"Religious violence requires a religious violence"
At a time when there are many conflicts around the world which claim to be in the name of God, particularly (although not only), the Middle East, Rabbi Sacks reflects on how we might challenge this situation and confront this violence, and do so in the name of God.
In this keynote address, Rabbi Sacks argued that conflict was not caused by religion, but was indivisible from humanity. He looked at the nature of Darwinian biology and culture that led people to form groups, and larger religious groups, and how the emergence of dualism within monotheistic religions led to these groups to define themselves against others, as 'us and them' or 'good and evil', and allowed people to kill their enemy in the belief they were doing good, something he called 'altruistic evil'.
Rabbi Sacks explained why this universalistic approach was deeply flawed. The last time that humankind had faced similar a challenge was the 17th century, when a technological revolution challenged the established structures of power, and led to religious wars. What won those wars may have been weapons, he said, but what won the peace was ideas: the concept of human rights, the principle of toleration and liberty of conscious.
After four centuries which saw the secularisation of knowledge, power, culture and morality, Rabbi Sacks argued that the 21st century is moving in the opposite direction towards a period of desecularisation, amid disillusionment in the Middle East with secular nationalism, and discontent with the entire system that divided the world into nation states.
He suggested that while it was our humanity that causes violence, violence in the name of religion nevertheless demands a religious response that is strong and unequivocal - and send a message of love from all three Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - to answer the voices of hate.
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