How can we escape from mimeticism, from rivalry, from the blind mechanisms of the scapegoat victim? Those who pretend that they fight for God kill and are killed for only a phantom of Caesar. I the time of the religious wars, Montaigne noted that one didn’t find a single combatant in a thousand who would sear to kill for his faith. Violence returns among us and among the divine as well. We live, even today, the return of these ghosts.
-Michael Serres, Receiving Rene Girard (From the For Rene Girard collection)
I didn’t know that folks as early as Montaigne pointed out that there was very little that was religious about the religious wars (the crusades). That this still gets used as a stick to beat up historical Christianity is ridiculous. It’s only sufficient as a stick to beat up mankind.
The Muslims are always fighting amongst themselves as well. The front is theological differences of course (Shiite, Sunni, etc.) but I think anyone on the ground will tell you it’s over the same old clan and territorial disputes, some of them very very old. Same things goes for the ethic cleansing violence in Africa. You think those machete wielding guys who attack the next village are that concerned about religious details?