蜜芽传媒

The prophet Abraham was born in the city of Ur and died in the city of Hebron 鈥� two parts of the world that never seem to be out of the news, two parts of the world associated with seemingly intractable religious conflict. Ur is in Southern Iraq and Hebron in the West Bank.

And there鈥檚 a prima facie case for linking Abraham with the conflict in these two places. For Abraham is traditionally understood to be the founding father of monotheism: the belief that there鈥檚 only one God. And the potential problem with monotheism is this: if there鈥檚 only one God, and that God is mine, then your God is obviously false and therefore needs destroying. All too often Abraham鈥檚 legacy becomes an exaggerated religious chauvinism, a way of deifying my own world-view and denigrating yours. This logic has been responsible for the death of countless millions throughout history. Little wonder some people think we would be better off with a live-and-let-live polytheism, or indeed with no Gods at all.

But there鈥檚 another way of looking at all of this. For the story of Abraham鈥檚 formative years, as told in various Jewish writings and in the Koran, tells of Abraham鈥檚 conflict with his own father who was a maker of religious statues. 鈥淎braham鈥� the Koran tells us 鈥渨ould mock the gods of wood.鈥� 鈥淗ow can you worship what doesn鈥檛 see or hear or do you any good?鈥� To which his father angrily replied: 鈥淒are you deny the Gods of our own people. Get out of my sight!鈥�

In other words, Abraham鈥檚 iconoclasm wasn鈥檛 a rehearsal of 鈥淚鈥檓 right鈥� chauvinism but an intensified form of self-criticism. Note again he was attacking the Gods of his own people. It鈥檚 as if he was saying that whatever you can think of as being God, that thing just isn鈥檛 big enough to be God, so smash it, distrust it - don鈥檛 believe too much in your own belief. Abrahamic iconoclasm is a form of self-critical vigilance, it鈥檚 a permanent revolution of religion against itself.

And the reason all this is so important is that too often we fight and kill each other precisely because we are too persuaded of our own rightness. God doesn鈥檛 need me to be right.

As the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai beautifully puts it:
鈥淔rom the place where we are right, flowers will not grow in the spring. The place where we are right鈥↖s hard and trampled鈥↙ike a yard. But doubts and loves鈥―ig up the world鈥↙ike a mole, a plow.鈥ˋnd a whisper will be heard in the place鈥╓here the ruined鈥℉ouse once stood.鈥�

And, for me, that whisper, the whisper of peace 鈥� one that desperately needs to be heard in the ruined houses of Iraq and the West Bank - is also the whisper of Abraham: however strong my convictions, I might well be wrong. Or, to put it another way: living in peace is more important than being right. That鈥檚 the ethical power of iconoclasm.

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