Recently, on Fora.tv, I watched an interview of Iranian-American author Reza Aslan by Phil Bronstein, Editor-at-Large Hearst Newspapers and the San Francisco Chronicle. In the interview, Aslan discusses his latest book How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror.
Through subjects such as Islam, jihadists, the al-Qaeda, medieval zealots, the Crusades, and evangelism in modern America, Aslan explains that the Cosmic War, in essence, is a conflict over identity... a conflict between good and evil, where the battles are fought on Earth as much as in the heavens.
Aslan suggests that, in a Cosmic War, there is no compromise, no negotiation, no settlement, no neutral ground... and, therefore, the war can be neither won, nor lost. He proposes that the only way to win the Cosmic War is by not engaging in it... by refusing to fight in it.
How feasible is this idea? You be the judge. Watch the Reza Aslan interview here.
[Citation: How to Win a Cosmic War, Reza Aslan interviewed by Phil Bronstein on Fora.tv]
06 September 2009
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2 comments:
Sounds like an interesting book. I guess by not participating in such a war one keeps away from conflicts that arise from varying belief-systems. I personally think that there is no way out if we keep gurading our beliefs (in god or whatever) with violence. but I am not sure. it is too big an issue for me to even grasp :)
Thanks for the suggestion!
Not engaging in violence (as Mahatma Gandhi had also suggested) may hold the key to settling many conflicts. But, what if conflicts come knocking on our doors and refuse to go away?
Besides, the Cosmic War is deeply rooted in faith, in personal (and collective) understanding of good and evil, right and wrong. Such issues seldom have clear answers.
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