Sharon embodied another powerful dynamic within Zionism: its function as a secular religion. Many if not most Zionist pioneers grew up in a religiously Jewish environment and had a deep knowledge of the ancient history of the land of Israel when they arrived in Palestine. Even as many of them rebelled against the traditional Judaism, their hunger to build a new society that would redeem not just the land, but the religion and its people, fulfilled a deeply felt spiritual need within the immigrants that traditional religious observance could no longer meet.

Like the earlier Zionist founders of Israel, Sharon was not a publicly religious person, but his profound attachment to the land allowed him to speak for millions of religious Israelis and Diaspora Jews. This is not surprising, for Zionism is a modern movement in its combination of a modern secular nationalism and a deep religious and historical attachment to its territory.

The contradictions of Zionist and Israeli identity embodied by Sharon grow from the Zionist vision of transforming the Jewish people from a pariah and outsider people, perpetually adrift in host countries without a homeland, into a “normal” nation. Israel is a country of continued immigration; a vibrant culture; a large economy but with an increasing inequality; a democracy that denies the rights of a significant share of the people — in other words, a country that has yet to live up to the ideals of its founding vision. — Beliefnet.com