What binds civilizations, race or religion?

Most civilizations have been based on racial or religious cohesion, mainly both, and those that haven't, such as early western civilization under the liberal rule of the Roman Empire, fell apart at the seams.

After its demise, the Roman Empire in the year 395 was split into the East and the West under two forms of the new religion of Christianity, itself a split from Judaism, which in 395 years had swept throughout the known world wiping out most other forms of worship. Christian Orthodoxy dominated in the East, and Roman Catholicism dominated in the West.

The two separate and distinct civilizations that developed from this religious split were also distinguished by race and this fact, of course, was far more compelling than religion.

Western civilization underwent yet another religious split when Protestantism emerged in the early 16th century in Northern Europe -- separating the Germanic race from the Latin race -- but it was only in relatively recent times that the West changed from being predominantly 'white' to being multi-cultural, embracing other races and the religions they brought with them.

If the liberal West, in Europe especially, is heading for a similar demise as the early western civilization of the Roman Empire, then it is interesting to ponder what force is at work -- like early Christianity -- to hasten its demise, take over the reigns of power and unite all peoples under its banner?

Let's face it, without racial or religious cohesion, what holds people together?

The USA has forged a unique African-American-Latino racial identity, and while it is true that this unique identity and prized citizenship of the most powerful nation on Earth today has been achieved at the expense of indigenous Americans, it is nevertheless an identity that is recognized throughout the world and is proudly upheld by its peoples.

However, being a proud Roman citizen -- of many races and religions -- was no guarantee for the continuation of one's cohesive identity with fellow citizens in the face of a powerful and uniting force like early Christianity; and this fact bodes ill for both the USA and the expanding EU.

Interestingly, at the same time as post-WWII European nations were divesting themselves of colonial rule and rolling out multi-cultural policies designed to dilute the racial, religious and cultural cohesiveness of their citizens, the displaced Jews of Europe were beginning to assert their religious, racial and cultural uniqueness and demanding a homeland of their own.

Although outwardly 'western', Isreal is, in effect, resurrecting the ancient civilization from which its peoples came. It was a new nation forged on the same religious cohesion that kept its peoples together, albeit spirtually, throughout a Diaspora lasting 1,816 years (from 132 to 1948).

Israel was created in 1948 within the old British protectorate of Palestine as an exclusive state for displaced Jews from all over the world. Within a short time, however, strife erupted between the new settlers and the displaced Islamic Palestinians and has continued ever since.

The Jews may be ethnically related to the Semitic Arabs -- and their religions are similar, both Abrahamic, yet divided as to whom holds the Covenant -- but it was the type of European culture the Jews planted within the Islamic world that was totally foreign and abhorrent to the existing culture.

Bearing in mind the lessons of colonization -- and the lessons of the Hitler regime -- creating a 'superior' European, albeit Jewish, western community in the middle of the Arab world was like planting a time bomb in the area and yet the Israelis persist in their determination to form a new nation (or resurrect their old one) as a separate and distinct nation and civilization from their neighbors.

While there still exist many nations that proclaim themselves exclusively and proudly black, brown or yellow and are held together largely by racial similarity -- outstandingly, the two great civilizations of India and China -- there are no nations today that are held together by the exclusive and proud distinction of being 'white'.

Also, while many nations claim to be held together by certain religions, in most cases -- especially in Christian nations -- this claim is notional, simply lip service.

There are only two nations that proclaim themselves to be exclusively and proudly faithful to a certain religion - and one of them is Israel and the other, of course, is the Islamic nation.

Because the two great civilizations of India and China have survived for thousands of years -- long before Islam came into being in 622, and long after the Jews were dispersed in 132 -- it would appear that race holds people together far more strongly than religion or anything else.

People can be converted from one religion to another -- and religions come and go -- but nobody can be converted from their race no matter how hard they try to do so.

For this reason, those civilizations that were based on unique racial characteristics -- such as those of India, China and Japan -- will be everlasting.

in the beginning there was magic

Our ancient ancestors created magic to explain natural phenomena and to control the world around them -- some form of shamanic spirit world contact being evident in the early development of human communities all over the world -- and Zellie is a neo-pagan who practices magical thinking in her daily life just like earliest man did (but without the hallucigenic drugs).

"When communities evolved from nomadic to agricultural civilizations, tribal elders became kings and shamans became priests," explains Zellie, "and with this transition came a mighty shift of power."

"Shamans represented the collective will of the tribe and negotiated for the tribe with the spirit world -- with all participating in magic -- but priests took it upon themselves to represent the dieties and to direct their will upon the city-state and in doing so removed magical power from the people and distorted it."

"They were able to do so by developing highly codified and elaborate rituals -- still evident in today's formal religions -- but in early religions these rituals were mostly used for funerals, most evident in Egypt, and sacrifices, mostly practised by the Babylonians, Persians, Aztecs and Mayans."

"Ancient magic formulae became the exclusive possession of an hereditary caste of priests who deliberately encouraged the ignorance of ordinary people," explains Zellie, "and over time, supernatural events became know as 'miracles' and in acquiring religious credo a clear separation between religion and natural magic took place."

"The evolution from magic to religion in all ancient cultures was seamless," says Zellie, "but Hinduism is one of the few religions with sacred texts, the Vedas, which openly discuss both white and black magic and the efficacy of mantras and spells. In fact, the word mantrik in India literally means 'magician', and the word 'magic' derives from the Persian 'magus' which means a Zoroastrian astrologer priest."

"The Magi of Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia were the prototypical magicians," explains Zellie, "they were a class of priests whose reputation, together with that of ancient Egyptian priests, shaped the Greek mystery religions (of which Hecate was the goddess of magic)."

"In Egypt, a large number of magical papyri written in Greek, Coptic and Demotic were found which contain much of the magical lore that is used today -- magic words to command spirits; magic symbols; spirit mediums; and the use of wands and magic circles."

"Officially, the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam forbid magic and witchcraft, either executing alleged practitioners as Satanists (in the early days) or dismissing them as tricksters and illusionists (in later days)," says Zellie, "but nobody can deny that all of these religions sprang from magic and that Kabbalism (Judaism) and Sufism (Islam) continue in their ancient mystic forms."

"Also, the appearance of the three Magi at the birth of Jesus clearly shows that early Christianity was associated with Zoroastrian astrology and Jesus himself, as told in texts dismissed by the later Church, was a bit of a magician in his early life as well," laughs Zellie. "Further, despite the Bible exhorting all 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' and Saul's rebuke for seeking advice from a diviner, it was perfectly acceptable for staffs to be turned into snakes, rivers to part, a few fish and loaves feeding a multitude, water to be turned into wine and dead men to rise."

