Dante – Gutenberg
Recent events in Paris and elsewhere relating to misled fanatics highlight a dreadful situation, and some choices which I doubt if authorities will have the guts to take. There is not much use in only pouring invective on the fanatics and acting against them alone – they sincerely believe that their disgusting atrocities are serving the interests of the highest power, and that they personally will have afterlife rewards after taking innocent lives and then reducing themselves to fragments.
No, the blame lies squarely with a religion open to such perverted interpretation (as has been Christianity as well) together with those who propagate the perversion. The infected will have to be dealt with like rabid dogs, unfortunately, but they are also victims. Massive education is needed to point out the evil absurdity of the beliefs they have adopted, and the mockery it makes of the deity they are supposed to honour. The whole basis of such teachings is a blasphemy, depicting god as a petty and impotent tyrant who has hissy-fits at creations not following sets of confusingly contradictory rules he set up, and who then has to call upon other creations to regulate these creations.
Cameron has at last made some utterances regarding removal of sources of ‘education’ in fundamentalism, but not carried far enough. It should not only embrace Islam, but any ideology which is based on violent enforcement. Freedom of speech is not any more of a religion than the ones being misused, and has limitations.
Propagation of these teachings must be made to stop. Period. Anyone who pours out such verbal or written poison within civilized countries should be removed from society without argument. Not deported, but their infection isolated. Those spewing their venom from other countries are in serious need of being done away with, and with the same compunction one feels with giving a dose of antivirus.
Of course, this is a contradiction – which the goody-goodies won’t be able to accept. ‘Reducing to their level,’ will be the bleat. Here, reason must come into play. The acts of these misguided fanatics are inspired by motivation any logical thought reduces to sheer absurdity. Acts of removing them would simply be good sanitation practice.
Paris mourns at senseless slaughters –
Twisted ideology –
Fathers, mothers, sons and daughters
Killed by evil idiocy.
‘God’ who sanctions such perversion
Is the product of sick minds,
Thus distorted by dispersion
Of lies and myths of vicious kinds.
Heaven where free fornication
Comes from deeds so dastardly
Simply an abomination
To all thinking men must be.
Treat as a malignant virus
Those who spread such infamy
Dealing death they would inspire us?
Let them subject of death be.
‘Holy’ men ‘unholy’ teaching,
These should all be rooted out,
To prevent their lies from reaching
Unformed minds still filled with doubt.
Note how many who are saying
It is right to kill and die
Suicidal roles are playing – ?
No, they preach and then stand by.
Colonialist's Blog 
Age old conflict. People are going to have to admit it. Directly opposing views with one side seeing no value or reverence/respect of life – who actively embrace death – with total intolerance of other’s philosophy. Without compromise, and willingness to agree to disagree and get along, there will be no sane solution.
Best hope it eventually an agreement like that between Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin based on mutual respect (or more likely exhaustion of men and money and will?)
But with the internet’s instant reporting, texts and videos for taunting and gloating, the world is much smaller and it is impossible to go to your corners.
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Thus, the solution has to be insane, but effective. I wonder if there could be such a thing as an anti-fanaticism hormone …
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I agree with you fully. The rabid elements HAVE to be isolated. But the ‘disinfecting’ should be accompanied by an attempt to eradicate existing mistrust and expose the rhetoric. Religion isn’t the issue here at all. It is the manipulation of it. Tarring everyone belonging to any one religion, as we in India are won’t to do with our newfound ‘majority’ muscle, will only feed the ranks of the evil armies. Most importantly political expediencies and greed have to take a back seat over the good of humanity. Can you really see it happening colonel? Call me cynical, but there are too many vested interests involved here for there to be any viable solution.
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Religion remains an issue when it has entrenched aspects which lend themselves to that manipulation. The fallacy needs to be shown and eradicated, and the propagation ended. But yes, with greed for wealth and/or power getting in the way, the likelihood of it happening is not high. Already, most of the noises being made are the wrong ones, and amount to treating symptoms instead of attacking the root cause.
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I totally agree with your each and every word, Sir… Mille merci! I thank you for your excellent article! Respectful regards, Mélanie NB – French and global citizen, born in Romania…
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I think everyone with French connections feels particularly strongly about the situation – and, as England came to know during a little argument lasting for a hundred years, the French make formidable opponents.
