Reply #147: Best post on this subject yet.

[smirkymonkey]

What I hope we are seeing is the decline of monotheism in favor of a philosophy of humanism and respect for the earth. Face it, religion provided comfort for the masses for a very long time, but it's not working any more. It has degenerated into an institution that solely exists for the purpose of social and political control.

I think this escalation of tensions is part of the evolutionary process of the religious cycle (nothing reigns for ever), and that eventually monotheism will give way to a more appropriate (and hopefully more peaceful) expression of the human spirit, just as polythiesm gave way to the Abrahamic religions. Otherwise, humanity is doomed.