"It's amazing what hallucigenic drugs can do, isn't it?"

"It was probably due to the mystic elements of Christianity that this new religion was so easily accepted by the pagans," muses Zellie, "but the ancient practice of natural magic, predating the religions that officially usurped its power, did continue, albeit mostly underground."

"In fact, magic or holy men thrived outside of all organized religions, in all cultures, because, perhaps, they were more spiritual, more believable and better healers than those officially in charge of religion."

"Both magic and religion practise supplication -- appealing to a supernatural being or God to perform a desired act," explains Zellie. "With religious supplication, the desired act coming to pass or not is based purely on God's choice to give or withhold -- it is never the priest's fault if the supplication fails."

"In contrast, the desired act coming to pass or not in natural magic is based on the expertise of the magician and the ritual performed -- it is always the magician's fault if the supplication fails."

"Because the magician's livelihood was at stake, he or she had to be incredibly intelligent or good at sleight of hand in order to make sure that supplications bore fruit," explains Zellie, "That so many magic supplications did bear fruit gave absolute credulity to magic. Magicians were not only astronomers, knowing when eclipses were due, but they were also medicine men, knowing sleeping potions, waking potions and healing potions -- in effect, drug dealers!"

"In natural magic, then, if the desired effect came to pass the supplication was credited for it -- which, when you think about, is quite similar to the magical beliefs that some scientists hold about their experiments and most religions hold about prayer (although for the religious, the spiritual duty of prayer is far more important than the miracle being requested)."

"Some religions believe that holiness or magic can be transferred to objects and places -- as I do," admits Zellie. "Today, ground is still consecrated where a building will be constructed and 'christening' ceremonies are still carried out for the launching of new ships, and up until the Reformation there was a huge market for so-called spiritual objects and relics which were often fraudulently sold to poor peasants as cures for their numerous ills."

"In both magic and religion, the act of making sacrifices to a supernatural being is common when asking for divine intervention -- even if it just means burning oils or incense, the offering of personal objects or drinks, or the blood sacrifice of a goat or calf."

"Early Judaism, as shown in Leviticus, had strict instructions for blood sacrifice, but after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem where sacrifices were made, the need for it was negated," says Zellie. "And, in Christianity, Jesus's final sacrifice negated any further blood sacrifices. Interestingly, mainstream Islam has always firmly rejected the concept of sacrifices."

"Human sacrifice was likely practised by all early religions and was seen as the supreme sacrifice," says Zellie. "Genesis tells the story of Abraham's preparation for the sacrifice of his son Isaac; the Carthaginians gained fame for sacrificing young children when circumstances were bleak; other cultures sacrficed their enemies; and Druidism in Britain was banned by the Roman Empire because its practice of human sacrifice was considered barbaric (despite the Romans continuing to divine the future from reading the entrails of their blood sacrifices)."

"The early Jews saw magic as being intricately tied up with Baal-worship and other unacceptable forms of religion, and the Christians thought that all magic (not performed by them, of course) was powered by demons."

"Although the magical spell -- a ritualistic formula intended to bring about a specific effect -- is most well known and still practised widely, there are many other magical practices," says Zellie. "These include divination (astrology -- I'm a Virgo by the way -- augury, cartomancy, chiromancy, dowsing, fortune telling, geomancy, I Ching, omens, scrying and tarot, all of which seek to reveal information about the past, present or future) and necromancy (a practice which summons the spirits of the dead and converses with them)."

"The most beautiful type of magic, however, is that practised by Melanesians in their daily lives which, unfortunately, has been almost eradicated under pressure from Christian missionaries."

"The Melanesians are horticulturalists, spending much of their working time in their gardens during which time they sing, chant and perform actions, largely of a sexual nature, in a magical relationship linking them with their environment."

"Compared with the esoteric magic rituals of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and other religions, those practised by the Melanesians are pragmatic, a philosophy of life, and easily understood."

"What can be more understandable than performing magic rituals as part of a work ethic to assure an abundancy of food?" asks Zellie. "It's how we started to use magic, and it's how we should have continued using it rather than allowing religion and science to usurp it."

"There's more to magic than attempting to bend natural forces to the magician's will," admits Zellie. "It is also, if practised on a daily basis, an involvement in life and an openness to natural forces."

"Magic implies connections and possibilities - spirits, people, animals, plants and streams all affecting each other in a unified cosmos offering all of us participation and power."

"When the Christians started to refer to their ritual practices as 'worship' and 'liturgy', magic came to be a term designating pagan or primitive native rituals and earned an undeserving disapproval and inferiority similar to that now shown by scientists towards religion."

"If human consciousness has evolved through magic -- then religion and now science -- then magic is the basis of all knowledge of the human condition and through it one finds one's own inherent unity with the Universe."

"In that the rituals of magic are part of other actions -- as they also are in religion and science -- who is to say that without those rituals, those encouraging words, that a desired effect would still take place?" asks Zellie. "Faith in the practitioner -- be he or she a magician, a priest, a doctor or oneself -- is as important as anything else."

"Religion, basically, involves submission to a supernatural force (God)," explains Zellie. "In contrast, magic involves participation with that force and in that sense magic is closer to science than religion."

"Scientists are sort of modern day magicians creating and discovering magical things -- motor cars, telephones, wireless, computers, vaccines, dna, transplants, space travel, etc -- and invoking mystical concepts such as the nature of the speed of light and Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle by which we are unable to determine the precise location of a phenomenon because the observation of it affects its reality."

"Magic has been construed by both science and religion as superstition or as a practice based on false notions of causality," says Zellie, "but it gives scope for human engagement with the world that nothing else can. Modern practitioners of magic believe that they deal with phenomena far beyond science."

"If science represents the current world view and religion the accumulation of theological dogma, then magic represents connection with extra-normal phenomena," explains Zellie. "It is clearly expressed in the noble silence of Buddhism through which truth can be heard, and some of its practices and beliefs, such as visualization, concentration and the power of the subconscious mind -- with or without hallucigenic drugs -- are widely used today by clinical psychologists and sports trainers."

"It really wasn't long ago that everyone believed in magic -- most especially the Church which, despite decrying it as sinful, blatantly used magical powers to keep the masses in thrall -- and even great scientists like Isaac Newton clung to the alchemist's dream of turning metals into gold and others attempted to find the magical elixir of life."

"I'm living a magical life, are you?"

Barbarian Brits

As much as the Judeao-Christian and Graeco-Roman elites wish to take credit for seeding the world and giving us western civilization, it was the descendants of the ancient Barbarian Brits who brought us out of Dark Age religious slavery and their DNA, at that time, was almost 100% recognizable from that of their Judaeo-Christian, Graeco-Roman masters.

