Bad Theology, Bad Foreign Policy, Bad Historiography

Goethe interpreted scripture and religious literature as great poetic works. He was inspired by them. 

They are that and much more. As the critical Biblical scholar Alvin Boyd Kuhn illuminated in his extensive scholarship, the Bible contains rich symbolism and ancient esoteric truths that anyone can profit from if interpreted correctly.

The problem arises when such works are interpreted literally, as they have been by fundamentalist Christians and radical Muslims, as well as Freemasons and opportunistic Zionists who know better but find these texts too politically potent for their grand designs to lay them aside in houses of worship where they belong.

Interpretation of religion is fundamental. In Afghan refugee camps in the 1980s and 1990s the children were given an interpretation of the Koran by the Americans, Saudis and Pakistanis that led to the emergence of a generation of intolerant, war-like, and xenophobic terrorists. Consequently the Taliban had an endless supply of motivated recruits in their decades-long struggle. The makeshift Afghan army could not compete with it.

That same playbook is being carried out in ISIS prison camps in Syria, where children are being raised to hate and kill. 

The authoritian and militaristic regimes in Turkey and Pakistan falsely believe that they can benefit from nurturing such barbaric forces so close to their borders and will not experience any of the blowback. But history doesn’t work that way. Geopolitical karma is a real thing. 

Putting Syria in the hands of Al-Qaeda, much like putting Iran in the hands of the Ayatollahs or Mexico in the hands of the cartels, will eventually backfire. 

Maybe the demons in Damascus can be contained. It’s possible. Theocrats are notoriously bad at foreign policy no matter the polity they rule.

Damascus has already been forced to navigate two crises that has exposed its curious and hilariously weak position. In one crisis it let Israel use its skies to attack the Ayatollahs and in the other it had no option but to look the other way as Israel demolished its military and defense buildings. 

Damascus is the best current case for why bad theology always leads to bad foreign policy. The new would-be rulers hate the Shia so much that they would let their country be used as a fueling station and runway by their closest and fiercest enemy. It’s a sad state of affairs. 

Hatred really makes one stupid, especially on a collective level, as we’re seeing in Israel. It’s even worse when there’s a collective belief that such hatred is mandated and sanctified by a religious text. 

When Prime Minister Netanyahu referred to the inhabitants of Gaza as Amalek in 2023, early on in Israel’s invasion, it became obvious to even dispassionate observers of the conflict that genocide was the aim. It reminded me of Muslim fanatics declaring holy war. 

The theology at the bedrock of the Israeli state is more radical and terrifying than anything Islam or Christianity can conjure up because it is more primitive and savage. There is no poetry in its theology. Just pure hatred.