Global Jihad vs Islam Enlightenment

Posted by khalling 10 years, 10 months ago to Philosophy
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A religion is to a great extent a construct of its adherents. It consists of the beliefs, values, priorities, assumptions, and expectations shared by those adherents and reinforced by their culture and institutions. Academics arguing that particular acts of violence and repression are not condoned by the Koran do not negate the fact that millions of Muslims still believe they are.


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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 10 months ago
    I grow weary of hearing about the "good" Muslims who should not be lumped in with the Jihadists. I say that if a person is a Muslim, that person should be under suspicion. Until the Jihadists are disavowed by the religious people of Islam everywhere I don't believe any of them anymore. They give only lip service to what the West wants to hear while preaching violence to their followers. It is well beyond the time to get tough with Muslims until they share good faith in every definition of that. There is no longer any excuse for making excuses.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    this is a pin the tail on the donkey argument. People are individuals. They may be raised with certain ideas but they can also be enlightened. Christians were murdering bastards who didn't want people reading the Bible in the early and middle ages. not to mention witch hunting, etc. would we have advocated slaying all the ignorant and illogical back then? well, maybe if we were unenlightened. But- the Enlightenment had INFLUENCE and moved modern Christian thought. The pen is mightier than the sword. this is not just a meme
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  • Posted by $ jlc 10 years, 10 months ago
    I find this a well-reasoned article. Every religion sways to the whim of its adherents. Actions that were supported in one era (eg witch burning) are considered repulsive in others. The enlightened status of many Christians does not depend on the Christian bible, which enjoins one to violence in many passages, but to the fact that its modern adherents pick-and-choose the most enlightened passages from that book and hold those sections as paradigms for behavior.

    When this does not happen, when, for instance, fundamentalist Christians quote chapter and verse against evolution, then you have the same phenomenon in Christianity as you do in Islam: the replacement of rationality by rote. For example: The Catholic Church as supported the theory of evolution since 1950. You would think that maybe they would have a clue as to what Christianity means? This does not hinder the sects of Fundamental Christians from excoriating Evolution. These Christians prefer the security of their rote learnings to the peril of an uncertain and always changing universe.

    I do not think that there is a problem with Islam per se. It is quite possible for me to imagine an enlightened Islamic society. Indeed: such a society existed in the 10th century. I think the problem is a mega-inferiority complex: the fanatic Islamists of today are aware that their primitive tribal social structure will be swallowed by Western civilization unless they implement a policy of unreasoned unrelenting hatred. I think that the best thing to do is to make their hatred 'without profit' and kill the people who are trying to kill us and others. The Muslims who are just trying to run their shops and raise their families will get a very Darwinian message: if you take arms to commit aggression, you die. We cannot be victims, but I think that many Muslims want to go kill people about as much as I do. If we give them a chance to survive without being forced to kill, we may get 10th C Islam back again.

