prisoner of zion

Prisoner of Zion is my response to 9/11 and the terrorist threat. I’m not sure I know the answer to terrorism, but even as the towers were collapsing I knew we shouldn’t strike back, that an eye for an eye, a military response, would only make things worse. A lot of people knew this, including people in the Pentagon, but no one could figure out what else could be done. So we attacked and have continued to attack and the problem keeps getting worse.

I chose a different approach. I went to meet the foreign enemy first-hand, as a fellow human being, in order to find out what it’s like in their world. Then I studied the enemy here at home. I looked within my own culture to find the source of our fear of others. Then I turned inward and confronted my own fears. I came to the conclusion that fear itself is the problem and that it’s everywhere—all around us and inside us as well. The stories in this book are an attempt to look at the fear and move toward it rather than away from it.

Somehow we have to evolve, both physically and culturally, or we are doomed to a downward spiral of self-destruction. I think we should start by admitting that God does not bless America or any other country. He does not chose one people over another, and He promises land to no one. These beliefs are remnants of archaic cultures that now only serve to inspire fear and justify acts of murder and genocide.

Prisoner of Zion grew out of a desire to change, to see things clearly and call them by their proper names, to find a way to live without being afraid.

photo by Mark Johnston