"And the LORD said to Moses, '...do before Pharaoh all the miracles which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go."' (Exodus 4:21)

A friend of mine recently said, "There is nothing wrong with this country that couldn't be cured by a good war." I don't believe that. But do you see his point? Beset as we are by seemingly irreconcilable differences of race, class, economics, education, religion, we seem to have no means of healing our fragmentation. History teaches that a principal means of national unity is war. Once we share a mutual enemy, we forget our differences, step into line behind the flag, and fight as one. Nothing brings a people together like a common enemy.

Any religion is bound to be popular which does a good job of identif…