Because the pre-Roman inhabitants of Britain had no written language, wore trousers, were loud and ferocious, drank to excess and painted their gigantic bodies in blue wode which, with their white faces and red hair probably made them look as bad as they smelled, they were considered barbarians.

The history, culture and way of life of the ancient Britons are known only through recent archaeological finds and these -- along with recent DNA studies -- repudiate completely long-held beliefs put forward by those in the past with a vested interest in maintaining their supposed ethnic or religious superiority over other cultures.

Ancient texts ascribing the origin of the Britons to mythical figures such as the biblical Noah from Syria or Aneus from Troy are very romantic, but they served only the enslaving Judaeo-Christian or Graeco-Roman elites which ruled the world at the time and have no basis whatsoever in truth.

Let's face it, Abraham's legacy in all of his religions is one of enslavement, and every scientific advance made since we came out of the Dark Ages has freed us, one chain at a time, from the ignorance and religious superstition the elites have used for thousands of years to keep us enslaved.

If Noak's flood subsided 833 years before the foundation of Troy and 2317 years before the birth of Christ, then who was responsible for building the Castlerigg Stone Circle in Cumbria, the chambered tomb at Pentre Ifan in Dyfed and the passage grave at Bryn Celli Ddu in Anglesey -- all of which are archaeologically dated c.3000-2500 BCE. Undoubtedly, a sophisticated culture existed in Britain long before Noah or Troy existed and one day science may prove that all of the ancient civilizations were actually founded by migrating Europeans, possibly Brits!

Moreover, recent analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of modern European populations has changed forever the belief that ancient Britons -- or any other ancient European tribe -- being ethnically diverse.Rather than being annihilated by successive invasions and mass immigration waves --particularly during the Roman occupation which brought Middle Eastern, African and Asian DNA into the mix --the ancient Britons still exist in modern European populations which are over 80% descended in the female line from the same European stock.

And, the same is true for the male Y-Chromosome in European populations because even President Thomas Jefferson, from British stock,was found to be in the rare haplogroup K2, only one K being found among 1772 British men tested. Therefore,the vast majority of the Britons are most definitely not descended from the Judaeo-Christian people of the Levant, and are unlikely to have much Graeco-Roman DNA in them either because the ancient Greeks and Romans were originally descended from the ancient ancestors of the Judaeo-Christian people of the Levant and North African areas.

So, when we talk about ancient Britons as distinct from ancient Goths or Gauls, we are really talking about Europeans who happened to develop differently because they lived on an island which had become separated from Europe about 8,500 years ago following the end of the ice age when the rising sea levels caused by the melting glaciers flooded the land bridge that had previously allowed free movement of people from one part of Europe to another.

Cut off from their continental kinsmen -- until boats brought them back together -- the ancient Britons had to survive on what land and resources they had. From hunter-gatherers, roaming across Europe, moving to the warmer south for the winter and the cooler north for the summer, they were forced to stay in one particular area.

Animals, too, had to adapt to an island environment, but did not fare as well as the ancient Britons. The larger of the animals were hunted out of existence, leaving only smaller animals such as elk, deer, boar as the staple diet. Different hunting techniques had to be developed, different tools had to be used to catch smaller animals, and by around 4,500 BC farming of both crops and domestic animals had developed to provide reliable food sources fora population increase that had caused the Britons to spread and reach the far north of Scotland.

So, because of their island isolation, the ancient Britons necessarily had to develop differently from their continental kinsmen, and the first trait to go was a nomadic hunter-gathering existence.They became permanent occupiers of land and developed food management skills, farming and husbandry, far in advance of other tribes around the world.

Also, in an oral culure rich in ballads and bards, a craft culture rich in beautiful designs and a religious culture rich in mystery and magic as well as diabolical deeds --- the development of writing was obviously deemed superfluous.

By the time the land bridge had been replaced by boat links, allowing the easy flow of people, trade, ideas and technologies to and from the continent, land ownership had developed a special significance for the British. They were fiercely territorial, and with this came constant warfare between the British tribes, requiring kings to lead them -- and understandably all Britons had a healthy suspicion of newcomers (and still do) -- but this lack of cohesion ultimately led to their slavery under the Romans and the foreign priests who followed them.

Wave after wave of foreign immigrants, preachers and armies have arrived on Britain's shores over the centuries, but if 80% of Britons are descended in the female line from the same European Eve --and if only one in 1,772 British men (like Thomas Jefferson) descended from an African or Middle Eastern Adam --then the Brits today are a lot more homogeneous than they think they are.

Judaism: Religion or Tribal history?

In Christian tradition the Wandering Jew was condemned to a homeless existence until Judgment Day for having mocked Jesus Christ, and in botany the Wandering Jew was a name given to a trailing plant with colourful foliage -- even though its native origin was tropical America rather than the Middle East -- and as silly as these meanings are they are nevertheless apt, in a way, because before and after the Jewish tribes formed the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1050 BCE, they had both a colorful and a wandering history which is not just reflected in Judaism but forms the basis of it.

Starting with Abraham, he and his extended family had to flee to Canaan from his home in Ur, modern day Iraq, because his beliefs clashed with those of the ruling elites, and his grandson Jacob (later called Israel, the father of twelve sons/tribes) was even called a "wandering Aramaean" because he travelled back to the land of his ancestors to obtain a wife and generally led a transitory life -- as was common in those days, and still is in that part of the world. Traveling to Egypt, however, was a bad mistake for the descendants of Israel because they became enslaved and had to wait for a charismatic leader like Moses to facilitate their freedom c. 1250 BCE.

After leaving Egypt, the Israelites wandering in the desert for a generation until Joshua emerged to lead them in the invasion of Canaan, which they then took as their own.

At that time and place in history, there were several great empires -- the Egyptian, the Hittite, the Babylonian and the Assyrian (a land between the Hittite and Babylonian Empires) -- and vibrant new migrant colonies of Indo-European Sea People at Gaza, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Ashkelon that became known as 'the Way of the Philistines', after the name of the principle tribe.

Constant trouble with the Philistines led the Israelites to form the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1050 BCE but by then very few of the Israelites were direct descendants of Abraham and true to the Covenant he had made with Yahweh. They were largely of Canaan ethnicity, with a mixture of Hittite, Aramaean and Egyptian, and they practised many faiths. Very much like today's multicultural nations.

By 1010 BCE King David ruled the United Kingdom of Israel and the mythology of the Israelite nation became established. This United Kingdom of Israel lasted until c. 920 BCE when Jeroboam led the revolt of the wealthy northern tribes who were economically better developed than the southern tribes, had better rainfall and agricultural systems. The united kingdom split into the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the South (which had Jerusalem as its capital and was led by Rehoboam).

