- This post will use some uncommon words. Necessary to maintain accuracy of the discussion.
- Clarifications and further explanations can be found in the footnotes. These are recommended reading.
- When I speak of Islam and Christianity here, this in general refers to the mass of followers of these two key religions.
- Most of the manifestations here are a result of man's interpretations of the holy books the Koran and the Bible. In the case of the Christians, Vatican and Protestant doctrine. In the case of Islam, the various Hadith.
[BEFORE you say anything, SHUT UP and READ IT TO THE END]
This article is an original piece inspired by an article by the BBC found here.
Main Entry: Immaculate Conception
Function: noun
1 : the conception of the Virgin Mary in which as decreed in Roman Catholic dogma her soul was preserved free from original sin by divine grace
- Merriam Webster's
Interesting concept isn't it? For the Catholic Church, it's a pretty rare thing too. Happens once every couple of thousand years.-* Well basically what it says is this, Mary, was born perfect. Sin - Nada. While interesting enough on it's own, it's a controversial doctrine you see. Controversial because it's taken as dogma whereas nothing in the bible actually says that Mary was born perfect. Nice as it would be to pick it apart, that's not what we're here fortoday. What we're going to take a look at today is the whole idea of immaculate conception of the race and nation state.
Our world today is one divided by religion, race and ideology; in that particular order. While a great deal has been made about the whole idea of a clash of civilisations (i.e. "secular christian civilisation" versus "muslim civilisation") , not much has been written about the underlying reasons why this clash is taking place. What we're going to examine briefly today is first the clash of religions and second of all the clash of races (where religion again comes into the picture.) and why the idea of the Immaculate Conception is so important.
The Battleground
Let's take an objective view at the whole idea of a clash first. Conflict occurs when the beliefs and values of one side do not suit those of the other or there is a disagreement over the way to achieve a certain end. Each side then tries to push their own ideas to the fore. Resolution however can never be reached without either the emergence of a single dominant ideology at a higher or equal level.-# This is achieved by either one way or two way synthesis of the ideas until a point of agreement can be reached. Critical for this synthesis to work, this new ideology must be accepted by the masses.-$ Why this is so will be discussed later. Resolution by forcible domination is not within the scope of this argument, as will become evident.
The first question that must be answered is this : Is there a real clash? The answer is yes. It is evident in the amount and substance of polemic being tossed by both sides. Further supporting this is the fact that the principles dictating their behaviour are very much different. Neither side is willing too nor can come over to the other side. A primary example of this is the principle of freedom of expression and freedom in general. Islamic civilisation ( caliphate, syariah, even Islam Hadhari comes to mind ) tends to place a greater emphasis on absolute "truths" in every sphere of life. This idea spills over into their governance and also judicial practices. Secular Christian civilisation on the other hand by and large to the idea of separation of church and state. This idea gained momentum after the Reformation and was formally articulated during the French Revolution. - ^ In contrast to the overt influence that Islam has over the state, the Church has learnt to interact within the bounds of the secular state. A clear example of this is the Vatican's seat at the United Nations. Hence, the clash of civilisations becomes more defined.
The Immaculate Conception
Our little blue dot is becoming alot smaller. People are 'virtually' getting closer. As that happens, civilisations tend to have to brush shoulders alot more often. As such, differences on both sides tend to rub the other side raw. That's when conflicts begin to appear. But rather than put a bandage on the wound, society has a virus. This virus is particularly insidious because it prevents both the wounded societies from putting medicine on the wound. Rather, it starts an infection going that quickly spreads.
This virus is the idea of the immaculate conception of race, religion and nation state. In a nutshell, this is the believe that a society can do no wrong. As in the case of the 'virgin' Mary, the belief is that this society was born perfect without sin and can now do no wrong either. If something goes wrong, someone has victimised the society. It is impossible for this society to be morally wrong. This society can be religious, racial, race or nation based.
