Dear S
To start with, it is not religion that is fighting and winning wars, at least not in today’s climate, it is the forces of military science (often under the control of religiously dominated regimes) that is doing the fighting. Military science is the use of material science in the function of destroying an enemy – whoever that enemy may be (military science does not discriminate). Look at it this way, if the Christians, Muslims, and Jews all provided their best manifesters of prayer – perhaps all assembled in a field (each group asking their respective gods to destroy their opponents), then absolutely “nothing” would happen. Peace would prevail providing no one behaved in a violent manner out of frustration. In other words, although an adherence to a religious belief might be emotionally comforting and theologically fulfilling, as a system of philosophy, it has no bearing on material reality. Theistic religion does not advocate or give-rise to the development of material science. Military science involves the rational and logical mind applied to the destructive manipulation of physical matter. The bodies of the opponent are pierced with metal projectiles and blown apart with chemically-induced explosions. A dominant regime – like the US (and Israel – which is permitted to share in this US superiority) ensures that its scientists are engaged in developing a military technology that cannot be countered by an enemy (the pursuance of asymmetric warfare). The Chinese, North Koreans, and Cubans inflicted military defeats on the US following Marxist-Leninism – whilst Somali tribalism inflicted a defeat on US forces in 1993. Trump killed and wounded 300,000-600,000 in Ethiopia’s Tigray region over just 18 months of military intervention (2020-2021) – a devastating war all but ignored by the Western media. (An incoming Biden pulled the plug on this war).
The US is a ruthless secular State (the Constitution separates State from Church) – even though US citizens may (or may not) profess a religious belief in their private life (religious belief should not be used to direct national or international policy). The US is a vast track of land stolen by Western Europeans and exploited for industrial and agrarian profit – via slavery and the mass importation of working migrants. The indigenous population was subject to “genocide” as an inconvenience to this process. Many “White” Europeans just tuned-up, and stole free land – until the capitalist US government banned this process as being bad for business (the Western Frontier was closed to further expansion – and the remaining expanses of empty land turned into “National Parks” for the leisurely use of the “White” population – with Native Americans “banned” from living on this land or migrating across it). From that point onward, the stolen land in the US was to be bought and sold within a modern, capitalist system – this replaced the old European method of inheriting land or gifting it to relatives – as land ownership was linked to social status in countries like England, for instance. Those without land had to “rent” small spaces – or sell their labour for status, etc. Peasants were permitted to farm a small track of land already owned by an aristocrat. Those who owned enough land were permitted to vote, and stand for election in the English Parliament. Those without land ownership were permanently excluded from the political process.
Marx and Engels mention the discovery of America in their “Communist Manifesto” – and the tremendous benefit this development had for the bourgeoisie in Europe. This process “internationalised” an enriched group of peasants that had made money as merchants (initially in Italy – but soon spreading to other Western European States). The bourgeoisie are peasants who took-on the role of merchant – paid to link the aristocracy with the exotic goods they required (usually fetched from far-off places). Various “Revolutions” then brought the bourgeoisies to political power (1648-49 in England and 1789 in France, etc). Of course, the Americas were discovered before the bourgeoisie came to power – but the British bourgeoisie took (independent) political control of the US in 1776 – but this can be viewed as an extension of the UK Parliament that broke from Westminster and went rogue. In many ways, the Founding Fathers (termed “terrorists” in the UK) were incredibly liberal and left-leaning when they led the rebellion in North America. At that time, the UK retained control of “British North America” – which was later renamed “Canada”. The independent Americans felt strong enough to declare war on the UK in 1812 – but soon regrated this decision, as a small group of English and Scottish (kilted) Red Coats entered the Northern US from Southern Canada and burnt-down the White House, whilst inflicting a number of military defeats on the US – but this small and unsupported force was finally trapped and defeated in New Orleans.
The Americans learned in the 1770s that there is a material reality to warfare and that this has nothing to do with religion. The Americans developed better cannons to kill as many English Red Coats “at a distance” – so that their inexperienced “volunteer” force could better handle these tough working-class Englishmen hand-to-hand. The evidence suggests that the brutal discipline practiced by the Red Coats still made this process very difficult and very different to the films. The Red Coats carried-on marching in formation despite significant losses – each soldier doggedly “locking forward” and never to the left and right (which often involved huge holes in the lines). Interestingly, both the Union and Confederacy sought to replicate these levels of bravery in their own respective armies – one of the reasons I find this era of history to be quite fascinating. What the Confederacy lacked in material support – it more than make-up for this deficiency in the personal bravery of its soldiers. Of course, soldiers can hold a religious view that assists them in bearing the hardships associated with war (the Imperial Japanese Forces of WWII is often cited as an example – the “Kamikaze” for instance) – but the Soviet Red Amy possessed NO official religion during WWII – and yet its soldiers prevailed over the ruthless material science fielded by Nazi Germany – and the religiosity of the Japanese. America can be defeated but this is usually on the political level – as resistance to war amongst the voters becomes greater than the will to pursue the war.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 