The northern Kingdom of Israel became more powerful under Omri (c. 885-874 BC) who, with the support of the Phoenician city of Tyre, founded a new dynasty with its capital city at Samaria. Omri's successor, Jehu, linked through dynastic marriage with Tyre, joined other nations to fight and defeat the Assyrian Shalmaneser III at Qarqar in 853 BC. Twelve years later, with assistance from the Kingdom of Aram, he organised a coup in which his own kin, Ahab and his family, were put to death.

Because the northern Kingdom of Israel was falling under the influence of Damascus, losing all cultural and religious ties with the southern Kingdom of Judah, the Judaeans treacherously appealed to Assyria for intervention and ultimately, in 720 BC, Israel fell and became incorporated into the Assyrian empire. The capital Samaria was destroyed, the ruling elites were deported to other lands in the Assyrian empire and a new nobility was imported by the Assyrians. To avoid captivity or exile, thousands of Jews from the northern kingdom of Israel fled south to the southern kingdom of Judah and it is said that its capital city, Jerusalem, grew in population size by over 500%.

Judah itself fell to the Babylonians in 587 BCE, the Temple was destroyed and its ruling elites taken into captivity to Babylon. Another massive diaspora took place in which the Jews escaped slavery by fleeing to Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Persia.

In 539 BCE the Babylonian Empire fell to Persia under Cyrus and he magnanimously freed the Jews and allowed them to return to Jerusalem -- which was now a Persian province. They were allowed to take with them the Temple vessels that the Babylonians had stolen, and construction of the Second Temple started.

In 331 BCE the Persian Empire fell to Alexander the Great of Greece, and all was well under Greek rule until 174-163 BCE when Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to Hellenize the Jews which led to the Maccabees's Rebellion, and the rise of John Hyrcanus, Ethnarch and High Priest of Jerusalem, 134-104 BCE, under whom the Jewish nation experienced a resurgence, annexing Trans-Jordan, Samaria, Galilee and Idumea and forcing the Idumeans to convert to Judaism.

By 63 BCE, Pompey conquered Jerusalem and it fell under Roman rule. In 66 BCE, the First Jewish-Roman War broke out. The entire Jewish garrison at Yodfat was massacred after a two month siege, and in 70 BCE the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. Those Jews that were not massacred -- or able to flee to Mesopotamia (Iraq) and other countries around the Mediterranean -- were taken to Rome as slaves. By 73 BCE the last Jewish resistance at the mountain fortress of Masada was crushed and 900 defenders committed suicide rather than be captured and sold into slavery.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai escaped from Jerusalem and obtained permission to establish a center of Jewish learning, the Sanhedrin, in the outlying town of Yavneh. At this center, Rabbinic Judaism took root and the Sanhedrin became the supreme religious, political and judicial body for the 'wandering Jews'.

In 132 Simon bar Kokhba led a final revolt against the Romans, declaring an independent state in Israel, and was crushed by Rome. Seeking to suppress the Jewish place-names and humiliate the defeated Jews, the Romans renamed the area Palaestina (Latin for the Philistines, the traditional enemies of the Jews) and the Christians went one step further, after they had taken over Roman government, by forcibly disbanding the Sanhedrin in 425 CE and persecuting them forever after.

Like the early Christians in pagan Rome, the Jews went underground and survived -- moving from place to place to escape slavery and persecution, changing their religion to Christianity or Muslim according to whichever elite was in power, but never forgetting their tribal history, their roots and their self-appointed anointment as God's chosen people.

So accustomed had the Jews become to a wandering existence, that even the re-establishment of their homeland in the post WWII period did not attract the expected mass return. As with the earlier United Kingdom of Israel, divisions are appearing between the rich and the poor and the devout and the secular -- and the ancient turf war between the Philistines (Palestinians) and the Jews continues.

Ethnically, modern Jews are now more European than Semitic and it is odd they can lay claim to land on the basis of where their religion was born -- especially since it is based upon a tribal history that would make the Arabs more likely to be the true descendants of Abraham than they are -- but pointing this fact out to an Israeli would be far too confronting.

This article first appeared as Wandering Jews

The United Kingdom of Israel

In Christian tradition the Wandering Jew was condemned to a homeless existence until Judgment Day for having mocked Jesus Christ, and in botany the Wandering Jew was a name given to a trailing plant with colourful foliage -- even though its native origin was tropical America rather than the Middle East -- and as silly as these meanings are they are nevertheless apt, in a way, because before and after the Jewish tribes formed the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1050 BCE, they had both a colorful and a wandering history which is not just reflected in Judaism but forms the basis of it.

Starting with Abraham, he and his extended family had to flee to Canaan from his home in Ur, modern day Iraq, because his beliefs clashed with those of the ruling elites, and his grandson Jacob (later called Israel, the father of twelve sons/tribes) was even called a "wandering Aramaean" because he travelled back to the land of his ancestors to obtain a wife and generally led a transitory life -- as was common in those days, and still is in that part of the world. Traveling to Egypt, however, was a bad mistake for the descendants of Israel because they became enslaved and had to wait for a charismatic leader like Moses to facilitate their freedom c. 1250 BCE.

After leaving Egypt, the Israelites wandering in the desert for a generation until Joshua emerged to lead them in the invasion of Canaan, which they then took as their own.

At that time and place in history, there were several great empires -- the Egyptian, the Hittite, the Babylonian and the Assyrian (a land between the Hittite and Babylonian Empires) -- and vibrant new migrant colonies of Indo-European Sea People at Gaza, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Ashkelon that became known as 'the Way of the Philistines', after the name of the principle tribe.

Constant trouble with the Philistines led the Israelites to form the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1050 BCE but by then very few of the Israelites were direct descendants of Abraham and true to the Covenant he had made with Yahweh. They were largely of Canaan ethnicity, with a mixture of Hittite, Aramaean and Egyptian, and they practised many faiths. Very much like today's multicultural nations.

By 1010 BCE King David ruled the United Kingdom of Israel and the mythology of the Israelite nation became established. This United Kingdom of Israel lasted until c. 920 BCE when Jeroboam led the revolt of the wealthy northern tribes who were economically better developed than the southern tribes, had better rainfall and agricultural systems. The united kingdom split into the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the South (which had Jerusalem as its capital and was led by Rehoboam).

The northern Kingdom of Israel became more powerful under Omri (c. 885-874 BC) who, with the support of the Phoenician city of Tyre, founded a new dynasty with its capital city at Samaria. Omri's successor, Jehu, linked through dynastic marriage with Tyre, joined other nations to fight and defeat the Assyrian Shalmaneser III at Qarqar in 853 BC. Twelve years later, with assistance from the Kingdom of Aram, he organised a coup in which his own kin, Ahab and his family, were put to death.

