Religious violence?
Oh, God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on."
-Bob Dylan, "Highway 61 Revisited"
My reading of the Abraham sacrifice story is: It's the ancient version of the Stanford prison experiment and the Milgram obedience to authority experiment demonstrating that humans have this dangerous tendency to obey violent dictators and kill on command. And that we'd better watch out and keep this tendency in check if we value our freedom and justice. The ugly flip side of Abraham's sacrifice story is the Nazis saying "I was just following orders."
What if they had a war and nobody came?
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on."
-Bob Dylan, "Highway 61 Revisited"
My reading of the Abraham sacrifice story is: It's the ancient version of the Stanford prison experiment and the Milgram obedience to authority experiment demonstrating that humans have this dangerous tendency to obey violent dictators and kill on command. And that we'd better watch out and keep this tendency in check if we value our freedom and justice. The ugly flip side of Abraham's sacrifice story is the Nazis saying "I was just following orders."
What if they had a war and nobody came?