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[merig00.livejournal.com]

Comments

[yelena-r0ssini.livejournal.com]

Well, I respect your consistency even if I disagree with the premise. But I still don't think it's the presence of an established religion that's the problem so much as how the majority religion/ethnic group treats the minority/ies. And in that regard Israel, like so many other nations, certainly does fall short.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

I don't think religion is the main problem with Israel, either. Zionism isn't really a religious thing at all. There's probably some correlation, just like fundamentalist Christianity and nationalistic pseudo-patriotism go hand-in-hand in the United States. But many really devout Jews are opposed to the existence of a Jewish state in Palestine, because they see it as a faithless attempt by mankind to fulfill prophecy.

[yelena-r0ssini.livejournal.com]

Just because there's not universal agreement on Zionism among religious Jews doesn't mean Zionism isn't at least partly a religious thing. Judaism is a very old religion and very tied to locale in a way that more modern religions aren't, and the extreme religious relevance of that particular land to the Jewish religion can't be dismissed. It's part of what makes the whole situation so fraught.