    Jan
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  • Posted by wiggys 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    as far as I know there is no work history in the middle east. had it not been for the west building the infrastructure to pull oil out of the ground they would still be nomads or camel jockeys. had it not been for the west pulling oil out of the ground they would not have had something to steal from the western oil companies that made it possible. what makes you believe that something good can come from the muslim world is beyond my ability to grasp. they are an ignorant lot and they have no interest in changing their way of life even though they many have been exposed to the west. their way of life in dictated by the imans and the Koran and no matter how much is presented to them showing that it is idiotic they get the hair on the back of their necks up and refuse to accept the reality of their actions etc. I still maintain as a result of how they are that the must unequivocally be the missing links.
    as for Reagan and the ussr it was collapsing anyway and he happened to be the pres at the time so he gets credit because he said they are an evil empire, big deal. he also increased the welfare state of the usa which was more destructive to us.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I do not see this as enlightened thinking. easy-but won't be a great solution. We are losing these battles because the liberal ideologies of these socialist European countries depends on promoting the concept that ideas do not matter. When Reagan brought down the USSR, he had a three pronged strategy. The most important prong was to win the battle of ideas or propaganda. But the west continues to pander to Islam instead of pointing out ferociously its evil constructs and concepts. Doing what you suggest only encourages martyrs. It will be through muslim children and young adults, where the fastest inroads will happen. If people have strong economic reward for their efforts they will pursue that instead of policies which love death and promote de-humanization.
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  • Posted by Temlakos 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Mister Obama--or should I say Mister Thompson?--knows that full well. Did he not get a Muslim education in Indonesia?
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  • Posted by wiggys 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    6- round them up all of the old residents as well as new and deport them
    7- never let any of the new or old back into the country
    8- EVERY country in the world should do the same.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    " They imposed martial law on one group of people."
    I have not followed the news and did not know this basic fact.
    "let people own firearms"
    Yes, not only for the obvious benefit law-abiding citizens deterring the bad guys but also for the mindset of people as grownup agents who can act to build a just world safe from crime.
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  • Posted by wiggys 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    the French government is crying for money, so when all of the productive industrious Jews leave the French government will lose that tax revenue and they will still be paying welfare to the missing links.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The young woman rejects group identity politics. Oprah holds on to it. I agree with the young woman. Sorting people into groups and evaluating the merits of the group is not productive. It may be actually counter-productive if the goal is to reduce extremist violence.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    4. Paris should enforce its laws well. actually they did over-kill. They imposed martial law on one group of people. Not like that won't strike a chord with jewish people. It's wrong. oh,
    5. let people own firearms and equip police with firearms, including traffic cops.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "Visiting a mosque which requires girls to hide what they look like is counter-productive to rational and therefore positive learning experience. "
    At best it's a negative learning experience about ideas that *don't* work in the modern world. I agree; it's not something for a 7th grade field trip.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    well I can tell you the school district I was raised in didn't give tours of the catholic church, the protestant church, the synagogue in my town growing up. good grief. If you want to understand or get a taste of other cultures, visit little Italy or Chinatown. Religion need not be a big discussion in school. That said, I do not deny religious based clubs at school or curb freedom of speech in any way. Visiting a mosque which requires girls to hide what they look like is counter-productive to rational and therefore positive learning experience. You don't need to go visit churches as a field trip in school. This is agenda driven, pure and simple.
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  • Posted by Exitstageright 10 years, 10 months ago
    One of the mainstream media talking heads was incredulous that this attack happened, and was searching for a motive. Maybe she should go to www.transcend7.com and look under politics, and then click Islam for enlightenment. Reminds me of the movie, "Independence Day", when one of the invading hordes was captured, and the mind meld answer to the question "what do you want" was "we want you to die".......
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It sounds like you're suggesting four actions:
    1. Educate - That's always a good thing.
    2. Stop the PC BS - I first heard this phrase in a magazine around 1990, and I still do not understand what it means, beyond that thing with bizarre euphemisms like calling the disabled "differently-abled" or mistakes "improvement opportunities".
    3. Get people talking - Like education, talking and listening are good.
    4. Paris should enforce its laws well. - Yes.
    All of this can be done without group identity politics.
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  • Posted by wiggys 10 years, 10 months ago
    I just read that the douglas county school district in Colorado wants the girls of the 7th grade to were basic burka type clothing when visiting a mosque in Denver, they will also visit a Jewish temple and a church. THE IMAN SAID THAT THE DRESS WAS REQUIRED. the school district employees should be fired and I hope all of the parents should decline to allow their children to go.

    there is a way to end this muslim problem. when you want to get ride of rodents you destroy the nest. the nest in this case is saui Arabia, iran, iraq, and all the rest of those countries.

    talking heads say all muslims are not at fault, really who has stepped up to attack the bad guys, no answer. if the women get pregnant and she gives birth to a boy that boy is a future warrior so to keep that from happening guess what. the bottom line is very visible; they will not go away they must be eradicated.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    educate. stop the PC BS and get people talking. I saw an article this morning. There were 500k jewish in Paris. in the last year, 113K have fled. A prominent journalist, who is also jewish, said, he doesn't know of one Parisian jew who isn't leaving or planning to leave Paris. The French govt is ridiculous in taking care of their citizens. They Martial lawed it and told business owners (of jewish establishments) to shut their doors during this heightened terrorist time. If the business owners can't work, their livlihoods are threatened. terrorist win? I'd say so
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  • Posted by samrigel 10 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    And that is based on what comes last in the Qur'an is relevant and usurps what came first!
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