The following was written in response to this article in the New York Times:
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Like many New York citizens, I worry about how religious values are used to advance a political agenda.
However collective blame is a terrible way to create public policy. Muslims are collectively responsible for the September 11 tragedy to the extent that Jews are collectively responsible for the death of Jesus and to the extent that Christians are collectively responsible for the Crusades.
One last thing. At the conclusion of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles assigned collective blame to Germany and its allies for all ‘loss and damage’ suffered by the Allies. The Axis nations were ordered to pay reparations to victorious nations for future years; demands that were widely acknowledged to be excessive. The economic consequences of these payments have been acknowledged as contributing to the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism.
Those ramifications need not be explored further.
