Three Trees & A Parasite

Three trees of thought grew out of the rocky soil of the Middle East: Judaism; Christianity; And, Islam. All of them were transplanted throughout the world and have survived and grown. All three claim to have been founded upon the examples and teachings of Abraham, Moses and the other prophets. All have their other OR supplementary “holy books”. All have some history of the use of military or other force in their grown.

But, there are very major differences in those “trees” and where they grew, how they grow and what “fruits” they produced.

The first “tree”, Judaism, never grew very large or tall; Yet, became very tough in the face of many storms and near extinctions. Is such places as Saudi Arabia, where it once thrived, it was made extinct by those who hated those who sheltered in its shade and ate of its fruits. What are those fruits? The voluntary love of G_d by those who have elected to be selected AND to enter into an agreement (Covenant) with the Creator , knowing both His power and their own worth as His creations and children. Other fruits include, but are not limited, to: A love of learning and of words for their own sake as well as for proper worship; Commitment to reasoned thought; Kindness towards both the family (Especially women and children) and strangers; And, a basic dislike of slavery.

In due time and nearby, grew another tree (To some of us, a child of the first tree) called Christianity. That tree grew very fast, spread very far and was suppressed only in a very few places (eg Saudi Arabia and other Islamic lands). For the most part it grew by loving word and example (Although there were some who forced its growth by arms). It provided to its followers a great love of the Creator as Father and Brother based on both respect and a sure knowledge of the worth of being human. It demonstrated a very un-human reluctance to use force, especially deadly force, except in reaction to the greatest of attacks (eg Three centuries of growing Muslim attacks on the rights of Christians to worship where and how they pleased; The genocidal imperialism of Nazi Germany and the “Imperial Way Japan”). Although many failed to follow Christ in this area, they were and are always (In due time) corrected or condemned for such failings.
From a bloody, sacrificial, tree this Christianity grew to include great forests which sheltered other, and lesser, trees without doing violence to them as it grew stronger, mature and more fruitful. What fruits? Those which allow humans to, within the limits of their minds, to know, understand and love God by not just worship and adoration; But, through knowledge---AND, to know all of his creations by the same use of free intellect. This is the true base of “science”, philosophy, art, music and even mathematics. This is also the base of the universities which so enrich Western Civilization, with their very Catholic foundations, and are NOT to be found (Except as transplanted) in other parts of the world.
The giving of goods and services to assist others, without regard to their beliefs and only towards their needs (As in the many millions of dollars so freely given to Muslims in Indonesia and other places after the great tsunami of recent memory.) and without preconditions of “conversion” as demanded by others is only one example of this fruit.

Near (But, not too near) to the above two trees grew a like (But, not too like) tree. Its wood was-and-is too dry and brittle to be flexible, without much juice (And, that of a basically toxic nature); But, with the proven ability to grow very quickly when watered by blood and transplanted into other groves cut down by swords. That untrue tree is Islam.
The poisoned nature of that growth condemned to failure any attempts to graft on to it the wisdom of Pre-Islamic Indian, Persian, Egyptian and other cultures, as well as the fruits of the trees of the Christian forests and Jewish groves. Although, some of those grafts produced “good fruit” for a short time, they eventually withered and died---Leaving only dryness and emptiness behind.
The basic and toxic fruits of Islam are those of murder, revenge, rape, genocide, robbery and the destruction of other “trees”. Like other illicit drugs, this toxicity can and has been VERY intoxicating over the last 1400-years to those who become so addicted. It also yields individual and group paranoia and other forms of mental defect-and-disease: Including an inability to interact with other beings (Human or Divine) beyond the level of submission to that horrid addiction.

Of course, the dryness and toxicity of Islam does protect it from a much too common parasite which has attacked the other two “trees”; Being, “Secular Humanism” (Hereafter referred to as SH).

SH has attached itself, like a bark and heartwood destroying fungus, to Christianity and Judaism. It lives on the strength, built up over centuries, of those healthy organisms--without contributing to the growth needed for this and future generations. When this infection becomes general, it threatens the life of those civilization-trees: Which can be best observed in Western Europe and in universities everywhere.
The pseudo-fruits of SH are attractive outwardly, but poisoned within (Like the apples of the witch in Snow White). The full and technical names of those corruptions are:
1.“Academic-freedom-without-academic-discipline/knowledge”;
2.“Personal-freedom-from-personal/social-responsibility”;
3.“Freedom-from-both-good-and-evil—AND-any-standards”; And,
4.Others of that toxic “fruit basket”.

It is, I think, somewhat past the time to take out the fungus killing chemicals, the saws and brush knives and clean up our world's forests and groves: Destroying parasites and other harmful organisms---Without killing or stunting the life-giving trees of Christianity and Judaism and the non-toxic plants they may shelter.