Problems In Our World: More Complex Than You Might Think

Many of the problems that have arisen over the past decades seem, on face value, to be about religion.  While these conflicts, such as the ones in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, do have religious tensions that lead to escalation, the problems are more complicate than that.

These problems can often be traced back to geopolitical, economic, or social issues.  In its most basic form, conflict arises between those that have resources and those that don't.  Competition for power, supremacy, resources, and many other aspects of a successful society has been fraught with conflict.  As Graham Fuller argues in his book, A World Without Islam, the world would not be too different today without Islam because of these alternate conflicts that exist.  You can hear more about this here, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129131992, where Fuller is interviewed on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

Fuller's Book

If we realize how conflicts come about and realize that we are dealing with a very complex part of the world in the Middle East, we may have more success in our endeavors.  Problems hardly ever boil down to white and black, regardless of how they are painted to the electorate.  Realizing the comprehensiveness of the situation can be our best strategy going forward as we attempt to find peace in the Middle East.