The latest news from Bangladesh is that a gang of seven Islamic terrorists, shouting Allahu Akbar (Allah is great), have murdered 20+ people, mostly foreigners, at a posh restaurant in the diplomatic area of the capital city, Dhaka. The victims were slaughtered in the Islamic way, by hacking. According to a BBC report, the terrorists tortured anyone who was unable to recite the Koran.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the act. But, of course, there is skepticism about that claim; and al-Qaeda and home-grown terrorists are two parties that have also been mentioned in the news media.
In the background, the murder spree on secular humanists and non-Muslims continue in Bangladesh. The government has been a vehement denier of the presence of the Islamic State in the country. The denial by the government leaders is clearly to demonstrate to the world that they have been successful in containing Islamic State in their land.
But does it really matter if Islamic State jihadists are present or not present in Bangladesh? Is it any better that the jihadists are home-grown?
The massacre in the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka late on July 1, 2016, has been getting a lot of attention in the international news media; obviously because of the restaurant being located in a better secured diplomatic enclave, because of the number of deaths, and because of the death of many foreigners.
However, what I consider as more serious and nagging is the fact that Bangladesh has been surely going down the Islamic way. The country now has too many mosques and madrasas (Islamic schools) that have been cranking out hundreds of thousands of blind followers of Islam, all of whom are potential Islamic terrorists. Beyond that, the socio-political environment in the country is filled with submission to Islam. Even the Prime Minister, who supposedly leads a secular political party, plans to build a ‘model mosque’ in every sub-district of the country with state funding. That would be close to 500 new and higher capacity mosques.
Thus, it is no wonder that the murder of secular humanists and non-Muslims continue in Bangladesh, and it can be predicted to grow.
Here is an example where there is no indication that the victim criticized Islam or promoted any competing religion. Mrinmoy Majumder is a university student, and he was going to his village home for the holidays. While he was riding a three-wheeler close to his village, three criminals attacked him. He was asked to take his pants off, so that the criminals could check if he was circumcised (Muslim) or not. Seeing that he was not a Muslim, they hacked him. He fell down on the ground and pretended to be dead. That is how he survived with serious injuries. What was his fault? He was born in a non-Muslim family.
Of course, the largest non-Muslim minority community in the country, the Hindus, is increasingly being targeted in Bangladesh. Here is a recent BBC news item on that. Bangladesh killings: Hindu priest hacked to death - BBC News
The corrupt claim of the government in Bangladesh that the Islamic State jihadists are not present in Bangladesh, or that the opposition political parties are to be blamed, or that foreign conspiracies are involved in the criminal acts that have been going on in the country in the name of Islam would not alleviate the serious trouble that the country is in. Responsible world leaders need to seriously address the problem of blind following of Islam that is a curse not on just Bangladesh, it is like a cancer that is spreading in many other countries as well.
History shows us that good Islams have to continue to be intolerant of letting psychopaths take advantage of conventions allowing them to commit violence. Unfortunately for those being assaulted and murdered, that process takes time in a society. The wholesale genocide of native American tribes in the U.S. only really stopped when the tribes found allies in the U.S. news press of the time which shamed those in the U.S. Army and other organizations which were committing those acts, and then only after the chorus grew loud enough.
Good point trombone, but the difference is, there is a minority of “good” Muslims within the minority Muslims. They have no press to use. Non-Muslim media barely understand them.
History shows us that good Islams have to continue to be intolerant of letting psychopaths take advantage of conventions allowing them to commit violence. Unfortunately for those being assaulted and murdered, that process takes time in a society. The wholesale genocide of native American tribes in the U.S. only really stopped when the tribes found allies in the U.S. news press of the time which shamed those in the U.S. Army and other organizations which were committing those acts, and then only after the chorus grew loud enough.Unfortunately, there is no significant recognition of good Islam and bad Islam; the religion is recognized only as one Islam. Even the so-called moderate Muslims do not want to acknowledge that some parts of Islam must be rejected for them to be good people, even though they do not actually practice those extremely hateful and barbaric parts. People who refuse to identify the problem are unlikely to begin to solve it. People that you have called psychopaths do actually follow Islamic edicts that make them so for the most part. It is also very unfortunate that most of the powerful secular leaders of the world are too politically correct to actually attack the problem.