Lets take Israel for example. Just to show that there are idiots on both sides of the divide. Ever since the ancient of state of Israel was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, through the brutal suppression of the Maccabean uprising by the Romans, right till the Third Reich of the Nazi's, the Jews have suffered. However, looking at more recent history particularly after the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, they have engaged in systematic persecution of the Palestinian people. Acts such as the punitive policies of destroying Palestinian homes and the intentional suppression of the Palestinian economy can in no way be justified as defense of the Israeli state. However what we see right now is that if anything is said which is seen to criticise the Israeli state's actions, one is immediately labelled an anti-semite (in itself a totally wrong term. ). The Israeli people still see themselves as victimised by the world and this prevents them from participation in a solution to the Palestinian plight. More examples can be found in Japan (Rape of Nanjing, Pacific colonisation), Turkey(Armenian Genocide) and China(Tiannamen Square). This also relates to the race issues in Malaysia.
[ I have made the concious decision not to elaborate directly on the Malaysian race based issue. However, it is linked to the view that one race has been victimised. p.s. If you decide to read more than necessary into this and get emotional, you're a bloody prick with no brain. AND that's putting it lightly. ]
The end result of this is that people within the society are capable of spending hours talking about how they have been victimised but that their society has never hurt anyone else. Simply put societies don't like talking about the bad stuff they have done to others but love to feel victimised. This can be understood in the light of the concept of societal pride. This pride must have a moral base where the society is perfect i.e. the immaculate conception of the society. Bad stuff which a society has done or is doing simply does not sit well with the lily white view of the society.
The belief in the immaculate conception then is the key issue behind the inter-societal conflict. If there are two societies, both of which believe equally in their societies immaculate conception, conflict will be the ultimate result. This failure to accept that their society can be the perpetrator of abuse or does not have the moral/intelligent high ground prevents the masses from taking steps towards ending this abuse and/or taking active steps to solve the problem. Neither side can back down.
[TAG - I will post more on why societies act this way at a later day. For now, man is a herd animal. ]
What it means - Resolution
The clash of civilisations mentioned at the onset is going to get more pronounced.Admittedly, the solution cannot be one sided. One side admitting it's own failures while the other doesn't will not solve the larger problem. It is however key to bringing about improvement in the society that can face it's own past. Taking the skeletons in the closet out and giving them a proper burial certainly make your house a healthier place. Perhaps society needs to learn that done at a proper pace and with dignity, there is no ignomity in doing the right thing.
For the big picture though, the future is bleak. The wounds will always be there, only when everyone wants to heal them will we be able to move to something better.
Footnotes
* If you're wondering, well according to Vatican dogma, only one ever happened. And considering that it was about 2000 years ago, well yeah, a couple of thousand years is just about right.
# Clarification for synthesis at different levels
- higher level - i.e. the general acceptance of the United Nations as an arbiter over the alternative of unilateral state action.
- similar level - i.e. the interfaith concept. different religions absorb certain beliefs from each other while maintaining a reasonable differentiation in other aspects.
$ Here I use the term masses to maintain readability where I would have preferred to use the term "collective conscience and conciousness". It is the idea ingrained within the society which is the source of their actions.
^ The separation of church and state as proclaimed during the French Revolution in the latter part of the 18th century was the result of Reformational strivings toward a guarantee for the freedom of the church and the natural-law ideas of the Enlightenment; it was aggravated by the social revolutionary criticism against the wealthy ecclesiastical hierarchy. The separation of church and state was also achieved during and after the American Revolution as a result of ideas arising from the struggle of the Puritans against the English episcopal system and the English throne. After the state in France had undertaken the task of creating its own political, revolutionary substitute religion in the form of a “cult of reason,” which was foreshadowed by Rousseau's discourse on “la religion civile,” a type of separation of church and state was achieved. The French state took over education and other hitherto churchly functions of a civic nature. - Quoted from Encyclopaedia Britannica
