The Holy War Delusion: Is it Time to Retire Our Religions?
In this urgent monologue, Rushkoff explores the heartbreaking crisis of modern faith. As religious identities are weaponized by nationalism, literalism, and holy war narratives, from Christian Zionism to the defense of the nation-state, we find ourselves trapped in a linear, Axial Age story that may no longer serve a digital, all-at-once humanity.
In this episode, Rushkoff discusses:
- The Brand of Religion: How the conduct of states like Israel and the rise of Christian Nationalism are making traditional faith feel untenable for the people who hold it.-
- The Literalism Trap: Why treating a transcendental narrative as a "real estate deed" kills the spiritual project.
- Media Theory of God: How the shift from the Age of the Book to a new media environment requires us to graduate from religion rather than be destroyed by it.
- The Two Anti-Semitisms: Navigating the crossfire between the Right’s hatred of "globalists" and the Left’s critique of colonialism.
Is it time to retire these ancient institutional containers before they lead us to a self-fulfilling Armageddon? Or can we retrieve the living, human layers of our faiths and bring them forward into a new, restorative context?
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