Good point trombone, but the difference is, there is a minority of "good" Muslims within the minority Muslims. They have no press to use. Non-Muslim media barely understand them.Those good minority Muslims and the secular humanists must together clearly recognize and reject the unjust, hateful and atrocious parts of Islam.
Good point trombone, but the difference is, there is a minority of "good" Muslims within the minority Muslims. They have no press to use. Non-Muslim media barely understand them.Those good minority Muslims and the secular humanists must together clearly recognize and reject the unjust, hateful and atrocious parts of Islam. Is anyone publicly recognizing and rejecting the unjust, hateful and atrocious parts of the bible? If so, I haven't heard about it.
No, you won’t find anyone publically rejecting the “bad” parts of any religious texts and never will unless we all get past the superstitious nonsense of belief in a god. So it would be best for humanity to reject religion period, the good, the bad, and even the in-between parts is any such parts exists.
No, you won't find anyone publically rejecting the "bad" parts of any religious texts and never will unless we all get past the superstitious nonsense of belief in a god. So it would be best for humanity to reject religion period, the good, the bad, and even the in-between parts is any such parts exists.Obviously you are not paying the slightest attention to the Christian world. Not that you have to, but even apologetics sometimes cordons off the smiting as only pertaining to those historical moments. United Methodists are split 50/50 worldwide on the gay issue, they will probably split Lutherans recently split over that Many Christians participate in anti-war protests Even Muslims, the last Caliph of the Ottoman empire declared the cutting off of hands for thievery to no longer apply
Don’t get me wrong, they, as a whole, don’t do enough. There are a few rare exceptions like Gretta Vosper in Toronto, but it is far from enough. Moderate religion gives cover for fundamentalists. No question. My blog is all about exposing the hypocrisy of so-called liberal theologians. My sermon helper often shows where the lectionary simply skips over the verses that say “go kill”
LoisL - Is anyone publicly rcognizing and rejecting the unjust, hateful and atrocious parts of the bible? If so, I haven’t heard about it.Fortunately for most of the world the instructions in the OT to invade and steal land by genocide were very limited in territorial scope. Moses just told Joshua to murder his way across what is now called Palestine or Israel, but that was about it. The later message of Jesus in terms of his instructions for human behavior was obedience to authority and radical pacifism. Jesus said don't throw stones, pay your taxes, turn the other cheek, love your enemy, and pray for those who persecute you. So, the Bible is a big problem for the indigenous people of the West Bank and Gaza, but the land theft blood lust of the Jewish texts stops at the Jordan river and the sea shore. Jesus was a peacenik. Muhammad kind of went back to the old ways but was more inclined to expand, rape, rob, extort, enslave, and kill only those who resisted conquest. That makes Islam uniquely dangerous because they have scriptural mandates to commit these horrors globally, hence the IS and the calls for Islamic global conquest.
Is anyone publicly rcognizing and rejecting the unjust, hateful and atrocious parts of the bible? If so, I haven't heard about it.The fact that Christianity has been reforming for centuries can be taken as acknowledging and rejecting the unjust and atrocious parts of the Bible. Two examples: 1) In the Christian-dominated parts of the world, women certainly get a lot more respect today than what is granted to them by the Bible; 2) Today, the Western world surely could not have had almost a fifth of their population as atheists/agnostics without the Christians looking at their religion with a good deal of logic, i.e., abandoning religious dogma. I agree with both Lausten and Stardusty Psyche. I also basically agree with deros; although the religious world is too powerful for the humanist world to be able to do that right now.
