by Ken Hansen
“Just as the dog has figured out how to ask you to let him out. I understand that this learning seems much simpler and remains of limited use because the dog cannot communicate its learning effectively to its offspring. Nevertheless, the dog has limitations and probably does not know it. Similarly, I believe humans have innate limitations, yet we are often too foolish or too stubborn to see them.”
“Are you suggesting that we should stop trying? That we should assume that humankind has limits, so we should abandon further attempts to find the truth?”
“Heavens, no,” said the old priest. “The value of the search alone is more than worth the effort. Humans must seek their answers—through science, philosophy and, yes, faith—but do not make the mistake of assuming that we always find that which we seek. Do not assume that the answer, if there is one, will be knowable by us.”
“But these are very smart people, Father. I have to believe they will figure it out, even if not in my lifetime.”
“So we are back to faith, then?” the priest asked.
“I suppose, in a way.”
When Huxley’s iPhone beeped, he excused the interruption and read the message from his friend Kadir:
I considered your quandary some more and wanted to pass on a thought. The first clue used references out of the Old Testament, which is really just the Jewish bible, and the place was mentioned in that bible. The second clue used references from the New Testament, and the place is a Christian monument. Why wouldn’t the third clue reference the third religion originating from Abraham—we Muslims and our bible, the Qur’an? Hope that helps. Best of luck!
“I’m sorry, Father,” said Huxley, “I’ll be back in a few minutes, though I’m not sure we have much more to discuss.”
The priest filled his rosy cheeks, smiling and tilting his head. “Not a problem. But I think we have just begun.”
Anwari looked out the window of the little café to the Florence train station where he awaited Pardus’s latest target. Pardus’s plan would bring him still closer to avenging Karim and sticking it to those corrupt Americans who looked the other way over the death of so many Afghans. Too bad they backed up assholes like Half-Moon Mole instead of his buddy Captain Granger.
“SIGINT has confirmed the marketplace bombers hiding in this house in Jalalabad,” Half-Moon Mole had said with his deep voice as he pointed at the map.
Anwari had called the spook Half-Moon Mole—not to his face but to Captain Granger—because the guy wouldn’t give his own name, but you couldn’t miss the large half-moon mole on his left cheek. The first time Anwari said that, Granger had laughed pretty hard but had warned Anwari to never, ever, say it to the man’s face. “He’s a prick, and he’ll have a pound of your flesh for it,” Granger had said.
Half-Moon Mole wasn’t military, and when Anwari had asked, Granger just told him he was “OGA,” Other Governmental Agency. That probably meant CIA. So, he was a self-important American intelligence ass who couldn’t help pretending he was always in control. This OGA prick must have known Anwari had dug up the intel on the marketplace bombers himself. Anwari had always ensured his informers trusted that he would never disclose their names. And the extra money had made it easy for them to pass on a tip now and then. Of course, this bastard spook would want to take all the credit.
“We’ll take a bird to within two klicks of the neighborhood at 2100 hours and work our way over from there,” Granger said. “We don’t want anyone running for it. We’ll have one UAS up as our eyes in the sky and access to two fast movers loitering about ten klicks away. They’ll carry JDAMs we can use in a pinch.”
Anwari nodded. UAS was the military acronym for unmanned aerial system, what the rest of the world called a drone, and JDAM, or joint direct attack munition, was a guidance kit attached to a 500 to 2000 pound bomb that could be sent on its way from an F-16 or F-22 from miles up in the air (the fast movers loitering nearby). The thing could practically hit the little wart on your ass if you gave it the right GPS target. They were nice assets to have on a raid like this. “We got any jammers?” Anwari asked.
Granger smiled. “No, not for this. The force will consist of a small group so they don’t see us coming. Intel has only 4 targets in the house. Might be a few armed friends with them. I got that right?” He looked at Half-Moon Mole.
Half-Moon Mole leaned both his huge hands on the table and stared at both of them. “Yeah, you got that right.”
“Roger,” Anwari said. “One thing, though. That area is residential. We sure it’s cleared so we don’t have any collateral damage?”
Half-Moon Mole sneered and narrowed his eyes at Anwari. “Yes, we are sure. Damn sure. That whole block was cleared out last week and all the residents are long gone and have not returned. These terrorists found it empty and began squatting this week.”
“The whole block? So if we need the JDAM?” Granger had asked.
“Then use it. Look, we want you to grab these guys so we can get some further intel, but if you’re in trouble, then use the JDAM. You’re cleared hot,” Half-Moon Mole said. “There’s no one in that blast zone who’s not the enemy. The target building is already designated as BG 1488.”
Anwari said, “You sure people haven’t—”
“Listen, Lieutenant,” Half-Moon Mole began, leaning forward on the table, bulging his triceps and narrowing his eyes at Anwari, “I’ve seen your war record. Marvelous. You’ve uncovered a few bits of amateur intel along the way. Wonderful. But don’t think you’re the only source in town. Trust the professionals. If you can’t do that, get out of the way.”
