Holy Land: Instrumentalization

Holy Land. A convenient term, which allows Christians to designate the places where Christ lived. An expression also terribly ambiguous: attaching the qualifier "holy" to a land is fraught with risks of appropriation, regardless of the religion. Just like with "Land of Islam," or "Promised Land."

It shows how problematic it is to designate the geographical space of this place, cherished by the three monotheistic religions, using a religious qualifier. This implies that God has given this land to a specific community. Claiming ownership of the land as a divine will opens the way to exclusion, rejection, and violence.

In the conflict between Hamas and Israel, religion has thus become a tool to justify territorial control, serving two nationalisms. These designations that instrumentalize God are thus cultural and historical constructions, which then serve political projects.

In these days following Christmas in a land devastated by war, it is wise to refrain from annexing God. For Christians, calling "holy" a land where Christ's tomb is now empty is even somewhat nonsensical. God alone is holy, and it is probably better to speak of the "Land of the One Who is Holy." The land belongs to no one, says the God of the Bible, which Christianity interprets through the concept of the "universal destination of goods."

We are only passing through here. We are akin to gardeners, whose calling is to make this space livable, to pass it on to our successors. "Be the gardeners of the holy land": this is the only wish one would like to express, during these days after Christmas, to the political leaders of the region.

Isabelle de Gaulmyn is a senior editor at La Croix and a former Vatican correspondent.