The Fertile Crescent, now known as Iraq, is generally considered to be the cradle of civilization as we know it. As humans began the move from nomadic herder to landowner and farmer in that area as well as in the Orient, civilization began to take shape. In his book, The Third Wave¹, Toffler refers to agriculture as the first wave of civilization. The second wave, the industrial revolution, began a mere three hundred years ago. The third wave, the information age, began a mere sixty years ago. Isn't it ironic, that in the twenty-first century, our civilization is being strained, possibly to the breaking point, in the very region where it all began?

Last week, we took a quick look at the succession of empires that have spread their domination systems across this planet. Although this has made life more bearable for some of the earth's inhabitants, particularly here in America, it has caused others enormous grief and suffering. There have been endless wars fought to maintain the domination system and the way of life for those who benefit from it. John Dominic Crossan says in his book, God and Empire², that war and violence are endemic in our civilization. The question we must ask is "Are they endemic to humankind?" Is it possible to shape a new civilization based on cooperation and peace rather than on dominance and warfare? David Korten in his book, The Great Turning; from Empire to Earth Community³, says that it is possible and that a grassroots movement has already begun.

How did this all happen? As an example, it might be interesting to look at the origins of the monarchy among the Israelites. They were a nomadic people who fled the Egyptian empire and after roaming the Sinai Peninsula for many years, settled in the land we now call Israel. They were a loose confederation of tribes ruled by a succession of so-called judges. It is interesting to note that there were women among these rulers. The dominance of the males in their society had not yet come to complete fruition.

The prophet Samuel had appointed his sons as judges, but they did not follow in his ways. The people came to Samuel and said, "You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations."⁴ Samuel gave them a list of the terrible things that would happen to them as the king set up his domination system⁵, but they would not listen to him. Their reply was, "No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles."⁶ So the prophet Samuel anointed Saul to be the first king of the tiny nation of Israel. Thus began a long succession of kings that led to a civil war and the splitting of the kingdom. Eventually they were conquered by the great empires of the world.

The story of the Israelites is just one example of how domination systems arose in our civilization and led to the succession of brutal empires as we know them from history. I raised the question earlier if there is a way out for us. Let me say that the Christian Church as we know it bought into the concept early on under the Roman Emperor Constantine. The church failed to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth who laid out a new path that he called the Kingdom of God. In more recent years, the church is again looking at that Kingdom as the way of turning from our violent civilization to a community of peace. The ways of warfare and domination have not worked. May we take a serious look at the ways of non-violence and cooperation before it is too late.