Not In God's Name: A Book Review

It is not hard to say that violence in the name of God has never resolved a theological issue. Thousands killed by the protestant government and thousands killed by the catholic government never resolved the issues that caused them to quarrel with each other. To date, the disagreements are still there. Why did it take such inhumane killing for both parties to stop the violence?

And to compare Islam and Judaism. Why do Jihadists think they can do more service to God’s beloved by taking his or her life? In each life, whether atheist or Christian or gay or anything is a breath of God. All monotheistic religions agree to this. There is no single life that has lived or will live that does not have the very breath of God in him or her. So why then do we hate a person who has a breath of God?

Jonathan Sacks says it is something called “sibling rivalry”. The whole idea is that if we are special, then others have to be not special. If we are the chosen ones, then the others have to be the not chosen ones. And again, religion consecrates violence. It makes the violence feel sacred. You are killing this person in honor of God. You are honoring the truth by hating this person.

Are these correct? Jonathan Sacks devotes 200 pages and shatters everything about these. There is no way to use religion to be violent. Hate is rejected in all three Abrahamic religions. In fact, God commands us to love our enemies. Shocking! God says treat strangers specially. They are made in my Image.

Because I was born in a religiously violent religion, I could relate personally to everything Jonathan Sacks was writing. I completely understood the rationale people use to kill each other in the name of God. An important point about hate is that it is taught. Hate is taught. No one is born inherently with hate. In fact, it is why kids often display a certain level of nonchalance until their parents drive home the point repeatedly that they are supposed to hate their Muslim, Christian, or atheist neighbor. In the same way that hate has been taught, we can teach peace.

Religion becomes violent when it seeks to impose its beliefs by force. It does this when it merges with politics. The result is often ugly militant Islam as in the middle east or crusading churches as in the middle ages. Basically, religion and politics are best separated.

It is tempting to think that an irreligious world will bring peace. The fact is, it has been tried and it failed miserably. The 20th Century was the bloodiest century in all of human history. The majority of the deaths were brought by governments that were avowed atheists. Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s USSR, Mao’s China, and Pol Pot Cambodia. Our salvation for a tolerable come from a society in which religion plays its vital role of serving as a moral guide and conscience.

There is an important point that must be made here, violence is fundamentally not about religion. It is about resources and power. The crisis in Jos is not because there are Christians and Muslims. Rather, it is because there is scarce land and scarce power. Remove religion, the people here will still inflict violence on each other for those same reasons. However, it is important to say that the conflict happens as Muslims Vs Christians because religion is powerful, so powerful that it gives people identity. Hence, the most powerful tool that can be used to mobilize the people to fight is religion. Religion enters. And thousands are killed by Muslims and Christians.

Jonathan Sacks leads the reader to read some historically popular stories in a new light. Isaac is the chosen hair, but Ishmael is not rejected. Jacob is loved, but Esau is not hated. Both Jacob and Esau become powerful tribes. Joseph's brothers sold him to slavery but they defend Benjamin in the end. The story is not always as it looks. History is not a story of villains and victors. Ruth who became the grandmother of Jesus was not a Jew, the woman who saved the spies in Canaan was not a Jew, Jews become a prosperous tribe but so do other nations, the Jews are chosen but God speaks through the pagan Prophet Balaam, Jonah preached to a city that was totally antithetical to God, in less than a day everyone repents. Never before has Israel ever done this. The real invitation of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks is for us to view the world through a better lens. To stop viewing the world as us Vs Them. Whenever anyone is killed in the name of religion, even God sends a reply “Not In My Name”. We too, you and I, can respond to religious violence in the same way. We have no other option.

Jonathan makes a powerful presentation of why religion can serve as a very comfortable tool for violence, and at the same time, how it can serve as a tool for peace and justice. This book is a book for our world. For this age. It gave me a fresh perspective and helped me think about religious violence in ways that I never thought of before. Indeed, the first step towards resolving any problem is by diagnosing it rightly. This is the right diagnosis, but it doesn’t stop there, he offered solutions. I deeply enjoyed this book.

One of my conclusions from watching religious violence for more than 2 decades is that it thrives in places where poverty and ignorance are prevalent. Take, for instance, I highly recommend this book for everyone who lives in Nigeria. However, we have a 40% poverty rate, and most of these people live in the North, the region where religious violence is highest. More so, the region also has the highest number of out-of-school children. In simple words, most of those who need to read this book will not because they do not know how to read and they cannot afford to buy it.

Despite the present challenges, there is hope. This doesn’t have to be our reality. This violence can stop. Jonathan Sacks shows the way. I am grateful for this work because it shows that enmity, hatred, and violence between Christians and Muslims, Jews and Muslims, Christians and Atheists, etc don’t have to be permanent. There is hope!

PS: As I finish this review, I am viewing the photos from the burial of 16 people who were killed in a Yelwa Zangwam, Jos North, Plateau State by Fulani earlier this week. 35 people were killed that night. Two weeks ago, on a Saturday like this, a car transporting Muslims was stopped by Christian youths and several Muslims were killed. I know what God was saying at both times, “NOT IN MY NAME”.