President OBama recently gave a noteworthy speech in which he adamantly stated it is time to end America’s “War on Terror”. Of course, not surprisingly, the overall tone of his speech was met with anger and disdain from many Republicans who never heard of a war they didn’t like or a Middle Eastern country they didn’t want to occupy.

The problem is that the name “War on Terror” has been a carefully crafted, deceitful term from the beginning. Who is responsible for 99.9% of the terrorist attacks? Are we really unclear on that question? Every time there is a terrorist attack, are we generally sitting around perplexed, scratching our heads wondering, “Well, who do you imagine is angry at us this time?”…”Who do you think could possibly be behind this suicide bombing?” Do we EVER generally find ourselves asking such questions? RARELY. Why? Because the truth is, it has been a “War on Extremist Islam”.

And even that term is deceiving, because it implies that we just simply desire to be at war with Islam. There are ironically many Jews and Christians in the U.S. who DO desire to be at war with Islam, because they DO see Islam as ‘evil’ in the eyes of God, by their religious beliefs, the same as Muslims view them by their religious beliefs. But the U.S. and our allies in general have been taking the fight to Islamic extremists as a matter of preemptive self defense, under the moniker of the “War on Terror”.

It is not politically ‘expedient’ to admit we are engaging in a Holy War against extremist Islam. Yet doing so…admitting this is the first necessary step to peace. As long as we hide from the root cause, we cannot heal mankind or achieve any form of real security in our ‘homeland’.

President OBama is correct that we need to try to end this ambiguous ‘war posture’ implied under such a deceitfully vague name. Problem is, Islam doesn’t stop their JIHAD against the West because we stop taking the fight to them. The American people have been misled with this term “War on Terror” to the extent that most Americans don’t realize the problem is not ‘terrorism’ in general.

The problem is “RELIGION” in general – Those primary religions that have at their core a belief that all others are condemned. Islam believes all others are condemned. But guess what? Christianity ALSO believes all others are condemned, and with the same fervor. This has been and will continue to be a HOLY WAR between Christianity and Islam.

If you are a Christian who is shaking your head denying this truth, you in gross error, and lying to yourself. You need to go and read the book you clearly aren’t familiar with. The main tenet of Christianity, just like Islam, is that ALL OTHERS ARE INFIDELS and are condemned in the eyes of God.

This teaching is paramount in Christianity, and found all throughout the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. It is man-made hate, and it is not Divine scripture of any sort. It doesn’t take a religious scholar to see the man-made source of hate and bigotry. Many scriptures in the Bible show God ordering the Jews to commit acts of genocide against non-Jewish countries they conquered because they were not ‘believers’.

I admit that contemporaneously, Islam has been the primary and loudest aggressor. In centuries past, the opposite was the case. Christianity was the loudest aggressor and engaged in acts of genocide in the name of God. There are countless scriptures in the Bible (Joshua chapter 6 to name but one) that show God ordering massive acts of genocide.

But what most Americans, and even many ‘watered down’ Christians don’t realize is this: Evangelical Bible believing Christians are just as committed to a Holy War in Jesus’ name against Islam, as Muslims are to this day. They believe it ushers in the ‘Second Coming of Christ’. Most of them specifically expect the “Antichrist” is going to be a top leader of Islam trying to impose Islam on all mankind. But these evangelicals believe Jesus will return and do the same thing Islam wants to do, KILL ALL THE NON-CHRISTIANS.

If you think I’m exaggerating, you owe it to yourself to familiarize yourself with the book of Revelations in the Bible, and Christians’ widely held beliefs on how the “End Times” must go down. Bible believing Christians see the end result the same as Islamic fundamentalists do…everyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus is condemned to die a horrible death, and burn in hell for eternity. That is not me using ‘hyperbole’, it is the actual true teaching found all over the Bible. It is not taken out of context in any way whatsoever.

We now know the Bible was entirely ‘man-made’, which is why it is replete with such hate, bigotry and condemnation toward human diversity. If it were truly inspired by what is Holy and Divine, it would not have ANY of that garbage in it. It would be a consistent ‘testament’ to UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for EVERYONE. Not selective love and condemnation for the rest of mankind’s beautiful diversity across the globe. But sadly most Christians refuse to admit this, same as Muslims regarding the Koran.

So it is a very dangerous ‘self fulfilling’ prophecy that motivates them to stay engaged in a Holy War against Islam. Orthodox Jews are also just as committed to a Holy War against Islam in God’s name. Religion, not ‘terrorism’…Religion and its sick condemnation and hateful beliefs that are in opposition to peace and diversity, THAT is the problem we need to have a universal discussion about. Instead, everyone goes on IGNORING that main problem.

This is one of the primary reasons why you always see the Republican Party itching to start wars in the Middle East. It isn’t just for exploiting those countries’ oil wealth. It is because the Republican Party has sadly been hijacked to a significant degree by evangelical Christians and orthodox Jews who believe it is God’s will that we defeat Islam in “God’s Name”.

Many Americans don’t realize this truth. Many who are Christians ironically aren’t at all familiar with the Bible and all the hate filled, warmongering scriptures within it that teach Christians and Jews that this is what God wants. The Christian Bible and the Jewish Bible are overflowing with the same kind of warmongering hateful scriptures as the Islamic Bible, that being the Koran. If you don’t know that and you call yourself a Christian or a Jew, you need to go read the book you claim to be a follower of…seriously!

Again, the problem needs to be clearly identified. It’s time we stop pretending that this world has such a chronic problem with TERRORISM. The number of lives lost to acts of terror is microscopic compared to the number of lives lost to violent crimes and even just traffic accidents every year.

To repeat, mankind’s most critical problem remains the ‘Holy War’ belief SHARED by both Islam and Christianity, forever pitting the West and Israel against the Middle East and Islam. Those shared Holy War beliefs are contained in both the Bible and the Koran, which are at the root cause of the lack of peace for humanity on this planet.

I know we can achieve peace, but the road to peace requires we stop hiding from this historic war-generating problem. Otherwise, World War III is going to be another very sick ‘self fullfilling’ ignorant reality that we should have been able to avoid, and that ultimately mankind may not be able to survive.

Keep in mind as I write that last line, that many Christians, Muslims and Jews have as their sick belief that such an end will include miraculous protection for them by God…that Armageddon will result in their favor as God’s will, or “Allah’s” will. It is time we stopped acting like these three main religions are INNOCENT or BEAUTIFUL. They are neither.

They have caused more hate and human destruction than any other reason in history, and continue to war against each other to this day. Go read Joshua chapter 6 for but one of countless examples in the Christian King James Bible. Read Revelations and get up to speed on what Christianity teaches about the fate of all non-Christians as ordered by God. We have to begin holding these sick religions accountable for these hateful beliefs they have polluted humanity with at the expense of peace throughout history.

Connie Bryan