There is so much misinformation in the world right now, it’s hard to navigate it skillfully, with full awareness and clear comprehension. Journalism have been reduced to populism, virtue-signaling, and identity politics. Our political arena is a soap box drama. It too suffers under the tyranny of populism. And to add to all this, religious and political institutions are collapsing, leaving us with no traditions to guide our morality.

So, as a world citizen, as someone who genuinely wants to leave this world better than I found it, as someone who genuinely loves every creature on this planet, I really do want to make sure I get this issue straight. Let me back up, then, and get grounded in my values, aims and their underlying motivations.

I value love, wisdom, truth, and understanding. I value the open society, liberty, and freedom — the freedom to express one’s self, the freedom to distinguish between right and wrong for one’s self, the freedom to vote for one’s own political leaders, the freedom against institutional prejudices and biases, the freedom against unwanted physical force, and the freedom to go your own way if you so choose.

These values are nowhere to be found in Palestine, or in the vast majority of the Arab Muslim world. If you have ever read the Quran and the Hadith, which contain the core doctrines of Islam, you would know this. Read the holy books and you will discover that Islam is a religion of war. Its aim is to establish a global Islamic order. For this, it must first occupy the Holy Land.

An Islamic theocracy is not a world I want to live in. Nor is it a world you want to live in if you are being honest with yourself. Again, read the holy books. Ask the Jihadists, Islamists, and even the conservatives in these countries how they vision society. Or better yet, as Sam Harris asked, why not send your kids to live in Iran or Afghanistan or Palestine or Iraq or Saudi Arabia or Pakistan?

This is not a political war. It is not a war of oppression. It is not a racial war. It is a war of ideas, of beliefs. Beliefs move us to action. And Islam — a belief, an idea, a framework — has continued to create violence across the Arab world for decades. It has produced ISIS, the Taliban, Al-Qa’ida, Boko Haram, Hizballah, the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an outgrowth. And it’s no surprise why. Again, read the books. If we defeat Hamas, another Islamist group will spawn from the ideology of Islam. And another. And another. Do you not remember the Twin Towers? Or Charlie Hebdo? Or Salman Rushdie? Or Ayaan Hirsi Ali? Or Masih Alinejad?

I remember. But it seems ya’ll have forgotten.

I am genuinely confused about all the support for Hamas. Listen, I don’t want any Palestinian to suffer, not even the combatants. If I could wrap up every child there with my arms and hold them to my heart, I would. But Hamas, who was elected and supported by the Palestinian people, brutally attacked Israel on October the 7th. Hamas must be destroyed. And it pains me deeply, but during the process, innocent people will die. Now, of course, there is always room to talk rationally about how a state conducts war. There are internationally recognized rules and standards, which can also be explored and discussed rationally.

But we, the people who want liberty and freedom, who want to live in an open, secular society, must defend our freedoms. As the great thinkers of Pericles’s generation stressed, only you can build these freedoms into our institutions. Only you can criticize and improve them. And if necessary, only you can defend them. Nature, god, and society cannot do this for you. The future depends on you. The burden is on you to build a better future, to build a better life, to build a better world.

Israel is a beautiful living and breathing symbol of this in the Middle East. People of all faiths are welcome to worship their religion peacefully — Christians, Muslims, and Jews gather at the holy sites together. Palestine is not this symbol. Hamas is a patriarchal, violent death cult, who cares very little about equality for women and queers, and has no interest in liberal, democratic, humanistic values. October 7th was a taste — a disgusting display of human behavior. Allahu Akbar!

And as for this oppressive colonial narrative, Jesus, remember, was a Jew. He was born in Bethlehem and died right outside Jerusalem. This idea that Israel are colonizers is bizarre. Jews have been persecuted by almost every nation, pushed out of their homeland time and time again. Where is there home? There are fifty Muslim Arab states, and only one Jewish state. Muslim Arab nations have been attacking Israel from all sides for decades, again, to eradicate the Jews and to bring about Allah’s grand vision — a global Islam.

[It’s also interesting to note that Islam was established in the seventh century AD. Judaism was around for thousands of years before that.]

To me, this war is much bigger than just Palestine and Israel. It is about good ideas and bad ones — liberal, democratic, and humanistic ones vs violent, dogmatic, theocratic ones. It is a world war of ideas. Unless and until the Muslim Arab world can adopt an open liberal society, where we are free to practice any religion so long as we do so in peace, violence and war will continue.

Do I believe a Muslim reformation is possible? Yes. There are so many kind, wonderful Muslims in the world — in Thailand, in Indonesia, in the U.S. and U.K, and of course in the Muslim Arab world. Many practice their faith beautifully. Do I think a reformation will be hard? Yes. There is no equivalent of Jesus in the Quran or Hadith, no sermon on the mount, no turn-the-other-cheek. But humans are clever. We can find a way. It worked in the Islamic Golden Age, where there was a large Greek and Buddhist influence.

Would I rather we not do the intellectual gymnastics necessary to make Islam a tolerant and peaceful religion and instead move towards a secular spirituality, more akin to Buddhism or other secular mystical paths. Yes. In fact, I actually respect the integrity of a fundamentalist much more than I do someone who has completely and utterly warped their religious texts to fit into our modern, secular, liberal world. But I’ll take peace over war any day.

My heart goes out to all you. To those boys who were brought up under such violent belief systems, forced to strap bombs to their chests. To the women, gays, and freethinkers who suffer under these belief systems. To the victims of the violence committed in the name of Allah. To the victims of misbehaved Israeli soldiers. And to every other precious creature of this earth.

May you be at peace,

John Driggs | Meditation Teacher & Founder of The Space of Possibility Podcast, Blog, & Retreat Center | Explore & Expand the Space of Possibility that You are!