Because the northern Kingdom of Israel was falling under the influence of Damascus, losing all cultural and religious ties with the southern Kingdom of Judah, the Judaeans treacherously appealed to Assyria for intervention and ultimately, in 720 BC, Israel fell and became incorporated into the Assyrian empire. The capital Samaria was destroyed, the ruling elites were deported to other lands in the Assyrian empire and a new nobility was imported by the Assyrians. To avoid captivity or exile, thousands of Jews from the northern kingdom of Israel fled south to the southern kingdom of Judah and it is said that its capital city, Jerusalem, grew in population size by over 500%.

Judah itself fell to the Babylonians in 587 BCE, the Temple was destroyed and its ruling elites taken into captivity to Babylon. Another massive diaspora took place in which the Jews escaped slavery by fleeing to Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Persia.

In 539 BCE the Babylonian Empire fell to Persia under Cyrus and he magnanimously freed the Jews and allowed them to return to Jerusalem -- which was now a Persian province. They were allowed to take with them the Temple vessels that the Babylonians had stolen, and construction of the Second Temple started.

In 331 BCE the Persian Empire fell to Alexander the Great of Greece, and all was well under Greek rule until 174-163 BCE when Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to Hellenize the Jews which led to the Maccabees's Rebellion, and the rise of John Hyrcanus, Ethnarch and High Priest of Jerusalem, 134-104 BCE, under whom the Jewish nation experienced a resurgence, annexing Trans-Jordan, Samaria, Galilee and Idumea and forcing the Idumeans to convert to Judaism.

By 63 BCE, Pompey conquered Jerusalem and it fell under Roman rule. In 66 BCE, the First Jewish-Roman War broke out. The entire Jewish garrison at Yodfat was massacred after a two month siege, and in 70 BCE the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. Those Jews that were not massacred -- or able to flee to Mesopotamia (Iraq) and other countries around the Mediterranean -- were taken to Rome as slaves. By 73 BCE the last Jewish resistance at the mountain fortress of Masada was crushed and 900 defenders committed suicide rather than be captured and sold into slavery.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai escaped from Jerusalem and obtained permission to establish a center of Jewish learning, the Sanhedrin, in the outlying town of Yavneh. At this center, Rabbinic Judaism took root and the Sanhedrin became the supreme religious, political and judicial body for the 'wandering Jews'.

In 132 Simon bar Kokhba led a final revolt against the Romans, declaring an independent state in Israel, and was crushed by Rome. Seeking to suppress the Jewish place-names and humiliate the defeated Jews, the Romans renamed the area Palaestina (Latin for the Philistines, the traditional enemies of the Jews) and the Christians went one step further, after they had taken over Roman government, by forcibly disbanding the Sanhedrin in 425 CE and persecuting them forever after.

Like the early Christians in pagan Rome, the Jews went underground and survived -- moving from place to place to escape slavery and persecution, changing their religion to Christianity or Muslim according to whichever elite was in power, but never forgetting their tribal history, their roots and their self-appointed anointment as God's chosen people.

So accustomed had the Jews become to a wandering existence, that even the re-establishment of their homeland in the post WWII period did not attract the expected mass return. As with the earlier United Kingdom of Israel, divisions are appearing between the rich and the poor and the devout and the secular -- and the ancient turf war between the Philistines (Palestinians) and the Jews continues.

Ethnically, modern Jews are now more European than Semitic and it is odd they can lay claim to land on the basis of where their religion was born -- especially since it is based upon a tribal history that would make the Arabs more likely to be the true descendants of Abraham than they are -- but pointing this fact out to an Israeli would be far too confronting.

This article first appeared as Wandering Jews

Wandering Jews

In Christian tradition the Wandering Jew was condemned to a homeless existence until Judgment Day for having mocked Jesus Christ, and in botany the Wandering Jew was a name given to a trailing plant with colourful foliage -- even though its native origin was tropical America rather than the Middle East -- and as silly as these meanings are they are nevertheless apt, in a way, because before and after the Jewish tribes formed the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1050 BCE, they had both a colorful and a wandering history which is not just reflected in Judaism but forms the basis of it.

Starting with Abraham, he and his extended family had to flee to Canaan from his home in Ur, modern day Iraq, because his beliefs clashed with those of the ruling elites, and his grandson Jacob (later called Israel, the father of twelve sons/tribes) was even called a "wandering Aramaean" because he travelled back to the land of his ancestors to obtain a wife and generally led a transitory life -- as was common in those days, and still is in that part of the world. Traveling to Egypt, however, was a bad mistake for the descendants of Israel because they became enslaved and had to wait for a charismatic leader like Moses to facilitate their freedom c. 1250 BCE.

After leaving Egypt, the Israelites wandering in the desert for a generation until Joshua emerged to lead them in the invasion of Canaan, which they then took as their own.

At that time and place in history, there were several great empires -- the Egyptian, the Hittite, the Babylonian and the Assyrian (a land between the Hittite and Babylonian Empires) -- and vibrant new migrant colonies of Indo-European Sea People at Gaza, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Ashkelon that became known as 'the Way of the Philistines', after the name of the principle tribe.

Constant trouble with the Philistines led the Israelites to form the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1050 BCE but by then very few of the Israelites were direct descendants of Abraham and true to the Covenant he had made with Yahweh. They were largely of Canaan ethnicity, with a mixture of Hittite, Aramaean and Egyptian, and they practised many faiths. Very much like today's multicultural nations.

By 1010 BCE King David ruled the United Kingdom of Israel and the mythology of the Israelite nation became established. This United Kingdom of Israel lasted until c. 920 BCE when Jeroboam led the revolt of the wealthy northern tribes who were economically better developed than the southern tribes, had better rainfall and agricultural systems. The united kingdom split into the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the South (which had Jerusalem as its capital and was led by Rehoboam).

The northern Kingdom of Israel became more powerful under Omri (c. 885-874 BC) who, with the support of the Phoenician city of Tyre, founded a new dynasty with its capital city at Samaria. Omri's successor, Jehu, linked through dynastic marriage with Tyre, joined other nations to fight and defeat the Assyrian Shalmaneser III at Qarqar in 853 BC. Twelve years later, with assistance from the Kingdom of Aram, he organised a coup in which his own kin, Ahab and his family, were put to death.

Because the northern Kingdom of Israel was falling under the influence of Damascus, losing all cultural and religious ties with the southern Kingdom of Judah, the Judaeans treacherously appealed to Assyria for intervention and ultimately, in 720 BC, Israel fell and became incorporated into the Assyrian empire. The capital Samaria was destroyed, the ruling elites were deported to other lands in the Assyrian empire and a new nobility was imported by the Assyrians. To avoid captivity or exile, thousands of Jews from the northern kingdom of Israel fled south to the southern kingdom of Judah and it is said that its capital city, Jerusalem, grew in population size by over 500%.

