzy expectations). After all, they’d been shoved in, essentially, reservations; demonized, vilified, and had their good stolen from them. I grew up I the 70s.

The other was how I accepted religion as a respectable political system. Since I grew up Catholic I had the example of Vatican City so Jews having a homeland seemed reasonable; after all, everyone had treated them pretty shitty during the war. But, not being Jewish, I didn’t get the entire narrative. The State of Israel inhabited empty land. This is typical colonizer talk for taking over resources and ignoring the people already using them but I hadn’t really thought of that. Even the 2 state solution based on religion – how could it not be when Israel is built on a religious foundation.

One thing social movements have done for me gave me words to express my thoughts in a common language that more people can understand without a whole lot of extra words. Not just in terms of political structures but religious structures.

Should police be a formal part of Pride (or any progressive) celebrations – no as they are part of a system that chooses to punish using a violent immediate response. If not now then in the recent past. Is structural racism a thing – there are structural injustices designed to keep poor people poor and biased people happy to categorize who to gets exploited in an attempt to boost themselves. Most of this happens to people who are easily identified as different so yes, racism.

 A lot is being made of high percentages of USians currently identifying as “none” and what that means. I think I am one. This frees me to use religious language on my terms. Am I spiritual – I do have a sense of wonder and appreciation. Do I think there’s a soul – I think we have a core personality that we recognize intuitively recognize that is a product of our body chemistry (hence body dysphoria). Is there a god – I don’t know and don’t think it matters as there is no convincing evidence even in terms of consistent rules.

All this to say…what Israel is doing is inexcusable use of colonial power against an indigenous population. There have been many hints in media of how the system is working – from expanding “no go” spaces to dismantling village solar systems installed by NGOs to teargassing farmers as they tend crops – Israel counters all criticism with accusations of anti-Semitism. They are finally doing things out in the open and … no religious judgment here, the Israeli government is violently authoritarian and stealing land from indigenous people.