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2010-02-17 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

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Posted by Fred 2010-02-17 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 Because Islam is a deadly viral MEME?

Posted by 3dc 2010-02-17 00:38|| 2010-02-17 00:38|| Front Page Top

#2 It does seem to have brought misery and oppression to those regions where it is endemic.

Posted by SteveS 2010-02-17 05:54|| 2010-02-17 05:54|| Front Page Top

#3 Suggestion: only threaten Jew and everybody will be your friend.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2010-02-17 07:02|| 2010-02-17 07:02|| Front Page Top

#4 Something that is getting very little air time is the discreet Islamic Reformation movement, that is trying to rewrite Islam to a benign form.

In all fairness, many forms of Christianity used to be pretty obnoxious before the age of Enlightenment (18th Century), and it took a heck of a lot of theological tap-dancing to turn it into a more peaceful form.

Even today there are still snippets of internecine spats between Christians in Ireland, central and South America.

There are close to a billion Muslims, so it is about the only sane way to get around this problem.

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-02-17 08:10|| 2010-02-17 08:10|| Front Page Top

#5 Moose, there were attempts. Lahore Ahmadiyya for instance. Because they have another prophet after Mohammed.

Mainstream Islam... color me very skeptical. A substantial rewrite of Koran and hadits would be required to render the creed to a benign form.

Posted by twobyfour 2010-02-17 08:40|| 2010-02-17 08:40|| Front Page Top

#6
In all fairness, many forms of Christianity used to be pretty obnoxious before the age of Enlightenment (18th Century), and it took a heck of a lot of theological tap-dancing to turn it into a more peaceful form.

Moose, see Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly for a discussion of the politics of the Renaissance popes. The problems that occurred before the "Enlightenment" in the church had to do with politicians co-opting the church. When the church became a property concern at the end of the Dark Ages, the politicians and careerists moved in. The church was the career of choice for second and third sons.

The Enlightenment did not correct these problems; the reforms--both Catholic and Protestant--began with people who saw that the politicians had nearly ruined the church, and tried to restore God's truth, rather than the pronouncements of politicians. Of course, politicians jumped on the bandwagons on both sides, and used religion shamelessly to further their own power.

The Enlightenment was partly an expression of frustration with the venality of church politicians, especially in France. The Enlightenment created problems of its own, and its denial of accountability to God and violent anti-clericalism contributed to the horrors of the Reign of Terror.

(Footnote: If Jean Jacques Rousseau had bothered to raise his own children, instead of dumping them off at the orphanage in the care of Catholic sisters, his views on the virtue of human nature would have been a lot different. If he had to deal with a two year old's temper tantrums and teenagers breaking curfew, his naive idea that "Mankind is basically good" would have gone out the window.)

Posted by mom 2010-02-17 09:37|| 2010-02-17 09:37|| Front Page Top

#7 I saw on the Al-Arabiya satellite television channel an Iranian reformist thinker deriding his country's regime and saying: I do not know where the death slogan list is going to take us! In fact, the regime began with the slogan 'Death to America,' and then added 'Death to Israel. Then, it had doubt over Britain and added 'Death to Britain!' And when a French newspaper reported news of demonstrations in Iran, they added 'Death to France!' Similarly, if Russia fails to use its veto to bloc any sanctions decision against Iran then they will add 'Death to Russia!' Perhaps Somalia will be the next to be added to the list, in addition to Burkina Faso and Ghana because of their good relations with the United States! In the end they will chant 'Death to the World!'

This is what you get when you have a book that doesn't have a plain command to "Love your enemy". Yeah, applying it foolishly tends to hurt oneself unneccessarily, but that results in one learning how to apply it rightly, which is much better than NOT having it and hurting more people. I recommend everything Paul Coughlin writes to help one learn how to apply it correctly.

"Pagan Christianity?" by Frank Viola and George Barna is a well documented examination of how the Christian Church got many of its practices. However, I'd ignore Viola's other books, which tend to be rather fuzzy in what "church" ought to be, in contrast to his rock solid view of what "church" should NOT be.

Posted by Ptah 2010-02-17 14:28|| http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org 2010-02-17 14:28|| Front Page Top

#8 I'd like to make a nomination for snark of the year:

(Footnote: If Jean Jacques Rousseau had bothered to raise his own children, instead of dumping them off at the orphanage in the care of Catholic sisters, his views on the virtue of human nature would have been a lot different. If he had to deal with a two year old's temper tantrums and teenagers breaking curfew, his naive idea that "Mankind is basically good" would have gone out the window.)

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-02-17 14:32|| 2010-02-17 14:32|| Front Page Top

#9 Agreed. Snowy Thing, although I'd have gone with "tart comment" rather than "snark". mom can write when she wants to.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-02-17 19:14|| 2010-02-17 19:14|| Front Page Top

#10 Actually... a viral meme calls for an antiviral...

Posted by 3dc 2010-02-17 20:39|| 2010-02-17 20:39|| Front Page Top

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