BartBlog

The right-wingers went ape-shit during the last GOP debate because of the reasons Ron Paul said he believes Muslim Terrorists are attacking the US. Paul had the audacity to deviate from the standard “they hate us for our freedoms” talking point. He said they’re “over here [attacking us] because we’re over there.” Why would Ron Paul have the audacity to say such a thing? To imply that we might bear some responsibility for the terrorist’s motives?

Well, perhaps he has removed his head from his ass unlike the majority of other Republicans and started to truly question things the administration is saying. In fact, all one needs to do is listen to the terrorists. They’ve said why they’re over here.

Osama bin Laden said it was because the US troops were on the sacred soil of Saudi Arabia. He said it was because US bombing and sanctions against Iraq. Of course, he also added in the US backing of Israel. Not to mention the fact that the US has a tendency to create proxy dictators to do our bidding and then slaughtering them when they stop dancing at the end of our puppet strings.

So let’s review. Our dimwitted cowboy President says the terrorists hate us because of our freedoms. The leader of the terrorist group that actually attacked the us on 9/11 says it’s because of our foreign policy. I think I’ll go with answer “B. US Foreign Policy.”

While it is obvious to any person with a functioning intellect that our foreign policy is a major factor behind what drives terrorists, that’s too hard to explain to the US populace before they hit the button on their TV Remotes to get to the next channel. In depth understand of current issues is not in vogue these days. Only the elitist liberals engage in that America-hating kind of thing.

The Role of Religion

There is more to this than just our foreign policy. In fact, I am starting to believe our foreign policy is not the root cause but rather just the thing that exacerbates the problem.

Recently I’ve been reading Sam Harris’ book The End of Faith. For those of you unfamiliar with Sam Harris or this book, it is a treatise about how religion is really the root of all evil. More on that later in other posts I promise.

The chapter I just finished is entitled “The Problem with Islam.” Harris makes a very compelling case that the real root cause of the terrorism is the fundamental beliefs of the Muslims. Before you crank up your e-mail client and send me nasty-grams about how I’m being a bigot stop and hear me out. I’m not going to let Christianity off the hook in this either.

Religion Sanctioned Violence

Islam is a relatively new religion. It’s about 600 years behind Christianity. Scholars note that all religions have a violent period as part of their early history. Certainly Christianity is a poster-child for violence. The Old Testament is full of violence brought on behalf of or by God.

More recent history of Christianity includes the Crusades, the Inquisitions and the forced conversions of the natives in the Americas. Don’t forget the Dark Ages were dark because of the Catholic Church.

Christo-Facists are alive and well in the US today. They don’t get much airtime on the news though because they’re white and useful to the neo-cons. Just think about the people who are killing doctors because they perform abortions. They are certainly violent fundamentalists.
Why Religious Faith is Especially Dangerous Now

Harris points out that liberals tend to take the position that US foreign policy is entirely to blame for terrorism and the hatred of the US in the Middle East. Being a true liberal I have held that position. While that is a factor the real problem is the Islamic Faith. Early Christianity brags of its martyrs and was happy to kill anyone who would not convert or subjugate themselves to the church. Contemporay Islam has created suicide bombers to be its martyrs.

Muslims celebrate the suicide bombers and their families. Gifts and social status are bestowed upon the families. The person who has blown himself up goes straight to heaven and all the rewards there.

Here we have a faith that is so different from how Christians believe. The Christian tenet that forbids the mass murder of innocents does not exist in contemporary Islam. Contemporary Islam insists that non-believers convert to Islam, be subjugated to Muslims or be killed.

So the Muslims have their martyrs in the suicide bombers. What will they do that approximates the Crusades or the forced conversions of the Americas? It’s hard to say, but we should be assured they will have no issue with detonating a nuclear bomb or dirty bomb to kill the infidels. Even if that means they will be killed too.
The cold war concept of mutually assured destruction that kept the US and the USSR from launching missiles does not apply here. If the Muslims launch missiles or detonate bombs in the US they have no fear of retaliation. They would become martyrs and go straight to heaven.

I really hated reading that chapter in Harris’ book. It started making me, this lefty, liberal, think that Bush and Rumsfeld might be right to be so concerned about Iran. Just not for the reasons they’ve said.