How can one religion spawn so many zealots and terrorists? What is it about the Muslim faith that causes people to want to blow other people up? You don't see a lot of Budhists, or Christians, or Jews, or any other religion with these issues? Why does the Muslim religion spawn so many fanatics? Doesn't the Muslim faith believe in tolerance, and peace and getting along with your fellow man? Or is it all about conquering other religions? Is this a holy war we are in, just in a different disguise? It is dismaying to say the least to watch people willing to blow themselves or others up to make a point. And what point EXACTLY are they making other than they are religious morons, willing to die for...WHAT EXACTLY? I just don't get it, why does the Muslim religion spawn so many terrorists? DD
Christian History Corner: Did Eric Rudolph Act in a "Tradition of Christian Terror"? A historian considers the evidence of the Crusades and the Inquisition. By Chris Armstrong The specter of the "Christian terrorist" presented by the recent capture of accused bomber Eric Rudolph has raised again the old charge of the skeptic: "Why should we be surprised when Christians kill people? They've always done so. Church history itself is the best advertisement against the church." Christianity's opponents love to use church-historical examples to "prove" that violence is inherent to the Christian church. The favorites are the Crusades and the Inquisitions. The critics ask: Don't such violent blots on the church prove Christians have never followed their Lord's loving, non-violent lead and obeyed the Commandment "Thou shalt not kill." http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/123/52.0.html
under, No doubt that was a dark time for Christians, maybe the Muslim faith is going through it's maturation and is having it's dark age? You don't see a lot of Christian inquisitions these days, do you? DD
look...i'm not going to attack islam...but to turn a pointing finger towards Christianity and relate the inquisition and the crusades, which literally occurred centuries ago, with men like eric rudolph who would fall so far out of anything even close to widely accepted by modern day Christians is not just a mistake...it's disingenous.
Just like you can't judge all Christians because of atrocities that happened hundreds of years ago ---- you also can't judge all Muslims because of the actions of a small group of zealots. DD if the Muslim faith is going through a dark period (which I don’t think it is) lets hope it doesn’t get as bad as the inquisitions. Around the world many small isolated groups turn to terrorism to win their cause ----- example IRA ----- Does this mean that all protestants are evil?
i think DD is asking if there is anything about Islam, itself...and not just compared with Christianity...that lends itself more to violence than another faith. i have read the Koran in parts...not in its totality. so i know just enough to be dangerous. but i do see a difference in mohammed and jesus, big time....in terms of what they preached and in terms of how they lived. it's probably no surprise that I see that difference...but one was a warrior who conquered nations to spread his faith...and the other was one who suffered for what he believed in, taking on an R-rated beating.
All religion has spawned violence at one time or another. It's like sitting here saying "these are the most dangerous times ever." That's easy to say because we are living them. But, ask someone who lived through the plague or the 100-years war. It's all perspective. But, I don't think what we are seeing is Islam-specific. Personally, I just think Islam happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most of the people who become the zealots and suicide bombers are living in abject poverty with little or no education surrounded by constant violence. The same conditions that cause the violence in the Middle East cause it in Africa without the benefit of Islam. I think you are seeing this as Islamic because Islam happens to be the predominant religion of a very poor, very un-educated, very violent region of the world. If Christianity has been the primary religion, it is likely that someone would've used it as an excuse to recruit people to kill others. God knows the KKK has used it wrongly that way for decades. Religion is just the rallying cry, but if Islam were really violent on the whole, the vast majority of Muslims who DON'T live in the Middle East would be forming terrorist cells and attacking their neighbors. Since most of them live in peace with one another and the rest of the world, you have to look to some other or additional reasons for the violence.
If that's all there was too it, we would not have had the crusades or inquisition. I'll boil it down for you, it's PEOPLE, i.e. human nature, not the specific religions. We don't have much history of radical Muslims (that I'm aware of), but we do have it of Christianity and others. So if it's the evolutionary time for Mulsims to have some radicals (spurred on in no small part by geopolitical events of the last few decades), so be it. And before you perform any mental 'branding', remember the other 1.1 billion who are perfectly fine, some of whom post on this BBS.
Max is right. I am asking what specifically in the Koran, or the Muslim faith is causing this brainwashing of human beings? What makes them want to blow themselves up and others as well? DD
Very true. The civil wars in some African nations have been (and continue to be) incredibly brutal. We are, to a large degree, shielded from what's going on, as those nations do not have the same economic ties to the western world, nor the money and influence to 'export' their conflicts.
Does anyone realize the extent to which organized religion has caused war and murder throughout the ages? My religion included (Judaism). Absolutely sickening.
On the surface it just seems that way. But when you dig deeper you'll find that the problem of fanaticism (throughout history) is universal, which is caused by many other conditions. I think it's best that AMERICANS stop blaming Islam. Many of which have been "educated" about Islam by Hollywood block-buster movies. It's time to go to the root causes of fundamentalsim: poverty, illiteracy, US sponsored dictators, and USA's "bully" foreign policies.
I totally agree with Jeff. I don't think there is anything in Islam that makes it anymore or violent than other religion. There are currently very violent radical Hindus and not that long ago there were radical violent Jews, we know about violent Christians and even in Buddhist history there have been violent Buddhists. Shoko Asahara led a violent radical Buddhist sect that launched a nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. IMO radical Islam has just become the latest in a string of radical movements around the world and as such as become associated with all sorts of political, ethnic and cultural struggles. If you look at where a lot of conflicts are taking place like the Philipines and Chechnya they have very little incommon except they are fighting an independence struggle. These people have historically never been very radical about their religion and it is only in recent years that they have become more radicalized. Part of the reason IMO is that radical Islam and the network that Al Qaeda has set up has become a mutual aid and support network for various causes so a Philipine rebels can get training and aid from other rebel groups from as far away as Bosnia but also feel they are part of a greater worldwide cause than just their own. This type of movement is not unknown and during the Cold War Marxism worked in the same way by tying toghether groups like the IRA and the Sendero Luminosa into one world wide struggle.
DaDakota, Dictator + Poverty + illiteracy of the people + no hope for change + no hope for determining ones own life + humiliation = controlled people + dictator says, "blame the USA, not me!" = terrorists Don't just look at "Islam" and think "Blame the religion." And it's NOT about "Muslim faith is causing this brainwashing of human beings..." It's about CONDITIONS that exist, and DICTATORS that are put in place, that USE Islam as a TOOL for creating a POLITICAL version of Islam, which is a spawning pool of hate for ANYONE under those conditions.
why does everyone always try to look at their religion when looking for causes for their hate for us? nothing will change until we can honestly and objectively look at our OWN policies and how and why those policies have/are effecting those in the Middle East and how our policies have driven some to murder innocents...
They are frustrated, disappointed, and embarrassed by their failure to go the extra mile and compete with the West and Far East. They can't forget the sour grapes and can't go on with life. -Evil USA
As George Carlin so eloquently put it ont he Bill Maher show recently.... "The basis for most of the evil in this world is religion of one kind or another"
Small number? Islam is about turning the world into one united under Islam. Don't fool yourself with the lie that Islam is a religion of "peace." I know my evidence was dimissed by many, but in the Koran, the words "unbeliever," "kill" and "infidel" appear hundreds of times. The word love appears....only a few times. If that isn't proof positive, I don't know what is. I've read the Koran and it is a very paranoid and angry book. No wonder it has spawned so many kooks when mainstream Islam is by its very nature in its main holy book a violent and angry religion based on servitude and fear.
