Is this a different problem from Sinhalese/Hindu fighting or Catholic/Protestant fighting or Eastern Orthodox/Catholic/Moslem fighting? What I am asking is whether you believe the Middle East is in some way different from other regions w/r/t religious hatreds. IMHO Middle East conflicts are resource wars thinly veiled by religious differences.

It's sad, but true. Just like America will always be at war as long as there is oil.

It will continue far beyond that. Even taking relgious beliefs out of the equation, these are decendents from nomadic tribes thousands of years old, they have been at war with each other for those thousands of years. They were ruthless killers the entire time. Then only real thing that changed is the weapons they use and the devestation they cause. No religion could change that.

Agree but it is not limited to the Middle East.

As long as there is religion there will be war and hate. The christians hate the muslims, the muslims hate the christians, and everybody hates the jews. All three religions share the same origions and the same god and yet they say only their god is the only true god.

Be that as it may, politics will continue to play the religious card to get things done to their liking. Keep in mind also that America is sort of like an oil company with an army.
Drugs and armaments are the 2 biggest money makers in the world.

Religion is only half of it, as long as there's oil and excessive wealth that region will be a battleground.

I firmly believe that every war fought in the history of mankind has been fought in the name of religion. Even the American Civil War was justified by many resorting in some way to using scripture. Unfortunately the problem is especially heinous in the Middle East. They are not only fighting “the infidels” from the West, but also slaughtering opposing tribes based on opposing beliefs. There is nothing humane about humanity, and especially when you combine megalomania with religion.

Sadly, yes.

Disagree in that it is not a matter of different religions, it is a matter of the various sub-sects (e.g., Sunni, Shia, etc.) hate each other.

Disagree, sometimes they fight over other stuff like ethnicity.

Religions do not hate each other. Some people with certain religious beliefs hate people of different beliefs.

Fighting all over the world continues unabated, entirely due to religion. for instance, the Christian religion was started by the bggest con artist of all time, and millions of suckers fell for it. No matter how childishly rediculous the claims of this false prophet was, millions of these idiots will fight to the death [ usually of others ] to defend their faith.

Christ in a sidecar, it's like going to war in Afghanistan. Because that never ends well. As Itchy and Scratchy said, they fight and fight and fight:

It never stops

I'm am afraid you are right about that. The hatred is so old and ingrained, fighting there will likely never cease. For a good perspective on the whole middle east miasma, read Leon Uris' The Haj. Even though it's fictional, it is rooted in history and gives a pretty good picture of the ethnotribal conflict, particularly amongst the Arabs, and the how the whole milieu has gotten so deeply contorted, that it will likely take decades, if not centuries, to ever get any semblance of a lasting peace there.

Disagree

They were all getting along fairly well until the CIA started stirring the shit pot again. And if it keeps going like it is in Syria, the christens there better start packing, well, last month.

Disagree. The Arab Spring was caused by a global drought both in Egypt and the U.S. Wheat crops were affected and bread prices rose. The people looked for a scapegoat and blamed their leader (they always do) who, like most leaders (even our own), are corrupt (besides there is little they can do). The Middle-East has few natural resources outside of oil and thay are heavily overpopulated. The struggle for a shrinking resource base created a lot of competition and tribalism. Religion is just another tribe trying to vie for resources. As those resources dwindle even more. Watch, as sub groups within the tribes start to battle their own members. This is why so many extreme groups form. As long as humans gobble up our limited resources this problem will only get worse. This is happening even in our own country and the wealth disparity only makes matters worse. Our emotional based and excessive immigration policy is also a part of the problem!

I think a lot has to do with lack of resources like food and water cause by certain things like drought or famine which leads to unrest and civil war which leads to violence .

Agree wholeheartly religion is bad!

The Middle East is going through the process of modernization, they have been doing this for a few decades. The West had 300 years to modernize, the Middle East is doing it quickly. So, there is lots of chaos. Religion does play a part, but only a part.

Each country the US has “invaded” stopped using the US dollar. Coincidence?

Disagree . When fossil fuels are finally outdated then the fighting will stop