I have nothing against any religion. Islam, however, is undergoing a phase of fanaticism in some of its sects, namely in Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq- this is not unlike the battles of the Christian Protestants vs. Catholics in the 1600s. Militant groups of religious fanatics are established, who view fighting off the Americans as jihad, or holy war. Islam, and more importantly, its sects, are a crucial element of these groups of militants. Certain groups of Islamic militants, such as the terrorist group Jaish Ansar al-Sunna [protectors of the Sunna. Sunna= teachings of the Prophet Muhammad], are highly dependent upon religious radicalism to be able to exist. I hate this religious radicalism for what it makes people do - blow themselves up and fellow countrymen for an altogether lost cause. Unfortunately, Islam is at the phase of religious development where fanaticism/radicalism reigns, and I hope it will be over soon. Supposedly, this happens with every religion - it happened with the Christians in Britain in the 1600s with the religious fight between the Protestants and the Catholics. The Crusades dont apply here, since they were five centuries before that, in an earlier phase of religious development. If you want more details about this entire topic, then I recommend that you check some more... intellectual forums ;)
Given the choice, I'd rather die in a suicide bombing to further a cause than spend my last years nameless in a sterile bed because Catholics (ie. US & Canadian Gov't officials) won't allow stem cell research of aborted blastocysts.
I agree, but that's fanaticism as well. No matter how you twist the argument, there's no reason to disallow cloning or stem cell research while still allowing weapons manufacturers to produce ever more powerful killing machines. Research can save lives, and the only "convincing" argument opponents of it have is that you're meddling with God's affairs. Until God is proved to exist, I really couldn't give a rat's ass about when humanity invades on his territory in an effort to save lives.
I've managed to prove God's existence (maybe i'll post my proof in a forum thread for you). But, proving God's existence makes no difference in this particular argument. And I can't imagine why you consider the argument to be convincing. In fact, it's plain stupid. The entire argument is based on human assumptions. Yes... God is infinitely mysterious yet human beings are capable of psychically reading God's mind in order to determine what constitutes 'God's affairs'. Not only that, but people are under the impression that anything which constitutes 'God's affairs' is for some unknown reason against the rules for humans.
Believe me, you don't have to worry about 'invading God's territory'. Just listen to yourself above all else (including religion and any type of assumption about God's will), and you'll be fine.
fyi, "fanaticism & radicalism" do not reign overall in Islam. I know a lot of muslims and i don't know any that is a fanatic. That's what the medias manage to do: they make everyone believe that every muslim is a potential terrorist :/
IMO wars & conflicts are caused by some profit research by some country over another, for exemple. Every war that has been fought until today has had a financial goal, while religion/beliefs/politics are a good way to make ppl believe it has a better purpose. Just like with the US & Irak.
thats only my opinion though :|
u mean the KKK? Yep, of course. Its only slightly different. I never said Christian fanaticism was over. Its just that the situation with Islam, instability in Iraq, now enables religious fanaticism and war to fuse together, so u have militant organizations like the Ansar al-Sunna which are established, and brainwashed youngsters blowing themselves up for a lost cause.
The "instability" in Iraq was brought by... a war, led by the usa. The us government and moreover its president are known to use religion as a mean to bring ppl to follow their orientations (the "axis of evil" expression pretty much says it all).
You can see all the communication over Bush's sudden deep interest in God, or how he's become the best christian around. The extremist christian lobbies can claim the right to influence the government's choices.
So imo, on the other side, fanaticism & war fuse together too, but with the power of a great economy and of a great military industry.
And don't worry about them getting brainwashed, as we all are under the influence of the medias. The us also has lots of youngsters that get into war, except that its for money and that they have weapons, tanks, helicopters etc to play with
Islam and christianity, it's the same situation going on for both right now. Both religions are being butchered and twisted to meet the needs of "leaders".
Is that in any way a bad thing? yea i know this is all off topic but esr (being what it is, i don't wanna get into the bash-train thats going on atm) is quite a good place to talk about this & that freely (when your posts aren't deleted :p), if you manage to forget all the haters and those arrogant pricks that seem to have some kind of universal knowledge. The kind that mocks other ppl over how they look like, then you get to see a pic of them and you can have a good time laughing at their ugly face ;) Or the kind that says you're gay over the internet, while they wouldnt even dare looking at you IRL :D
But enough OT for now
jawn