Captain Granger moved between them. “Okay, we’ve got it. Anwari, you’re in charge of the Afghan soldiers in the operation. I know you’ll choose only your most trusted men. Need to ensure the mission isn’t compromised, so keep OPSEC in mind.”
“Got it.” Operational Security. No leaks to the enemy. Anwari smiled at Granger. The guy always had his back and usually let him learn from experience instead of just issuing condescending orders all the time. Oh, Granger would let Anwari know if he had screwed up, but just enough to drive the lesson home. And he knew he had screwed up plenty. But Granger and his guys knew how to fight like nobody else. And they were his brothers in arms, unlike that Half-Moon Mole prick, who could have been a poster boy for those Afghans who called Americans occupiers and infidels.
This would be a small operation to ensure surprise, so he called on only ten men to complement the eight Americans. Officially, the Afghans were leading the operation as part of the turnover of forces, but everyone had known the American captain would be the one with links to the fast movers. Anwari and his men had learned a great deal about room and building clearing, but he knew it was still dangerous work—especially if the bad guys knew you were coming. He had needed men he trusted and could work well as a team, so he had handpicked soldiers he had known even before the latest war…
The waitress interrupted his concentration. “Would you like more caffè, Signore?”
“Sì,” Anwari said. He shook his head. How could I have been such a fool?
“Before you left,” the old priest said, “you agreed that even with science you must ultimately return to faith to find the world’s origins given what we know today. Is that right?”
Huxley settled back into his seat on the train. “I thought about that, and I don’t quite agree. With science, I have seen evidence with my own eyes of what it can accomplish. So I don’t have faith in science, I just trust it will ultimately succeed.”
The old priest rubbed his beard. “I see. So you extrapolate from some evidence of the past to provide you with hope for an unknowable future?”
“I guess so. I understand it is a reach, but it is not as vacant as employing faith without any real evidence.”
The old priest laughed. “I think I have given you the wrong impression. I said we cannot prove the existence of God. I never said there was no evidence.”
“What evidence?”
&n
bsp; “Just look around you,” said the old priest, gesturing toward the beauty outside of the train.
“But, Father—”
“No, stop. I know you’ll just refer me to the theory of evolution.” The old priest looked up and brought his palms together under his chin for a few seconds. “How about this? Consider the disciples of Jesus after his death. They put their faith in Jesus even though it meant death for all but one of them, and most were martyred in quite horrible ways. Do you think so many would allow themselves to be killed over such a long time for something they did not truly believe in? And were they not direct witnesses to what happened with Jesus? Is that not at least some of the ‘past evidence’ you seek?”
Huxley pulled his lips together and tilted his head back and forth. “I get it, Father, but how do we know what really happened back then?”
“You think they just made up all of the stories, even of their own martyrdom? Are you a conspiracy theorist or something? Can you imagine what it would take to make that up out of whole cloth and convert it into a religion when it was all against their own personal interests?”
“I don’t know,” Huxley said. “It all seems like fantasy to me. Maybe, if I had been there to see it, I could believe.”
“So you are like Thomas, you must see it for yourself and put your fingers in Jesus’s side to believe?” the old priest asked.
That tingle traveled down Huxley’s spine again. He shook his head slowly, ran his fingers through his hair, and looked out the window.
The old priest leaned forward and touched his arm. “Look, I’m not asking you to believe here. But can you at least admit that even with science you ultimately must return to faith? It is just a different faith—a faith that all will eventually be knowable.”
“I guess,” Huxley replied.
“Then where should we put our faith? And must there be only one choice? I for one believe we humans have much to lose by losing faith in God.”
“I have to disagree with you there, Father. Religion has often been a scourge on mankind. Look at what religious conflict causes today—Muslims kill Christians and Christians kill Muslims in droves in Africa. In the Middle East, Muslims try to kill the Jews as well as Muslims of different sects and all with the Christians caught in the cross fire, and the Jews respond by killing the Muslims as well. They have found no way to live with each other because of their religions. Even in the U.S., where religious differences have largely been tolerated, some Christian whack jobs have burned Qur’ans, killed doctors at abortion clinics and killed Sikh members at their mosque—the latter simply because they happened to wear turbans that made them look like Muslims.”
The old priest listened with empathy and sadness drawn on his face and occasionally nodded.
Huxley continued, “And it is so easy to just blame so much of the world’s conflict on Muslims, but consider the history of your own church, Father. It was a pope who called for the Crusades to kill Muslims and remove them from the Holy Land. Then, in the Fourth Crusade, the Crusaders stopped on their way at Constantinople, a Christian city that had broken with the Roman Catholics to become what we now call the Orthodox Church. Despite their religious similarities, the Crusaders decided it would be great fun sacking and pillaging the city. And in the years that followed the Reformation in Europe, some 8 million people died in the Thirty Years’ War in the name of Catholicism and Protestantism. And that doesn’t even touch on the people who were tortured or put to death by your religious leaders for heresy in the name of the Inquisition or the six million Jews who were killed in Nazi Germany merely because of their religion. History demonstrates that religion divides people and then kills them. No, I do not agree that humanity loses when it loses faith in God.”
