Posted on 09/17/2014 6:45:21 PM PDT by magellan
As an atheist, I cannot help wondering when this scrim of pretense and delusion will be finally burned away—either by the clear light of reason or by a surfeit of horror meted out to innocents by the parties of God. It may be true that no faith teaches people to massacre innocents exactly—but innocence, as the President surely knows, is in the eye of the beholder. Are apostates "innocent"? Blasphemers? Polytheists? Islam has the answer, and the answer is "no."
But there is now a large industry of obfuscation designed to protect Muslims from having to grapple with these truths. Our humanities and social science departments are filled with scholars and pseudo-scholars deemed to be experts in terrorism, religion, Islamic jurisprudence, anthropology, political science, and other diverse fields, who claim that where Muslim intolerance and violence are concerned, nothing is ever what it seems. Above all, these experts claim that one can't take Islamists and jihadists at their word: Their incessant declarations about God, paradise, martyrdom, and the evils of apostasy are nothing more than a mask concealing their real motivations. What are their real motivations? Insert here the most abject hopes and projections of secular liberalism: How would you feel if Western imperialists and their mapmakers had divided your lands, stolen your oil, and humiliated your proud culture? Devout Muslims merely want what everyone wants—political and economic security, a piece of land to call home, good schools for their children, a little leisure to enjoy the company of friends. Unfortunately, most of my fellow liberals appear to believe this. In fact, to not accept this obscurantism as a deep insight into human nature and immediately avert one's eyes from the teachings of Islam is considered a form of bigotry.
(Excerpt) Read more at samharris.org ...
Like a broken clock, atheists like Hitchens and Harris are occasionally right, if more often they are wrong.
Unreformed Islam is the root of the current problems with radical Islam, just like unreformed Judaism and unreformed Christianity created problems in the past. The leftists are in complete denial.
There is no such thing as radical Islam. There is only Islam. It’s been what it is for almost 15 centuries. It must be rooted out. Calling parts of it “radical” implies that perhaps parts of it are acceptable. They are not.
islime...is at its base a death cult.
all of the admonition to KILL in the stinking koran are Universal
All of the admonitions to kill in the Bible are for A Time and a Place
big difference.
ISIS is not "unreformed Islam" or "radical Islam" it is just plain old fashioned Islam.
Mohammed himself was a murdering, pedophile warlord, they are just following in his footsteps.
You cannot be Islamic if you reject Mohammad for what he was.
Islam is a physical manifestation of Satan.
Sam Harris is a buffoon. Why is he even talking about a Biblical event when he is an atheist?
No, I have no use for this amateur philosopher/vacuum salesmen whatsoever.
He’s an idiot, grinding the usual New Atheist axe, and notice he is using ISIS as justification for atheists to break the taboo of religious respect (as if they still do that? Look at FFR)
Here’s the simple fact, and I’m sorry if it upsets certain Freepers and assorted lovers of the putrid cesspool the West has become.
Religion is an ADAPTIVE trait. Societies that have it end up conquering or absorbing those that don’t. The entire reason Harris’ ‘secular liberal utopia’ cannot combat ISIS is because it is a ‘secular liberal utopia’.
In Medieval times, the brutal evil of Islam was confronted with Christian warrior zeal. Today it is confronted by the vacuous nihilism of Sam Harris’ ideology. Of course Islam is winning out. Of course whites all over Europe are converting and going as far as running to Syria to fight.
Harris’ ideology offers people nothing.
Barbaric Islam offers people something, whatever you think of it.
Let it be known. The worst elements of the Traditional World will only be slain by the best elements of the Traditional World. Nothing in ideological modernity is of any use. Communism, fascism, liberalism, they end the same way, failure. Their victories will ultimately be temporary.
“Devout Muslims merely want what everyone wants—political and economic security, a piece of land to call home, good schools for their children, a little leisure to enjoy the company of friends.”
If that were true, we could live with them peacefully. But what Muslims ultimately want is world domination with the destruction of any culture that is not based on Islam. To achieve this, they have no qualms about using violence and terror.
“Unreformed Islam is the root of the current problems with radical Islam”
What?? Islam is defined by the Koran. The Koran is a guide to death detruction terror and oppression. If you follow Islam you follow death destruction terror and oppression. Period.
“Devout Muslims merely want what everyone wants—political and economic security, a piece of land to call home, good schools for their children, a little leisure to enjoy the company of friends”
Don’t really know any muslims do you?
Well composed.
The Messiah, living Son of the living God, Author of our salvation and the Word of God by which all things existing were created, is not a “religion”.
God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are reality. Thank God every day that this is our gift—not allah, not buddha, not confucious, not shinto, not hindu, not animist, not some human sacrifricial demanding demon of the underworld or a staute crumbling into dust in some decrepit temple.
We love a Holy God, a Good God, an omniscient God that spoke matter, space and time into existence and created us to share what He wrought, adopted into His family as sons and daughters forever and ever.
This is not religion, it is goodness transcendant for all eternity.
Contemplate what you would do, where would you go to escape a malevolent entity that toys with his creation like a willful two year old plays at assembling legos or Lincoln logs.
God will not be mocked. And, He is holy, righteous and true. He is the Potter, we are His clay.
I’ll give him credit for at least writing about islam. Most athiets seem to only write about the great evil Christianity, to prove how brave they are, yet cower and hide from islam.
Atheists speaking about religiosity is like Odumbo speaking about military operations.
And since when does an atheist have the gall to use the term Armageddon? Does he even know what the word really refers to? Does he care?
Bump
We are in the Laodicean church age as described in the book of Revelation 3:14-22. . .you can see it in the churches all over America as well as on TV . . .lukewarm, materialistic, and poor spiritually. How far we have come from our American heritage. . . .in so few years compared with other parts of the world. How much more is God going to put up with.
What a nut.
He just wants to annoy Christians. It’s fallacious 6 ways from Sunday.
I was shocked at the first quote by the head of the executive branch.
“ISIL speaks for no religion… and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day.”
Uh, Bubba, you are soooo right! God is not going to allow the abomination that causes desolation (child sacrifice) to continue. He is just. Ever wonder why all this crud is going on? ISIS is part of the plan. He is mad at all who are silent or supportive of abortion and the nations that made it legal are going to suffer His wrath. May the the speech reader beware.
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