Fortunately for most of the world the instructions in the OT to invade and steal land by genocide were very limited in territorial scope. Moses just told Joshua to murder his way across what is now called Palestine or Israel, but that was about it. The later message of Jesus in terms of his instructions for human behavior was obedience to authority and radical pacifism. Jesus said don't throw stones, pay your taxes, turn the other cheek, love your enemy, and pray for those who persecute you. So, the Bible is a big problem for the indigenous people of the West Bank and Gaza, but the land theft blood lust of the Jewish texts stops at the Jordan river and the sea shore. Jesus was a peacenik. Muhammad kind of went back to the old ways but was more inclined to expand, rape, rob, extort, enslave, and kill only those who resisted conquest. That makes Islam uniquely dangerous because they have scriptural mandates to commit these horrors globally, hence the IS and the calls for Islamic global conquest.Let me add that I think the saddest part of all this is not that human ancestors were barbarians in practically all parts of the world and in almost all eras, it is that even today billions of people are not capable of using their human intelligence when it comes to what they think is their religion. It is preposterous for the Muslims to remain so fanatically Islamic; it is more preposterous for our powerful secular-claiming politicians and intellectuals to utter 'peace' for Islam. If they are scared of the sentiments of some 1.6 billion Muslims, they should at least keep quiet on the subject, and care about human dignity, rights and respect for all humans without caring if that goes for or against any religious edict.
Sukhamaya Bain - If they are scared of the sentiments of some 1.6 billion Muslims, they should at least keep quiet on the subjectThat is essentially the position of Obama, talk softly and use a very big stick. For diplomatic reasons he avoids any language about Islamic terrorism. I find that personally very annoying. But the president has made the judgement that it is better to carry out military operations absent the public rhetoric, and that this approach will make our troops better able to conduct their operations with the cooperation of Islamic dictators that base our troops and cooperate with our military attacks. Obama continues his aggressive and very blunt instrument global assassination campaign, the very large special ground forces deployment in Iraq, the regular ground forces deployment in Afghanistan, Air Force attacks, gunship attacks, and sea based attacks. He just won't name the enemy he is killing by its true name, largely out of concern for the propaganda and recruiting value that would have among the 1.6 billion Muslims.
Let me add that I think the saddest part of all this is not that human ancestors were barbarians in practically all parts of the world and in almost all eras, it is that even today billions of people are not capable of using their human intelligence when it comes to what they think is their religion. It is preposterous for the Muslims to remain so fanatically Islamic; it is more preposterous for our powerful secular-claiming politicians and intellectuals to utter 'peace' for Islam. If they are scared of the sentiments of some 1.6 billion Muslims, they should at least keep quiet on the subject, and care about human dignity, rights and respect for all humans without caring if that goes for or against any religious edict.Emphasis added. You've nailed it here. I have some family members and a few acquaintances who consider themselves Christian yet oppose everything their Biblical Jesus promoted. Subsidized health care? Against it. Welcoming refugees? Against it. Feeding, clothing and educating the poor? Against it. Peace, love and understanding? Nope. They want guns to defend themselves against the people they oppress. As with the Muslims they vilify, their beliefs are preposterous, but they cling to them anyway. They get really angry when I quote Bible passages at them to refute their bigotry and self-centeredness.
No, you won't find anyone publically rejecting the "bad" parts of any religious texts and never will unless we all get past the superstitious nonsense of belief in a god. So it would be best for humanity to reject religion period, the good, the bad, and even the in-between parts is any such parts exists.Obviously you are not paying the slightest attention to the Christian world. Not that you have to, but even apologetics sometimes cordons off the smiting as only pertaining to those historical moments. United Methodists are split 50/50 worldwide on the gay issue, they will probably split Lutherans recently split over that Many Christians participate in anti-war protests Even Muslims, the last Caliph of the Ottoman empire declared the cutting off of hands for thievery to no longer apply How about stoning women for adultery? How about any "punishments" for women who break rules? It isn't that people don't disregard what's in their "holy books"--they do-- but they seldom make a definite statement about anything in the "holy book" being wrong by today's standards.
.................. Obama continues his aggressive and very blunt instrument global assassination campaign, the very large special ground forces deployment in Iraq, the regular ground forces deployment in Afghanistan, Air Force attacks, gunship attacks, and sea based attacks. He just won't name the enemy he is killing by its true name, largely out of concern for the propaganda and recruiting value that would have among the 1.6 billion Muslims.Paris, San Bernardino, Orlando, Dhaka, and now Nice! I think the West needs to be smarter than being killers. The fight really has to be against blind following of Islamic edicts. It would need re-education of people, in this case Muslims. It would need intolerance of Islamic fanaticism on the part of the components of the world that can be called reasonably civilized. To me, anything that can be called blind following of any kind of injustice, hatred or barbarity for Islam or for any other kind of religion is too fanatic to be tolerated by the civilized world.
