Reply #34: The reason religion is so often found at the heart of conflict

[Az]

We can negotiate land. We can negotiate prisoners. We can negotiate nearly anything. What we cannot negotiate is religion.

Negotiation requires compromise. Religion claims to speak the truth. When two or more religions collide there can be no negotiation. With no ability to concede arguments to one another they can only shore up defenses and wait for the inevitible.

This is the situation we find in Israel/Palestine. Most issues have seen their fair share of negotiations. But when matters approach holy issues such as holy sites the negotiations break down. The very identity of the people become invested in their religious proclomations. They simply cannot back away. Some are even willing to strike blows in these cases.

Its not the religious claims themself that are problematic. It is the nature of how religions propogate and interact with the mind. It is not reserved to just theistic religions either. Structures such as Communism as practiced in the USSR utilized similar methods of propogation and control of the populace. It is these absolutist positions that create these inflexible doctrines that do battle with each other.