Judah itself fell to the Babylonians in 587 BCE, the Temple was destroyed and its ruling elites taken into captivity to Babylon. Another massive diaspora took place in which the Jews escaped slavery by fleeing to Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Persia.

In 539 BCE the Babylonian Empire fell to Persia under Cyrus and he magnanimously freed the Jews and allowed them to return to Jerusalem -- which was now a Persian province. They were allowed to take with them the Temple vessels that the Babylonians had stolen, and construction of the Second Temple started.

In 331 BCE the Persian Empire fell to Alexander the Great of Greece, and all was well under Greek rule until 174-163 BCE when Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to Hellenize the Jews which led to the Maccabees's Rebellion, and the rise of John Hyrcanus, Ethnarch and High Priest of Jerusalem, 134-104 BCE, under whom the Jewish nation experienced a resurgence, annexing Trans-Jordan, Samaria, Galilee and Idumea and forcing the Idumeans to convert to Judaism.

By 63 BCE, Pompey conquered Jerusalem and it fell under Roman rule. In 66 BCE, the First Jewish-Roman War broke out. The entire Jewish garrison at Yodfat was massacred after a two month siege, and in 70 BCE the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. Those Jews that were not massacred -- or able to flee to Mesopotamia (Iraq) and other countries around the Mediterranean -- were taken to Rome as slaves. By 73 BCE the last Jewish resistance at the mountain fortress of Masada was crushed and 900 defenders committed suicide rather than be captured and sold into slavery.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai escaped from Jerusalem and obtained permission to establish a center of Jewish learning, the Sanhedrin, in the outlying town of Yavneh. At this center, Rabbinic Judaism took root and the Sanhedrin became the supreme religious, political and judicial body for the 'wandering Jews'.

In 132 Simon bar Kokhba led a final revolt against the Romans, declaring an independent state in Israel, and was crushed by Rome. Seeking to suppress the Jewish place-names and humiliate the defeated Jews, the Romans renamed the area Palaestina (Latin for the Philistines, the traditional enemies of the Jews) and the Christians went one step further, after they had taken over Roman government, by forcibly disbanding the Sanhedrin in 425 CE and persecuting them forever after.

Like the early Christians in pagan Rome, the Jews went underground and survived -- moving from place to place to escape slavery and persecution, changing their religion to Christianity or Muslim according to whichever elite was in power, but never forgetting their tribal history, their roots and their self-appointed anointment as God's chosen people.

So accustomed had the Jews become to a wandering existence, that even the re-establishment of their homeland in the post WWII period did not attract the expected mass return. As with the earlier United Kingdom of Israel, divisions are appearing between the rich and the poor and the devout and the secular -- and the ancient turf war between the Philistines (Palestinians) and the Jews continues.

Ethnically, modern Jews are now more European than Semitic and it is odd they can lay claim to land on the basis of where their religion was born -- especially since it is based upon a tribal history that would make the Arabs more likely to be the true descendants of Abraham than they are -- but pointing this fact out to an Israeli would be far too confronting.

the jewish mission

Accepted by all religions is the fact that the first humans created had no religion, and as such any godly plans for humanity were meant for a unified family, not just limited to a chosen few.

Abraham's revolutionary notion of monotheism, a belief in one God, meant that God was not just a God of the Israelites but of all people. God revealed to Abrahamthat his people were to be messengers chosen to bring universal moral instructions to all humanity, not just the Jews.

The Torah was the revelation and the Mitzvot are the divine commandments defining a godly life, and God chose the landless and powerless Jewsas messengers because humans would be free to accept or reject the message on its merits. It was a message delivered without political and economic coercion.

In return for fulfilling their divine mission, God would make the Jews a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

However, most Talmudic Rabbis do not interpret 'a kingdom of priests' as having universal implications. They believe that the covenant given by God not only provided the core religious content of the message the Jewish people were to convey to humanity but also a separate and distinctcontent designed to force Jews to maintain a separate culture. Being chosen to convey the message implied, to them, a superior position.

By superiority, the Talmudic Rabbis meant that Jews as a separate people were to be a 'light' unto the other nations. In offering the message, they cannot mandate its acceptance. Those who accepted the message choose to become chosen.

The Talmudic Rabbis saw the Jewish mission to convey the message of God, not to convert everyone to Judaism. They did not call for the annihiliation of gentile or non-Jewish religions. They saw salvation as dependent on moral behavior not on accepting Judaism, and accepted that the righteous of all faiths have an equal chance to be saved.

In this sense, the Talmudic Rabbis maintained a separate 'superiority'. They were into delivering the message to all but most certaininly do not believe in wholescale conversions.

However, in the early days of Judaism missionary activity was necessary for the growth of this revolutionary notion of monotheism to take place. In his journey from Haran to Canaan Abraham made many converts. In Deuteronomy 32:10, Abraham is described as so successful a missionary that God became known as King of the earth as well as King of heaven.

However, the word 'convert' is used loosely when referring to Abraham's missionary zeal. The formal notion of religious conversion did not emerge until much later in history. Abraham invited non-Israelites to join the Israelites, as did Isaac and Jacob.

By the time of Moses, the Torah was being expounded in seventy languages, andit provides numerous injunctions to the Jewish people to welcome strangers. It is believed, too, that God exiled Jews from their homeland for only one reason, to increase the number of converts!

Conversions came about through synagogues inviting guests and visitors -- there were thousands of houses of instruction in all towns serving as learning centers for gentiles; Jews were exhorted to personally approach potential converts; gentiles living among Jewish people were invited to assimilate; abandoned gentile children were adopted; and many gentiles converted to Judaism through marriage with a Jew.

The Jewish mission of conversion was also codifed in laws. It is not clear when these legal rules developed, but they most certainly existed after the destruction of the Second Temple when there was a need for clear religious rules to maintain the Jewish identity. So, from 400- 500 AD the existence of these laws indicates that converts were allowed, welcomed and had specific rites to undergo in their conversion.

As expected, conversions were increased during important periods of Jewish history. The Jews grew from 150,000 in 586 BC to more than eight million by the first century of the common era and, in the case of the conversion of the Idumaeans and the Ituraeans, force was uncharacteriscally used.

So widespread was Jewish missionary activty that Greek, Roman, and Christian authors wrote disparagingly about it. In Rome, for example, Tacitus, a rhetorical historian, Cicero, a lawyer, and Juvenal, a satirist, are bitter and serious about denouncing Jewish proselytizing activities, and Horace makes fun of them.

