There is a lot of religious agitation going on all around the world. It appears as if a Holy War is getting ready to be launched in many different places at the same time. The history of war has been as much about religion as it has been about territory and wealth.

The last few days have seen the following headlines appear in newspapers aaround the world.

The religious dispute that is getting the most attention right now is the Arab/Israeli; i.e. Moslem/Jew settlement in the Middle East.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Middle_East/israel050100.shtml "Israel 'wants cruise missiles and $17bn from US' Golan Heights before talks" It is going to cost the American taxpayer a small fortune to insure that each Israeli and Palestinian get resettled into new homes.

The next most "famous" religious war is in Northern Ireland.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000105/wl/northern_ireland_2.html The U.S. role is brokering the peace is an on again off again news story for U.S. papers. When the "Peace agreement" is not going well, the citizens of the United States don't read anything about it in our papers, or see anything about it on television.

"IRA Wants British Army Withdrawal"

The Northern Ireland problem is portrayed as a sovereignty problem. England moved in on Ireland and won't leave. The fact that the Irish are Catholic and the British are Protestant usually gets left out of the mix. This conflict is also rooted in religion... Irish Catholics VS British Protestants.

"The centerpiece of the peace accord was realized last month when local politicians formed the new Protestant-Catholic government, which includes the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party. At the same time, the IRA began meeting with a Belfast-based disarmament commission, but no weapons have been turned in yet." IRA Wants British Army Withdrawal

http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpin1e.htm In Pakistan, the cleric who was freed from prison by the hijackers of the Indian Airliner, has declared a holy war on India. The Pakistani cleric is Muslim, he is declaring war on a Hindu nation, India. Pakistan Cleric Declares Holy War Pakistan/Moslem VS India/Hindu "There is no way open for us other than to wage jihad (holy war) against India for Kashmir's liberation,'' Azhar said during Friday prayers. ``I have come here to give a call for jihad.''

http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpin11.htm Muslims Threaten Indonesia Holy War In Jakarta, more than 80,000 Musims rallied and threatened a Holy War. ``We give (President Abdurrahman Wahid) one month to stop the killings of Muslims,'' said Husin Ali Al Habsy, one of the protest leaders. ``Otherwise, we are ready to send at least 10,000 people there to defend the Muslims.''

Officials report about 990 people have died in fighting between Christians and Muslims during the past two weeks in Maluku and North Maluku provinces, some 1,600 miles northeast of Jakarta. Thousands of troops have been sent to the islands, and officials say the violence has subsided in recent days." Muslims Threaten Indonesia Holy War

http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpin1g.htm Tibetan Spiritual Leader Defects DHARMSALA, India (AP) -- "An exhausted 14-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader reached India with scraped hands and blistered feet after trekking across the snowy Himalayas, a defection that embarrassed Chinese leaders who used him as a symbol of their rule over Tibet."

Depending on how the Buddhist community handles this in the media, we could see no effect, or the complete purge of all the remaining Buddhist monesteries in Tibet. "The 17th Karmapa's flight with a few monks was the most significant exodus since the Dalai Lama -- the spiritual leader of millions of Buddhists -- and tens of thousands of Tibetans fled their homeland after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule." This religious war is between Tibetan Buddhists and Chinese Communists Atheists.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Asia_China/china080100.shtml An article in the UK's Independent sized up the problem this way, "...this young lama's unique significance is that for the Chinese authorities in Lhasa, he was the best symbol of Tibetan acquiescence in their rule. Unlike the present Panchen Lama, another potent spiritual figurehead who was selected with Chinese approval but greeted with a universal thumbs down by Tibetans, the 17th Karmapa is recognised as the legitimate head of his school, both by the Chinese and by the Dalai Lama himself. "

http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpin0n.htm 70 Hurt in Korean Religious Dispute

In Korea, a dispute has arisen within the same religious sect. "A mixture of various religions and Confucianism, Daesoon was founded in the 19th century by a Korean man named Kang Jung-san, who called himself a messiah. Daesoon has been marred by a leadership dispute since the death of its leader in 1996. Its members have divided into two factions vying for control of the movement, which has hundreds of thousands of members and runs a university and several hospitals."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Russia/rusagent060100.shtml The war in Chechnya is also a religious war. The Moslems in that area want independence and they are being supported by other Moslems around the world. A recent video of a Russian officer, who was taken prisoner by the Chechen freedom fighters, lays the blame for the Chechen war on Russian Special Services, a Russian version of our CIA's dirty tricks teams.

This article is significant because if it is true and not Chechen propaganda, it shows that the Chechen war was created by a black operations group in the Russian government. Since the Chechen war made Vladimir Putin famous and popular, some people are wondering if he and/or his supporters staged this war as a pretext for propelling him into Yeltsin's place.

'Russian agents 'blew up Moscow flats' The Independent has obtained a videotape on which a Russian officer, captured by the Chechens, "confesses" that Russian special services committed the Moscow apartment-block bombings that ignited the latest war in Chechnya and propelled Vladimir Putin into the Kremlin

http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpin1d.htm No End in Sight to Ambon Violence "Fourteen-year-old Samsul Belu is a living legend in Muslim-held parts of this strife-torn city for all the Christians he has killed in a year of religious violence. ``No bullets can hurt me, no daggers can stab me,'' the teen boasted. During the past two weeks, as hundreds of people were slaughtered across islands in eastern Indonesia, Samsul led Muslim fighters armed with homemade weapons in fierce battles against Christians."

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000102/wl/egypt_religious_violence_2.html Religious Violence Spreads in Egypt "Religious tensions in southern Egypt turned deadly Sunday, the third day of riots and looting sparked by a dispute between a Muslim street vendor and a Christian shop owner"

Religious wars and hatreds have caused more bloodshed than territorial wars. The Dalai Lama has recently called for an end to the "recruitment" of converts from other religions in an effort to stop religious feuds and hatreds. He has called on the leaders of all religions to work together to stop religious wars.

At the moment, I do not see an acceptable outcome in the near future. Several days ago, I wrote and article about the growing population of Moslem converts. According to one of RMNews Sources, the Islamic religion is growing at the rate of 400,000 a day. If these converts are continually pressed into conflicts with the estabished religion in the area, hold wars could go on for many more years.

If the religious leaders join together and try to put a stop to the wars, the world runs the risk of having ALL religions taken over by the New World Order and recreated in the image of a New World Religion.... complete with "Messiahs in the sky with Diamonds" i.e. holographic laser projections of regional religious figures. Chinese peasants recently claimed to have seen a "person shimmering with golden light" This article is on the front page of Rumor Mill News

Religious strife is all around us. At the moment, it appears that if we allow the religious wars to continue, the entire world could be caught up in a world war. This runs the risk of ushering in the One World Government. If the religious leaders of the world try to seek a common ground with each other, we run the risk of creating the One World Religion which will in turn become a one world government.

Rayelan Allan