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This is nothing new. Look at the evil DUMS they do the exact same thing. The rich and educated, go after the lower eschelon to do their dirty work. They promise if you follow me your life will be a paradise (worker=Dums,religious=Islamofascist). But in reality, it is all about gathering power to themselves and the thrill of manipulating thousands of people.

Excellent analysis. The sociological distinction between shame cultures and guilt cultures is sometimes overdone, but this article pretty well hits the nail on the head.

I suspect that part of the problem is that Muslims don't believe in free will. That is a gift from the Jewish and Christian God to His followers, but Allah doesn't believe in giving it. So it's foreign to Muslims to talk about feeling guilty, repenting, and doing better. You need free will (enabled by grace in the normative Christian view) to be able to undergo such a transformation.

The message of Isaiah, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Peter in his first sermon in Acts was "Repent and be saved." The message of Muhammed was, "Go out and conquer, enslave, and kill everyone who refuses to prostrate himself to Allah."

Wealthy muslims of privilege may form the leadership of terrorist cells, but they certainly aren't the ones who are strapping bomb belts to their wedding tackle and self-detonating in front of Iraqi police stations.

In an autocratic society where money buys pleasure, but not power, a person may look elsewhere to fulfil that ambition. A brat kid with nothing better to do with his money than build a mud-hut terrorist camp in Afghanistan may not be in charge of much...But he IS in charge of something.

And if Bin Laden has that much money, you'd think he could afford a protein shake or something. Or at least a sandwich. Every time I see his scrawny ass on TV, I feel like I should be donating "the price of a cup of coffee" to some feed-the-starving charity. (tongue-in-cheek)

"Perhaps they all need a "Wilderness Program." The Jews underwent their therapeutic healing process for 40 years in the Wilderness after leaving Egypt, while American Christians had their clinical treatment while founding and settling the Wilderness of America."

I'd give 'em a "Wilderness Program" ...

200 years from now, I want their children's children's children's children
to cower and cringe in fear whenever they hear the sounds of jet engines overhead
because their legends tell of fire from the sky.

I want them to hide in dark caves and holes in the earth,
shivering with terror whenever they hear the roar of diesel engines
because the tales of their ancestors talk about metal monsters
crawling over the earth, spitting death and destruction.

I want their mothers to be able to admonish them with
"If you don't behave, the Pale Destroyers will come for you",
and that will be enough to reduce them to quivering obesience.

I want the annihilation to be so complete that their mythology
will tell them of the day of judgment when the stern gods from across the sea
.. the powerful 'Mericans .. destroyed their forefathers' wickedness.

(Original created by BlueLancer ... 13 September 2001)
(Thanks to HiJinx for the accompanying pictures)

Guilt is a healthy Christian and Jewish emotion that says, "I made a mistake and I am upset over it." However, with guilt one simply feels that hard work will correct the problem.

Redemption and forgiveness are also Christian and Jewish philosophies. From everything I have read these are not Islamic concepts. You can’t simply ask Allah for forgiveness, you must actually so something.

I have read some analysis that suggests that the 9-11 hijackers, all from medical class families and all had spent a significant amount in western society. After having engaged in all manner of western decadence (and enjoying it) they were easily recruited by radicals. They lay a major guilt trip on them and, I guess as this article suggests they are overwhelmed with shame.

The radical then offers them a chance for redemption, the only one available under their understanding Islam. I think it’s a valid physiological analysis.