I'm not entirely sure how I would define my guiding motivation in life, but I swear "do no harm" would be part of it.
I despair at those who believe otherwise.
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I despair at those who believe otherwise.
I don't believe the comparison stands.
If god is great and non-believers are bad and "god" says it's righteous and just to punish the non-believers, then naturally doing "god's work" is doing no harm?
Actually the truth is even messier... most of these young men committing atrocities are merely indoctrinated pawns who know very little of their own religion and instead defer to their "emir."
This ideological poison is being propagated by those individuals, with power/financial interests back in the middle east. I think the individual committing the act believes they are doing good, and the individual who convinced them to do it is too morally corrupted & detached to care about ideals such as "civilian life."
There are far more atrocities that occur in this world than there are psychopaths in the general population.
If we hope to make any progress toward peace, I think we need to truly understand the reasons why and how weak, impressionable minds with poor cultural integration can be manipulated to commit such atrocities.
It's easy to label these individuals as determined, unreachable psychopaths (particularly out of fear) but the sad truth is, most extremism is borne not of evil but of weakness. A select few manipulate this weakness to convince otherwise insignificant people, often with desires of grandeur to commit unthinkable acts. This power of perspective becomes increasingly obvious as you realize most problems with immigrants in European countries occur in the 2nd and 3rd generations -- those who have seen the true horrors of war first hand are not so easily fooled.
The hard truth is: if society doesn't provide susceptible minds with alternatives first, a small but steady % will be at the mercy of whomever comes along promising "answers."
They appear to be following Mohammed's example quite closely, he was a war lord, he murdered those around him who wouldn't accept the rule of the regime he established. It seems a mainstream axiom in Islam that Mohammed is the perfect example of humanity, a person to emulate to the utmost.
The Koran and Hadith don't seem, from the reading I've done, to be at odds with these actions either if one follows standard abrogation in the Koran.
That said I'm fortunate that the muslims I meet daily don't appear to know "their own religion" - or at least don't follow the example from which it started - and instead are peaceable and as virtuous as one would expect of anyone in UK society in general. They seem much like those who call themselves Christians: following a generally moral code without a deep understanding of what being a true adherent entails.
>too morally corrupted & detached to care about ideals such as "civilian life." //
Civilian isn't a concept that I've come across in the Koran - it's Muslim, Dhimmi and infidel.
That said I'm fortunate that the muslims I meet daily don't appear to know
"their own religion" - or at least don't follow the example from which it
started - and instead are peaceable and as virtuous as one would expect
of anyone in UK society in general. They seem much like those who
call themselves Christians: following a generally moral code
without a deep understanding of what being a true adherent entails.
I expect civil war in a relative short term in Europe (< 10 years), since politicians seem passive (afraid to offend muslims by making some drastic choices) or too politically correct and the populace is still too divided. I just hope I'm able to emigrate from Europe before all this happens.