Taboo topic...real talk

Whenever I read about how our dealings in the Middle East have some basis in religion I'd shrug it off.  "It's about that oil!" I'd say.  But our national interest in the Middle East (and in other regions in the world) is more about religion than I came to realize.

America isn't trying to spread Christianity like in the days of the Crusades.  And don't let some politician into tricking you into believing that we're spreading democracy either.  America is monotheistic for sure--our trust just doesn't lie with God anymore as our currency would suggest.  America's new religion is capitalism.

I know.  You're all like "good call GENIUS!  DUH!"  Yes I admit I'm slow on this.  It took me reading an interesting book (although a truly difficult read--so difficult to the point that I haven't finished it) called "The Evolution of God."  This book attempts to trace and explain how God has evolved as we have.  The less civilized we were as a people, the simpler our religion, i.e. we were polytheistic.  As we became more civilized--gained understanding of science, etc.--we became more monotheistic.  Certainly we continued to acknowledge the existence of other gods, but through centuries of geo-political struggle (i.e. war) the god of Abraham came to reign supreme through Christianity, Islam and Judaism.  America has evolved beyond God--America now worships the dollar.

What America does now isn't new.  People would conquer and instill their belief system--mainly dictated by their religion--on the conquered in an effort to "improve" their lives.  Even slavery was thought to be a better condition than living as "savages."  America similarly brings "democracy" to nations that were ruled by dictators or the military in an effort to "improve" the lives of the citizenry.  Sure we promote the ideas of democracy and basic human freedoms and rights.  But the main goal, is to bring about free enterprise.  Free enterprise will improve their education.  Free enterprise will provide livable wages.  Both true--both bullshit.

America brings this free enterprise under the guise of a geopolitical struggle, but the entire point is to open new markets.  The point is to sell more goods, to make more money.  This in turn increases the dependency of everyone on money because without it, they can't buy goods.  So they work harder (some) or get more than one job (others) or pump out kids--all in an effort to get more dollars.  The more we put in, the more we get out (or so it's supposed to go).

Compare this to religion.  God supplies all our needs.  The more we praise, the more the blessings flow.  The more obedient we are, the greater the reward.  Prosperity will follow.  People then increase their activity within their various religious institutions and more importantly increase their giving to these institutions.  The more we put in the more we get out (or so it's supposed to go).

This is why America's religion is the most tolerant monotheistic religion in history.  We even have the freedom to choose our own religion in this country--picture someone converting from Islam to Christianity in Iran.  America doesn't care as long as you're a buyer, as long as you keep using that dollar.  Anyone who is a threat to that--a threat to Americans making money--is an enemy of the state.  No this isn't about us hating Muslims or even Muslims hating on Christians.  This is about money--Americas new god.

Sho-nuff