Geopolitics, or Religion? || Acharya Prashant

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00Religion, religion, sir, what do you think?

00:02The war in West Asia is just about land or oil or influence or geopolitics?

00:07Why does the US have to intervene in favour of Israel?

00:10There are strategic reasons, economic reasons.

00:12But do not forget religion as the most fundamental reason for what's happening in West Asia.

00:18The evangelical Christians, they constitute around 25% of the voting electorate in the US.

00:25That's a major block, 25%.

00:27They literally believe in the biblical prophecies about the coming of the Christ.

00:31And the Bible says, before the Christ comes, the nation of Israel will have to be strengthened and defended.

00:37The Jews will return to their ancient land. There will be a national awakening.

00:42Therefore, for the arrival of Jesus, Israel has to be defended.

00:46And that is one important reason that informs American foreign policy.

00:50Similarly, Iran is a Shia country with clerical rule.

00:54And Saudi Arabia follows the Wahhabi version of Islam.

00:59And this Shia-Sunni rivalry becomes their proxy wars involving Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon.

01:07Groups like Hezbollah, which is Shia.

01:09Then Al-Qaeda, ISIS, which are Sunni.

01:11They say they want to establish caliphates.

01:13They say they are fighting apostasy or infidels.

01:16They say they want to impose Sharia law.

01:18Is this religion or geopolitics?

01:20Even their recruitment and justifications for very existence are steeped in religious doctrine.

01:26Now, Jerusalem is a flashpoint.

01:28It is sacred to Jews, Christians, Muslims.

01:30The Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Mount Hamas sees its fight against Israel as Jihad.

01:37It does not say I just want to liberate land.

01:39It says I want to liberate Islamic land.

01:42All across the Middle East, leaders invoke Quranic verses and prophetic traditions to justify war.

01:48Martyadam, Shahadat is glorified.

01:50And suicide bombers are portrayed as religious heroes promised paradise.

01:55The leaders of this region, they cast these conflicts as religious struggles.

02:00Shia-Sunni, Muslim versus Jew.

02:03Dehumanization of the enemy uses religious slurs like Kafir, Rafidi.

02:09Iran often uses the battle of Karbala in political ways to arouse militant nationalism.

02:14Crusades are often invoked in Islamic narratives against the West.

02:17Iran supports Shia militias globally.

02:20And Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, they have backed Sunni militias.

02:25Religion is very fundamental to human consciousness.

02:28If religion goes right, then it can elevate a human being from being the normal animal

02:35to someone with maturity, compassion, wisdom and depth.

02:39Religion can be a great uplifting force.

02:42On the other hand, if religion is distorted, if religion becomes a plaything of the ego,

02:46then religion can be the most destructive force.

02:49In India too, we must watch out.

02:51We must learn our lessons from the Middle East.

02:54We must see what religion can do if it gets distorted.

02:56And we better be careful in India as well.

02:59You see in India as well.

03:00Slide 6

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