The most famous Christian comment came from Matthew 23:15 in which competition for converts became nasty: "Alas for you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are."

By the onset of the Christian era, 10% of the Roman Empire was Jewish and had the Romans and Jews not fought -- the Romans destroying the Temple in 70 AD, crushing the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 AD and ultimately expelling the Jews from Jerusalem -- the Jews would have succeeded in winning more converts than the Christians and historywould have followed a different path.

While Jewish conversion efforts continued, the stateless and powerless Jews were restricted by Roman, and later Christian and Muslim laws regarding proselytism. In 131 AD, Hadrian prohibited circumcision and public instruction in the Jewish religion. In 198 and 199 the Emperor Severus passed laws forbiddinggentiles from embracing Judaism, and in 335 Constantine re-enacted Hadrian's law, forbidding Jews to circumcise non-Jewish slaves.

Cumulatively, these restrictions not only reversed the general Jewish attitude toward welcoming converts but also produced deep psychological change in the Jewish psyche. By the time of Constantine, many Jews would have embraced Christianity and those that remained faithful to Judaism became insular and messiahanic -- waiting for a messiahto raise them from a miserable existence made more miserable by the triumphant Christians accusing the Jews of Deicide -- killing Jesus -- and setting them up for mockery and persecution.

Christians took over the Jewish mission to welcome converts and transformed its meaning. Salvation was no longer dependent on moral behavior but on accepting Christ.The faiths of others were belittled, eternal rewards were promised for converting andeternal damnation was threated for refusing to convert. Bribery, threats, and ultimately violence and murder were used to expand the Christian faith. However, Christians did make it easier for pagans to convert by relaxing the Jewish need for male circumcision and the obligation to obey Jewish law.

Persecution and fear led, over time, to the transformation of the Jewish understanding of its mission. Spreading God's word came to be seen as against Jewish law.

(This article first appeared as god's chosen people, the jews and is reprinted with permission.)

god's chosen people, the jews

Accepted by all religions is the fact that the first humans created had no religion, and as such any godly plans for humanity were meant for a unified family, not just limited to a chosen few.

Abraham's revolutionary notion of monotheism, a belief in one God, meant that God was not just a God of the Israelites but of all people. God revealed to Abraham that his people were to be messengers chosen to bring universal moral instructions to all humanity, not just the Jews.

The Torah was the revelation and the Mitzvot are the divine commandments defining a godly life, and God chose the landless and powerless Jews as messengers because humans would be free to accept or reject the message on its merits. It was a message delivered without political and economic coercion (unlike Christianity after the Roman Emperor Constantine embraced it).

In return for fulfilling their divine mission, God promised his chosen people that he would make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

However, most Talmudic Rabbis do not interpret 'a kingdom of priests' as having universal implications. They believe that the covenant given by God not only provided the core religious content of the message the Jewish people were to convey to humanity but also a separate and distinct content designed to force Jews to maintain a separate culture. Being chosen to convey the message implied, to them, a superior position.

By superiority, the Talmudic Rabbis meant that Jews as a separate people were to be a 'light' unto the other nations. In offering the message, they cannot mandate its acceptance. Those who accepted the message choose to become chosen.

The Talmudic Rabbis saw the Jewish mission to convey the message of God, not to convert everyone to Judaism. They did not call for the annihilation of gentile or non-Jewish religions. They saw salvation as dependent on moral behavior not on accepting Judaism, and accepted that the righteous of all faiths have an equal chance to be saved.

In this sense, the Talmudic Rabbis maintained a separate 'superiority'. They were into delivering the message to all but most certainly did not believe in wholesale conversions.

However, in the early days of Judaism missionary activity was necessary for the growth of this revolutionary notion of monotheism to take place. In his journey from Haran to Canaan Abraham made many converts. In Deuteronomy 32:10, Abraham is described as so successful a missionary that God became known as King of the earth as well as King of heaven.

However, the word 'convert' is used loosely when referring to Abraham's missionary zeal. The formal notion of religious conversion did not emerge until much later in history. Abraham invited non-Israelites to join the Israelites, as did Isaac and Jacob.

By the time of Moses, the Torah was being expounded in seventy languages, and it provides numerous injunctions to the Jewish people to welcome strangers. It is believed, too, that God exiled Jews from their homeland for only one reason, to increase the number of converts!

Conversions came about through synagogues inviting guests and visitors -- there were thousands of houses of instruction in all towns serving as learning centers for gentiles; Jews were exhorted to personally approach potential converts; gentiles living among Jewish people were invited to assimilate; abandoned gentile children were adopted; and many gentiles converted to Judaism through marriage with a Jew.

The Jewish mission of conversion was also codified in laws. It is not clear when these legal rules developed, but they most certainly existed after the destruction of the Second Temple when there was a need for clear religious rules to maintain the Jewish identity. So, from 400- 500 AD the existence of these laws indicates that converts were allowed, welcomed and had specific rites to undergo in their conversion.

As expected, conversions were increased during important periods of Jewish history. The Jews grew from 150,000 in 586 BC to more than eight million by the first century of the common era and, only in the case of the conversion of the Idumaeans and the Ituraeans, was force used in an uncharacteristic manner.

So widespread was Jewish missionary activity that Greek, Roman, and Christian authors wrote disparagingly about it. In Rome, for example, Tacitus, a rhetorical historian, Cicero, a lawyer, and Juvenal, a satirist, are bitter and serious about denouncing Jewish proselytizing activities, and Horace makes fun of them.

The most famous Christian comment came from Matthew 23:15 in which competition for converts became nasty: "Alas for you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are."

By the onset of the Christian era, 10% of the Roman Empire was Jewish and had the Romans and Jews not fought -- the Romans destroying the Temple in 70 AD, crushing the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 AD and ultimately expelling the Jews from Jerusalem -- the Jews would have succeeded in winning more converts than the Christians and history would have followed a different path.

While Jewish conversion efforts continued, the stateless and powerless Jews dispersed throughout the Roman Empire and beyond were heavily restricted by Roman, and later Christian and Muslim laws regarding proselytism.

In 131 AD, Hadrian prohibited circumcision and public instruction in the Jewish religion. In 198 and 199 the Emperor Severus passed laws forbidding gentiles from embracing Judaism, and in 335 Constantine re-enacted Hadrian's law, forbidding Jews to circumcise non-Jewish slaves.

Cumulatively, these restrictions not only reversed the general Jewish attitude toward welcoming converts but also produced deep psychological change in the Jewish psyche.

From Constantine's time onwards -- when Christianity became the state religion -- many Jews would have converted to Christianity and those who remained faithful to Judaism became insular and messianic -- waiting for a messiah to raise them from a miserable existence made more miserable by the triumphant Christians accusing the Jews of Deicide -- killing Jesus -- and setting them up for mockery and persecution.

