“Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive!”
— Sir Walter Scott
The Abrahamic Traditions
1. There may not have been an historical Moses.
2. There may not have been an historical Jesus.
3. While there may have been an historical Mohamed, there may not have been an historical Angel Gabriel.
Historical veracity is claimed by all three traditions. Any “true believer” of any of the traditions is required to believe in the historical veracity of the tradition.
“. . . as regards knowledge of truths, there is a dualism. We may believe what is false as well as what is true. We know that on very many subjects different people hold different and incompatible opinions: hence some beliefs must be erroneous. Since erroneous beliefs are often held just as strongly as true beliefs, it becomes a difficult question how they are to be distinguished from true beliefs. How are we to know, in a given case, that our belief is not erroneous?”
— Bertrand Russell
Real Politic
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca
How have the Abrahamic Traditions proved useful?
Judaism: answers the question — “When a people has been conquered how does one preserve a separate and unique ethnic and cultural identity?”
Christianity: answers the question — “How does one manage the competing interests of millions of human beings in a vast and culturally diverse Empire with a spirit of co-operation and peace?”
Islam: answers the question — “How does one rapidly build and expand an Empire whose goal is global hegemony?”
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
“Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
