Religious terrorism is shocking

New Orleans Times-Picayune ^ | August 15, 2006 | Masooda Khan

[aruanan]

How can people kill each other in the name of religion?

How? Ha ha ha. Any which way they can. Why? That's been a question since the beginning of human history when Cain killed Abel because Abel's sacrifice and not his was accepted by the Lord. Anyway, someone from India should do a little introspection when asking this question because India and Pakistan have been two of the biggest killers "in the name of religion" on the face of the earth. In the struggle to create Pakistan, there was widespread, wholesale carnage of either Muslims by Hindus and Hindus by Muslims and Christians by both Muslims and Hindus.

[cerberus]

Ask the Times-Picayune.

[cornelis]

I know their answer. They created the headline by choice calculation.

[whirleygirl]

"What's the point of making a difference between secular terrorism and religious terrorism?"

The point seems clear to me. Our relationship with God is one of the things that distinguishes us from animals. It shouldn't be used as an excuse to behave like them.

[tkathy]

absolutely

[308MBR]

Well, he should renounce that cult of death worshipping seditionists if he really believes what he's written.

Otherwise, he should hog tied to an empty barrel and tossed into the Gulf Stream so he can get closer to his real home.

[cornelis]

whirleygirl, you are absolutely right that "Our relationship with God is one of the things that distinguishes us from animals." In fact, you give a much better answer than the usual one that suggests language is what separates us from the animals.

You make the point clear enough. But do you really think that he is making that point? In his own words: "I am more aware than ever that fighting over religion or material things is meaningless."

That statement rather tells me he thinks this is Paradise and the rest of us got it wrong.

[RobbyS]

No, they do believe they are acting in the name of God.

[Talking_Mouse]

Brava!

[RoadTest]

How do you know?

[RobbyS]

My son was Iraq. These guys are high on religion. May I suggest you read a book by Ronald A. Knox, called "Enthusiasm." (get it cheap on Amazon). It is about the religious enthusiasts of the 18th Century (the word, btw means" filled with a god"). To give one example of the effect it can have on people,
a member of a Catholic dissident group in France called the Jansenists, a young woman, was so effected they they were able to poke her belly hard with metal rods and she showed no reaction. Numerous example cited by authorities are cited, and this was a country where the authorities were not easy on people.

[RoadTest]

I think we're getting a little off the subject. Jansenists. Wasn't it Islamic Jihad we were talking about?

[RobbyS]

The implication I got was that you believe that religious fanatics do not believe in what they are saying. Because no "reasonable" person could? But even madmen believe in the worlds they create and behave as though it exists. But these are not madmen, merely people caught up in their cause, caught up to the point of being willing to die for it, and capable of thing we find it hard to imagine. Pardon me if I go off on a wild hypothesis, but has it occured to you that Adolph Hitler might have possessed a demon and enjoyed a season of great success before being pulled down to hell by the father of all lies? May sound absurd to you, but suppose that is the way that
his life played out between 1919 and 1945. He became a god on earth, and was worshipped not only by the masses but by men very close to him. Consider Joseph Goebbels whose diary shows that he did think of Histler as a
godlike being and was willing to go to hell for him and to take his wife and children with him. This cynical, conniving practiced liar did believe so deeply in someone that he was willing to be a martyr for him.

[cerberus]

Well, he should renounce that cult of death worshipping seditionists if he really believes what he's written.

Otherwise, he should hog tied to an empty barrel and tossed into the Gulf Stream so he can get closer to his real home.

Am I correct in presuming that you are a "Christian"?

[WoofDog123]

i have read that in the UK that management of some mosques was essentially taken away by threat of violence by groups who then started the usual wahabbist hate-drivel. That sort of situation I do include in the 'brutal party' category. Granted the situation there is somewhat different that it is here.

[308MBR]

Yes, with two cheeks already sore from mistreatment by muslims.