The old priest remained quiet for a few moments, clearly contemplating what Huxley had just said. “Unfortunately, I must admit that I could provide even more examples to support your thesis. No doubt we all have suffered through a shameful history. But does this shame arise because of God or because of man?”
“Well, since I dispute that there is a god, I can hardly say your God caused this mayhem,” Huxley said. “Undoubtedly it was by men, yet in the name of the religions that worship Him.”
“So it is not your argument that the belief in God itself has caused these events?”
“Without religion they would not have occurred,” Huxley said.
“Do you really believe that?” the old priest asked. “You seem to be a very astute observer of human history, but now you want to argue that such evil arises only from religion? Do you really believe that or do you acknowledge that men will perform evil deeds even when religion is not at issue?”
“Of course. People rape, pillage and murder all in their own selfish interests all of the time. Evil is not limited to religion, but that does not mean that a considerable amount of the mass raping, pillaging and murdering in the world does not occur in the name of religion.”
The old priest’s brow furrowed. “That is twice you have said ‘In the name of religion.’ Why do you say that?”
“Because I rarely believe that the religious beliefs themselves actually support these heinous acts.”
The old priest gently bounced his forefingers to his lips in deep thought for a few seconds. “I see. I would agree with you on that one. It would be unusual indeed that the core beliefs of any long-standing religion, including our own Christian faith, would command its followers to kill others, except perhaps in self defense. Some think the Muslim faith espouses the indiscriminate death of non-believers, but I do not myself agree with that assessment, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” said Huxley. “The extremists take a few words out of context and convert them to a mandate for terror. However, the Qur’an’s core message and most Islamic teachers do not support that reading.”
“Well then, do you think the words or actions of Jesus mandated that the leaders of the Church order the torturing and killing of heretics during the Inquisition?” the old priest asked.
“No.”
“How about the battles during the Thirty Years’ War between the Catholics and Protestants? Was war the solution taught to the leaders of these armies by Jesus?”
Huxley shook his head.
“And do you think that Jesus thought six million Jews should be killed to cleanse Europe for the Christians as Hitler seemed to believe?” the old priest asked.
“No.”
“So then something else is going on here. What is it? In each of these scenarios, what is the same with regard to the leaders of each of these historically evil actions?”
Smiling with his bottom lip protruding, Huxley nodded a few times. “Men and women lusting for power, whether seeking to increase their power or maintain it.”
“Precisely,” said the old priest. “God never told the leaders to commit evil acts. Their core religious beliefs did not mandate their evil. Their evil actions arose out of one thing—the desire to enhance or maintain power by men and women for themselves or their institutions. Do you honestly think the Thirty Years War was about religion? Or did German princes see a way to break away from the bonds of the Holy Roman Empire that had held them in check for so long?”
Huxley shrugged.
The old priest continued, “Undoubtedly, Hitler hated the Jews. But it can hardly be said he was a religious fanatic. He seemed to see the Jews as an ethnic impurity in his quest for Aryan greatness. This is obvious from the fact that he made no distinction in his holocaust between practicing and non-practicing Jews. The only criterion was ancestry. He was a fanatic all right, but for himself and the fascist state he had created and the Aryan race he dreamed would rule the world. The Jews served his propaganda machine: they made a perfect scapegoat that could allow him to both steal their property and force austerity on the German population while he built his war machine.”
Huxley nodded slightly.
“Finally,” the old priest said, “do you think the Church really believed that tortur
ing heretics would save their souls as they professed at the time, or do you think the misguided leaders of the Church feared that the heresies, if not stopped, would eventually undermine their power?”
Huxley rubbed his chin, eventually resting it on his interlaced fingers. “I will concede your points, but they do not change the result. For while leaders may seek evil ends for reasons that have nothing to do with their core religious beliefs, they nevertheless use that religion to convince their followers to support heinous acts as a matter of faith. The people would not have agreed to these actions without the religion.”
The old priest closed his eyes for a few seconds. “I agree that the belief in God may be abused, and that, throughout history, it has been abused. But I do not agree that most of these heinous acts would not have occurred in the absence of religion. If you agree that men fought so-called religious wars for reasons other than religion, then why would you believe they would not have fought them in the absence of religion? Have not wars been fought without any references to religion at all? Were the most destructive wars in the history of man, WWI and WWII, fought because of religion? Or were they blatant exercises of power gone wrong? So if such destructive wars can be fought in the absence of religion, does it not follow that any war in the name of religion could also have been fought for some other causes? You mentioned Hitler, right?”
Huxley nodded.
“Then take the killing of the Jews by Hitler,” the old priest said. “No doubt, the fact that these people were of a particular ‘disfavored’ religion allowed Hitler to make them something other than human in the eyes of his German people. But has not ethnic, class or other ‘cleansing’ of populations occurred even where the religious component was missing or not as predominant? How about the purges in the Soviet Union, the mass killings of Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the destruction of the urban class in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge in the mid 1970s? These are but a few examples from the last century, but ancient history is filled with such destruction. No, I think if Hitler hadn’t found the Jews as a scapegoat, he would have identified some other group and figured out how to manipulate his propaganda to support his agenda.”
