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Its official there is a “God Gap” in American foreign policy.  According to a two-year study by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, American foreign policy is handicapped by narrow, ill-informed and "uncompromising Western secularism" that feeds religious extremism, threatens traditional cultures and fails to encourage religious groups that promote peace and human rights.

The Council is not alone in its findings a number of previous government studies support their findings.  Senior scholars have long noted that the government has failed to understand the roll of religion in many parts of the world.  In 1998 Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act making religious freedom a U.S. foreign policy priority.  Of course Congress' focus was only on freedom for Christians.  

Richard Cizik notes that some parts of the world are particularly sensitive to the U.S. government's emphasis on religious freedom and sees it as a form of imperialism.  The current wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan began as religious wars of Saintly Christians against Demonic Muslims.  Senior American officers preached that Islam was next to devil worship and invading soldiers desecrated Islamic relics, holy places and insulted religious leaders.  The United States has been slow to adjust to the global role of religion not only in the Middle East but also Latin America, Africa the Far East even to domestic religious turmoil.

Religious warfare is not new.  In 1096ce, 200 years of Catholic Crusading began against Muslims.  Today it is ignored that the Crusaders killed probably more Christians than Muslims.  It is also forgotten that the crusades began because a Roman pope wanted to bring all Christendom under his power and his soldiers wanted only loot.  The eight crusades in the “Holy Land” were followed by brutal crusades across Europe.  Martin Luther put a match to the fuse in 1517 with his (Protestant) thesis leading to French religious wars, and 400 years of Irish warfare that is still on and off.  America was founded with a principle of religious freedom but has been less than free with a history of religious persecution of Indians, Catholics, Jews and any other group not of an accepted Protestant faith.

In the mid 1940s when the issue of Israel and Palestine was being hotly debated at the United Nations, the American ambassador stated he could not understand why the two parties could not sit down as Christian gentlemen and settle their differences.  The Jews and Muslims looked at each other asking how Christians settled disputes and have been killing each other ever since. 

The Council’s report was intended as a call to accept religious differences in foreign affairs.  It is probable however that the religious right will seize on the report as justification of their particular brand of fundamentalism.  The 21st century is in danger of being the century of religious warfare.  A century where all sects invent their own Joan of Arc rallying the fateful to kill for a GOD.

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Pundits, executives and politicians have lauded the advent of an information age as the golden advancement of civilization.  Ancient agrarian societies gave way to industrial societies. During the latter half of the 20th century however, advanced industrial societies began to collapse when faced with free market world competition.   Rather than adjust to new dynamics, leaders of developed States heralded the information society where no one worked but all talked, as the savior of their exalted status.

During the Dark Age information was tightly controlled by an oligarchy of clerics and lords.  Information was disseminated from pulpits or shouted out as royal edicts.  This limited information of course supported only the interest of the oligarchy.    There was an information explosion around 1439CE when Gutenberg invented his printing process.   People learned to read priests lost their lock on religion and kings lost their monopoly of governance.  Information advanced ideas; leaders like Martin Luther and Oliver Cromwell led increasingly enlightened populations from the oligarchy’s oppression.

For nearly 500 years the printed word served to free people, the most notable was the 18th-19th century revolutions that freed the west from Old World oppressions.  Small towns had morning and afternoon papers.  Cities had dozens of each with multiple editions and extras that informed.  The printed word advanced science where ideas were shared and built upon.  This information sharing led to inventions of telephones and radio.   Telephones equally served business and gossips and radio provided news and entertainment.  Reality became confused as when Orson Wells broadcast the War of the World and America panicked.  Radio was powerful because it linked the listener’s own imagination to reports. Radio became the ideal instrument for propaganda for people believed what they thought they heard and couldn’t reread its reports. There was still the books and papers for the discussion.

Television sold soap and flipped burgers along with its news and entertainment, blending all into a competing societal misinformation mire.  Now nothing is news unless there are pictures but the pictures don’t go along with the stories and the screen is cluttered with simultaneous advertisements and unrelated notes, charts and crawls.  People who get their news only from TV are less informed than those who received no news.  TV is the toy of politicians, sound bites, photo ops and spin-doctors, dis-information rules. 

Scientific exchange became the Internet now carrying e-chats, twit notes (twitter), personal videos and phones link into a molasses of ignorance.  The hallowed newspapers are closing their doors because increasing numbers of non-readers prefer light shows and entertainment to facts, explanations and reason.  Reason is lost in a stormy sea of contradictions. 

After 600 years the oligarchy of political media masters are again gaining control of the message.  The information age heralds an Orwellian world of an oppressive technological Dark Age.  Obey their message!