The Christians who laid the basis of early western civilization were mostly converted Jews and, in taking over the Jewish mission to welcome converts, they transformed its meaning.

Salvation was no longer dependent on moral behavior but on accepting Christ. The faiths of others were belittled, eternal rewards were promised for converting and eternal damnation was threatened for refusing to convert. Bribery, threats, and ultimately violence and murder were used to expand the Christian faith. However, Christians did make it easier for pagans to convert by relaxing the Jewish need for male circumcision and the obligation to obey Jewish law.

Persecution and fear led, over time, to the transformation of the Jewish understanding of its mission. Spreading God's word came to be seen as being against Jewish law.

the first religions had many gods

The first archeological evidence of religious worship was found in northern Spain where a shrine was found in El Juyu cave and dated 12,000 BC.

Before the idea of one God was first established c. 1850 BC by Abraham - the founding father of both the Jewish and the Moslem peoples - the mode of worship was similar in all parts of the world. There was no organized religion per se other than polytheism - otherwise known as Paganism.

In India, polytheism evolved to form the religion of Hinduism (or Brahmanism) which dates from the Bhagavad-Gita of 3102 BC in which, according to tradition, the god Krishna defined the rigid caste system that, despite democracy, still permeates Indian life.

Polytheism, or Paganism, is the worship of many gods - relating to fertility, manhood, harvest, riches and protection from ills. Similar idols relating to each type of god or goddess were found in the shrines of disparate civilizations. That the gods were fashioned from human or animal forms - and were similar in civilizations separated from each other - is understandable. To ascribe to a god a human form is, apparently, a human trait.

The female idols - the goddesses - were more numerous than those of animals depicting the strength or phalluses of manhood. This may indicate that religion was primarily a pastime of women but, on the contrary, because much of it was highly erotic - and men have traditionally had more time on their hands than women, who were burdened with bearing, nursing and raising small children - religion was mostly a male pastime.

The Canaanite idols worshipped were principally Baal, represented either by a bull or a phallic stone, his consort Astarte, the fertility goddess and Moloch, the child-devouring god. Similar to religious practices all over the ancient world, burnt offerings and sacrifices were made to these gods in return for power, riches, prestige and victory. One of the ancient Canaanite and Sumeric gods, Tammuz, the god of the dying, curiously remains with the Jewish religion in the form as a month in the Jewish calendar.

The practice of human sacrifice was common to most ancient religions, but infant sacrifice was particularly common. Even Abraham, back in c.1790 BC, was 'commanded' by God to sacrifice his son; in the 9th century BC, when Ahab was the King of Israel, he and his wife Jezebel sacrificed two sons on the altar of Baal; and both King Ahaz and King Manasseh (who sawed the Prophet Isaiah in two during his reign 687-642 BC) ritually sacrificed children to Moloch in the Valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem.

Modern religions may have abolished human sacrifices, but blood still plays an important part in worshipping God. Childless Abraham started the Jewish practice of circumcision as a Blood covenant with God in return for the promise of children - which the Jews still follow, as do the Moslems, and a lot of Christians adopted, too - but the Christian Church initiated another practice, the Eucharist, drinking the blood and eating the body of Christ - a rite that causes many to consider it a cannibalistic religion.

defining civilizations

Civilization is a term denoting a stage in the evolution of society and it's a term so loaded with arrogant value judgments that it should not be taken too seriously. Who is to say that a complex industrial nation on the brink of nuclear war is more civilized than a simple
agricultural nation?

Today, we tend to judge a civilized society by the way it treats its disadvantaged peoples - and animals - and a civilized person by his or her manners, but none of these fine distinctions were taken into consideration when historians classified civilizations.

While evolution of civilization generally implies an improvement in the behavior, living conditions and social organization of populations, it does not necessarily follow that civilizations always evolve into more harmonious or prosperous communities. Under certain conditions,
civilizations can and do evolve into brutal regimes for controlling populations.

What exactly defines a separate and distinct civilization varies, but major features apart from a sizeable population might include:

• a unique geographic area;




• a unique ethnicity;




• a unique language;




• a unique system of government;




• a unique religion; and




• a unique culture (identified by buildings, education, etc).

There are, however, other classifications that define civilizations by
geographic area and literacy alone, meaning that if a nation does not have a
unique written history then it is not classed as a civilization.

are civilizations built or destroyed by religion?

Unlike later civilizations, such as the Orthodox Christian and the Islamic civilizations which were built upon exclusive religions - as indeed was Western civilization - the earliest civilizations appear to have had no religion upon which they were built. On the contrary, organized religion - or a particular belief system - appeared to develop from the process of civilization.

Religion, however, played a devastating part in destroying thriving civilizations. The Eskimo, Polynesian and Andean civilizations were totally destroyed by Christian invaders not very long ago during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Very few past civilizations died out 'naturally' by an environmental disaster or an epidemic that was not caused or introduced by outsiders. Most were destroyed by military force or by ideological brainwashing - supplanting a new religion upon an old one - and sometimes great expanses of time passed by before a new civilization emerges from the ashes of the old.

For instance, between the fall of the Hellenic Roman Empire in 378AD and the rise of a Christian Western Civilization in 675AD, the European tribes spent almost 300 years in transition - between Paganism and Christianity.

At the time, of course, nobody realized that they were in transition! Life went on as usual. Historians in the year 2200, living in a totally new type of civilization, may look back and agree that 1914 marked the end of Western civilization, and Christianity, meaning that at present we are in transition and have been since the end of WWI.

Very few people living in today's Western civilization have first hand experience of the type of security, certainty, racial superiority and purpose that existed prior to the first great war of 1914-1918. It barely existed in the 1920s and 1930s and finally ended, ignominiously, in 1945.

In the 19th century, it was widely believed by all nations that there was nothing beyond the capabilities of the white western Christian world. The British Empire reigned supreme and was almost invincible, in the same manner as the old Roman Empire in its pre-Christian era and the new American giant that took over from Britain after 1945.

Those who were living in Europe between the two wars relate amazing stories showing how most of the old ideals that set western civilization apart from other civilizations started to change so dramatically after 1945 that it was like living in a new world.

The new ideals that replaced the old ideals - the new 'religions' of communism and multi-culturalism - seemed to create more problems than solutions, indicating that western civilization - currently led by America - has both a short-term as well as a long-term future.

The new western civilization is being overpowered by a force that is not so much attacking it from without but undermining it from within. The ideological belief that any one civilization can rule the world - and the way to achieve that aim is by integrating all races and cultures under one religion or political or economic system - is an arrogant denial of individual and social uniqueness and freedoms as well as a denial of historical precedents.