.................. Obama continues his aggressive and very blunt instrument global assassination campaign, the very large special ground forces deployment in Iraq, the regular ground forces deployment in Afghanistan, Air Force attacks, gunship attacks, and sea based attacks. He just won't name the enemy he is killing by its true name, largely out of concern for the propaganda and recruiting value that would have among the 1.6 billion Muslims.Paris, San Bernardino, Orlando, Dhaka, and now Nice! I think the West needs to be smarter than being killers. The fight really has to be against blind following of Islamic edicts. It would need re-education of people, in this case Muslims. It would need intolerance of Islamic fanaticism on the part of the components of the world that can be called reasonably civilized. To me, anything that can be called blind following of any kind of injustice, hatred or barbarity for Islam or for any other kind of religion is too fanatic to be tolerated by the civilized world. Best of all is to get rid of all religions and with it their social structures which have been nothing but toxic throughout the ages. In a way getting rid of god is easy but almost impossible as the grand CEO of the societies it endorses. The God idea is not unlike that of a single Parliament from which its supervisory members draw their authority to rule. Muslims in this sense and since the time of their prophet would only allow themselves to be re-educated based on how they interpret the Koran which offers limited possibilities for re-education as is true for most ancient texts that no-longer belong.
Three terrorist attacks in one day in the USA! One has been claimed by the Islamic State. For the one in New York, Governor Cuomo said, “there is no evidence of an international terrorism connection" and “we find no ISIS connections.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/09/17/new-york-officials-say-25-people-injured-after-explosion-in-chelsea/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_no-name:homepage/story&utm;_term=.b780f4b7ac14
Don’t we need to be smarter than looking too much for the ghost of Islamic State? Can’t lone wolf terrorists be as dangerous in the US homeland, especially when guns are so easily available in this country?
The way I see it, the mental sickness that causes people to commit this kind of crimes needs to be addressed intelligently, as opposed to using a lot of military force in places like the Middle East. For the US homeland, that intelligent method has to include seriously looking at potential indoctrination and proliferation of Islamic fanaticism in this country.
Three terrorist attacks in one day in the USA! One has been claimed by the Islamic State. For the one in New York, Governor Cuomo said, “there is no evidence of an international terrorism connection" and "we find no ISIS connections." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/09/17/new-york-officials-say-25-people-injured-after-explosion-in-chelsea/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_no-name:homepage/story&utm;_term=.b780f4b7ac14 Don't we need to be smarter than looking too much for the ghost of Islamic State? Can't lone wolf terrorists be as dangerous in the US homeland, especially when guns are so easily available in this country? The way I see it, the mental sickness that causes people to commit this kind of crimes needs to be addressed intelligently, as opposed to using a lot of military force in places like the Middle East. For the US homeland, that intelligent method has to include seriously looking at potential indoctrination and proliferation of Islamic fanaticism in this country.Unless you have some other plan, you just said that preaching Islam creates mental illness. How do you determine when a preacher is a fanatic? How do you tell indoctrination from the usual tricks for getting people to go to church. I just listened to some gospel singers (there's not much to do in my little town), and the guy took a few minutes to tell a story where he was asked if he died, did he think he would go to heaven. Was he trying to indoctrinate me?
Unless you have some other plan, you just said that preaching Islam creates mental illness. How do you determine when a preacher is a fanatic? How do you tell indoctrination from the usual tricks for getting people to go to church. I just listened to some gospel singers (there's not much to do in my little town), and the guy took a few minutes to tell a story where he was asked if he died, did he think he would go to heaven. Was he trying to indoctrinate me?The non-imposing tricks for asking people to attend church/mosque are not fanatic enough to me. Here is one example of intolerable fanaticism that came from the so-called moderate Muslims of Hamtramck, MI: Loud-speaker Islamic prayer calls five times a day every day, without caring about the citizens who do not need/want the nuisance/noise pollution: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/05/us/tension-in-a-michigan-city-over-muslims-call-to-prayer.html?_r=0 Mass media, social media as well as the laws of the land should discourage/stop such gross disrespect for the rights of non-Muslims before they even are planned in this country. With this kind of religion-imposing minds among the 'moderates', it should not surprise any intelligent person if that community produced a religion-saving/promoting terrorist from among every thousand of its members.