It should be obvious that people are more likely to commit acts of terrorism if they think that their religious leaders approve of them and/or that they will be pleasing to God. That’s one reason why the teachings of Saudi imams and scholars have been one of the more incendiary causes of the rise of terrorism over the last thirty years. So, it’s very encouraging that the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs is running a program to promote moderate and resist extremist ideologies. It’s kind of creepy and totalitarian to haul your religious leaders into the capital for reeducation, but I can feel their pain, as that idea carries some appeal here at home.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Unfortunately, any time a religion’s “Holy Book” is considered to be the literal and inerrant word of the one true god and when the core of it lays out the requirement for its followers to undertake political and military action in it’s name, there can really be no moderation if you are to be considered a true follower and not an infidel. There are certainly many Muslims in the world who have chosen to overlook the required militancy of the Muslim faith, but the core of it is, according to the writings of the Koran, a religion of conquest.
Richard, I’m no expert in Islamic theology, but just as a matter of sociological fact, there appear appear to be in the neighborhood of 1 billion Muslims alive today who both consider themselves to be “true followers” and who aren’t taking up arms against the rest of us.
Only in in the same sense that “Go ye into all the world baptizing…” makes Christianity a religion of conquest. Or the story of God choosing a people and instructing them to take their promised land makes Judaism a religion of conquest of what is currently Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
I think this is most likely a canard that gets ingrained through US education’s canon of world history.
Which is the canard? The “abrahamic” sects are all religions of conquest. In my view the world would have been better off without them all.