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Every cult recruits young people who are disenchanted with their lives and seeking approval or “better” answers to their questions about “the meaning of it all.” I believe if we, as a global society, could improve the lives of all people (especially the young), then they would be less likely to turn to such cults preaching hatred and destruction as a path to eternal happiness. Just my opinion…
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How to find a simple answer? Yours is one of them. Another is to ensure that the young have enough persuasive information to immunise them against the superstitious lies masquerading as religious causes. They need to ask, constantly, whether a god worthy of any reverence could possibly demand the things attributed to ‘his’ commandments. They also need to be set goals and ideals which are truly worth following, based on innate feelings of rightness and decency rather than any particular ideology.
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I wish I knew the answers. Yet, I can’t fathom how anyone could believe some of the things they believe. There was an excellent NY Times article several months ago. It covered a girl in Washington state USA who was recruited by ISIS. For the first time, I saw how someone could be enticed to go down that road, making it even more important to love and support those in my own life. Here’s the NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/world/americas/isis-online-recruiting-american.html?_r=0 Hope you can access it there.
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Preying on the lonely, the insecure, and the naïve – yes, it is very subtle. How does one get through to a lonely person who has been fed garbage by someone they have grown to admire and like that they are systematically being brainwashed, that the ‘faith’ goes against all tenets of human decency, and that their only real interest is getting the subject to provide propaganda value or cannon fodder or both?
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every night I go to bed and find myself confused and dismayed by what is going on in the world. Religion means peace in my mind.
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Love and peace and contemplation of the infinite and of harmony – that should be what it is all about. Not pandering to the fallaciously recorded whims of an imaginary despot.
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I do not know what the answer is but it seems obvious to me that if we are to change the course of history, we must change our own hearts, our own intolerance, our own hatred and, or, fear of the other.
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The problem here is that unless we change ourselves in a way that then conforms precisely with the version of religion of the radicals, and however much we direct tolerance, love, and lack of fear, they will still target us as unbelievers. In this case, they are the ones who must change.
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I agree with the sentiment, but the devil is in the details. History is rife with instances of good intentions that begat unintended consequences, some of which we are still dealing with.
I would like to hear a non-emotional discussion on reasonable and effective concrete action that could be undertaken. That’s not going to happen while we still mourn, while so many still hate.
. . . I blame parents; had we not reproduced like rabbits, life would be infinitely more manageable . . .
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Indeed so, and of course, it could be argued that religious conflict and the desire to bump one another off for the sake of belief is Nature’s way of reducing some of that surplus population.
People might start loving one another more when there are far fewer of them to love.
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Agree 100%
And one has to ask: Why was is not undertaken after 9/11?
If the French PM cries, ”C’est la guerre” and embarks on a similar retaliatory bent like his American counterpart, ( and remember, ”God” was guiding Bush) then it will simply be continual bloodshed – though the French have already carried out airstrike(s) so I read.
The leaders, political and religious, of Judaism and Christianity have to step forward and begin to tell the truth about their religions – that they are largely fallacious.
How this is going to be achieved is beyond me, for if we are to remove extremism from religious doctrine then why must we keep The Flood, the Exodus and the Resurrection on the books?
Honestly, Col, I am at a loss .
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The tendency to the all or nothing approach must be avoided. There are limits. What harm, after all, comes from belief in the Flood (quite possibly historical, but not there nor then) Exodus (ditto, although less likely) or even Resurrection. Or the tooth fairy? The line has to be drawn at the totally fallacious Hell, and all the ‘believe or else’ rubbish.
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Without hell, naughty sinners have no fear.
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Do you remember that description: ‘He is a god-fearing man’? And it was meant as a sign of approval instead of pity!
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Quite! I prefer the idea of Yahweh issuing warnings then simply smiting them!
No more faffing about with eternal torture and nonsense.
As the umpire at a baseball game yells: ”Strike three. You’re outta here!”
However, seriously, the (sensible) religious scholars, historians and archaeologists have to stand together and make some sort of official statement regarding the Historical Fiction of certain aspects of the bible if nothing else.
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Indeed, and all nations should, as one, declare that religious freedom does not extend to any sort of action against those of other religions, or coercion, or incitement.
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Long ago, very long ago the world was was at peace, then men came about and wrote religion and since then there was no more peace. Man then wrote ideology and then all hell as we are now suffering broke loose. Woe are we.
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So, writing is at the root of all evil. Well, in a way I suppose that is true.
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Rubbish! Writing has naught to do with it. belief’s were passed down from generation to generation long before drawings, then writing came about. How then can it be the root? It bears no true relation whatsoever, even if they do claim to follow some stupid book!
It is the deviousness of power and control from those who breed deception by planting grains of doubt in those who have the most vulnerable minds that is the root of all evil. Religions, philosophies, political persuasions, mad scientific endeavours, are simply the tools used to mask the real agendas… the gain of more power and control.
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