Book description
The bloodshed perpetrated in the name of religion in the world today
is nowhere more obvious than in the Middle East. Whether we are
talking about hardcore Zionist settlers still fighting ancient
Biblical battles in the hills of the West Bank or Shiite death squads
roaming the lawless streets of Iraq in the aftermath of Saddam;
whether it's the misappropriation and martyrdom of Mickey Mouse by
Gaza's Islamists, or a US president acting on God's orders, James
Hider sees the hallucinatory effect of what he calls the 'crack
cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism' all around him.
As James Hider travels around the Middle East, from Israel to Gaza,
to Iraq Âand then back to Jerusalem, he takes his doubts about
religious beliefs to the very heart of the world's holy wars. He meets
terrorists and their victims, soldiers and clerics, ordinary people
and extraordinary people. The question in the back of his mind is: how
can people not only believe in all this madness, but die and kill for
it too?
This timely book casts an unflinching yet compassionate eye on the
very worst and most violent crimes committed in the name of religion
and asks questions that the world needs to answer if we are to stand a
chance of facing our own worst demons.
James Hider is The Times Middle East Bureau Chief, currently based in
Jerusalem. This is his first book.
