Here's one for all those who would prefer to convince themselves that Osama is a cynical manipulator of the poorly grasped religious beliefs of the uneducated and poor, rather than as a deeply pious Muslim who believes that he is serving Allah in what he is doing. From AP, with thanks to Nicolei:
GENEVA: Osama bin Laden's sister-in-law describes him as a man so driven by his beliefs that he would deny a water bottle to his own infant son in the heat of the Saudi desert. "I'm sure Osama would not have wanted to lose his baby. By his insistence, his wife used a spoon instead of a bottle," said Carmen bin Laden, the Swiss sister-in-law of the alleged terrorist mastermind."It was not as if he didn't care about the child. But to him, the baby's suffering was less important than a principle which he probably imagined stemmed from some seventh-century verse in the Koran."
To deny an infant water from a bottle on the basis of a verse is an example of mindless fanatcisim showing that he is capable of justifying any evil in the name of Islam.
You wrote "Saddam is a cynical..." - did you mean Osama?
Fixed. Thanks.
You know, I am trying very, very hard to not find myself so utterly disgusted by Islam as a religion; but it is extremely difficult. Such an example - as this - makes it even harder. :-(
Is this true??? At first I thought the article meant that Osama Bin Liner is such a religious nut that he'd even sink to the level of starving his child in the name of islam.Please tell me that this is some kind of sick joke!!!
Look, a fanatic, is a fanatic, is a fanatic, religion be damned! The difference is Judaism, and Christianity have evolved and changed with the Enlightenment and Islam has not.
That being said, if Opeus Dei ruled the world, Hello Inquisition. If Oral Roberts or one of his ilk ruled the world, the Salem witch trials would seem like a day in the park. Any Khani clone is a frightening thought of living in 1000 BCE.
IMO, the problem is all of the above know how to use ignorance, religion, and prejudice to acheive their ultimate goal...POWER.
Rikki, if you haven't figured it out by now, then I don't know what to tell you.
~NMJ
Yet another person who thinks that Islam, Christianity and Judiam all produce fanatics...
Even though this has been rebutted a thousand times on this site alone, the morning dew produces a new crop of ignorance. Someone once said that hope springs eternal. To that I add, so does ignorance.
Here we go.
enrei: "Look, a fanatic, is a fanatic, is a fanatic, religion be damned!"
Are you going to stamp out sports? After all, how many soccer ("football" for those not in the U.S) fans have to get killed before we stop the fanatics in stadiums? How about people trampled to death at concerts? Surely, music is to blame. Simplistic analysis is not the solution.
enrei: "The difference is Judaism, and Christianity have evolved and changed with the Enlightenment and Islam has not."
Show me an evolution of eternal truth and I'll show you something that wasn't true to begin with.
enrei: "If Oral Roberts or one of his ilk ruled the world, the Salem witch trials would seem like a day in the park."
*laughs* Have you ever read Cotton Mather? Do you know the subtexts of the Witch trials? And if you do, you still proclaim it as some outgrowth of Christianity?
enrei: IMO, the problem is all of the above know how to use ignorance, religion, and prejudice to acheive their ultimate goal...POWER.
Let's count the number of Oral Roberts (BTW, where is he anyways? Does anyone even know or care?) and then count the number of jihadi imams. I think that should tell you something.
~NMJ
NMJ
Oh boy do I get it!!!Sometimes though it's just a little too much for me, the blatant evil of satanic islam, coupled with the blind ignorance of liberalism are the 'Black Death Plagues' of the 21st century!!!
P.S- Lets not get silly, comparing religion to sport and music, especially not islam.They are in totally different leagues ( no pun intended ).
Speaking of religion and power...
Anybody seen the massive dictatorship Rev. Billy Graham built up over the years?
Me neither...
Sorry eneri, the allegations you make and the examples you provide just don't wash. NMJ hits the points well, so I won't restate the case. While I'll gladly support your decision not to be religious, don't try to tar others with such a broad brush, especially when you are as shaky on the facts as you are here.
Like it or not, religion shapes everything in the world around you, from our common laws to our common courtesies to our children's nursery rhymes.
Religion has as much impact in Western culture as it does in the ME. Luckily, most religions, eastern and western, are more benevolent than barbaric. We just happen to be confronting a very large aberration in Islam.