I’m not in favor of present-day efforts by religious groups to meddle in matters such as personal reproductive decisions. This is not to say, however, that religious organizations have no good ideas that would improve life on this planet dramatically if proposed on an ecumenical basis. One such idea came to mind the other day while I was reading (re-reading actually) David Howarth’s superb history, 1066 The Year of the Conquest.
Howarth writes of a time when chivalry was very far from the romantic ideal most of us think of today. In the eleventh and twelve century knights in most of Europe were little more than illiterate thugs with no skills or interests but fighting, which they were almost always doing because they liked doing it. When not killing each other they amused themselves raping and pillaging the peasantry.
The only major barrier to these predations was the Catholic Church and its so-called “Truce of God.” Here’s how Howarth describes how this worked: “…wars were forbidden in Lent and in certain saints’ days and also, every week, from Wednesday evening to Monday morning…peasants could warily till their fields three days in the week and rest undisturbed on Sundays, but they were wise to take cover on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when knights might come thundering through their crops intent on glory.”
No single church could hope to impose a Truce of God these days, of course, but how nice it would be if the three major monotheistic ones combined to try. There would have to be some modifications. Along with Lent and some saints’ days, Yom Kippur, Ramadan and a few other Jewish and Islamic holidays would have to be added to the no-fighting calendar. All terrorist acts and efforts to kill terrorists would also be declared off-limits during this truce.
Aside from the obvious joys of knowing you wouldn’t die in a war or a terrorists act on Friday, Saturday and Sunday prayer days, plus other named times of the year, another major benefit here is that national military and anti-terrorists budgets could be slashed by more than half — what with the killing only allowed three days a week. We could then argue over things like whether to use these savings to cut taxes or increase spending for social programs.
Is this proposal practical? Maybe not. But in truth, I can’t help thinking it’s more practical than warring and terrorizing year round and seven days a week.
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