World View: Religious Conflict on the Rise Around the World

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Restrictions on religion, and religious conflicts, on the rise globally
• Why has Wall Street not been held accountable for financial crisis crimes?

Restrictions on religion, and religious conflicts, on the rise globally

Campaign poster by Swiss People’s party advocating the ban on minarets – From 2009

Restrictions on the practice of religion, as well as religiousconflicts, have been increasing in countries around the world,according to research from 2007 to 2010 by the Pew Research Center.Three of the examples mentioned by the report are:

• November 2009 constitutional referendum in Switzerland banned the construction of minarets on mosques in the country.
• In Indonesia, more than two dozen churches were forced to close due to pressure from Islamist extremists or, in some instances, local officials.
• In Nigeria, violence between Christian and Muslim communities, including a series of deadly attacks, escalated throughout the period.

The number of countries with very high government restrictionson religion increased from 10 to 18 during the period.These include: Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Egypt, Vietnam,Syria, Russia and Indonesia.

The number of countries experiencing social hostilities — mob orsectarian violence, harassment over attire for religious reasons andother religion-related intimidation or abuse — also increased.Countries where social hostilities were high include: Pakistan, India,Israel, Nigeria, Yemen, Palestinian territories, Egypt, Russia, SaudiArabia and Indonesia.

The level of restrictions and hostility also rose in the UnitedStates, from a low to a moderate level. These incidents typicallyoccurred at the local level, including restrictions on wearing certainreligious attire or symbols, including beards, or difficulties inobtaining zoning permits to build churches or mosques or religiousschools. Religion-related terrorist attacks spiked in the U.S. in2009, including the Fort Hood attack by U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan,and the attempted airplane bombing by the Nigerian underwear bomber.

Worldwide, the number of countries where religious groups wereharassed were: Christians – 139, Muslims – 121, Jews – 85, Hindus -30, Buddhists – 21.

This is exactly what is predicted by Generational Dynamics theoryduring a generational Crisis era. In a generational Awakening era,such as America in the 1960s and continuing for several decadesthereafter, society places the highest priority on individual rights,including freedom of religion. But as a society enters a generationalCrisis era, levels of nationalism and xenophobia increase sharplyalong ethnic, religious and geographic lines. Individual rightsbecome subordinated to the concern for the survival of the nation andits way of life, and religious harassment becomes a method forthe generational theory prediction, and suggests how increasedconflict between religions might lead to a regional war somewhere thatcould spiral out of control through identity group expansion.Pew Research Center

Why has Wall Street not been held accountable for financial crisis crimes?

A spotlight report by Al-Jazeera tells a story we’ve heardbefore, though almost never from the mainstream media — thatthe banksters who committed the crimes that led to financialcrisis are not being investigated and prosecuted. One personinterviewed, Chris Swecker, formerly of the FBI, warnedbanks of an epidemic of mortgage fraud as early as 2004.However, his warnings were ignored:

“That’s where we start to talk about criminal intentand fraud is knowing full well that there was fraud going on andjust turning your back on it and saying, alright, we’re going topackage this stuff up anyway and we’re going to sell itanyway.”

There is absolute certainty by this time that in 2004, thebanksters were knowingly creating tens of trillions ofdollars in fraudulent synthetic mortgage-backed securitiesand selling them to gullible investors, resulting in theglobal financial crisis that is far from over.

However, the Obama administration Justice Department adamantly refusesto investigate the banksters who committed these crimes. According tothe report, they’re refusing because the bankster financialinstitutions provide huge amounts of money in campaign contributionsto the Democrats. However, the report points out that they contributeeven more to the Republicans, so a Romney victory in November will notchange anything. Al-Jazeera

Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail