CNN - God's Warriors
- Thread starter enfield
- Start date
ZGirl4U said:
That's what was concerning. According to the documentary a large majority of the mosques in the US originated from the Saudi family. Those mosques were the ones that either took a neutral approach or blamed America for 9/11. I believe there is an assembly of Immam's that coordinate all those mosques in the US to take this approach. Or atleast that was what was explained. A few followers then broke away from those mosques as they felt the message was not correct. The show highlighted these differences. I was quite surprised.
They followed quite a few Immams from the States back to the Middle East. Their message was very different from one country to another. In the States they claim that they are misunderstood and a peaceful religion. But then they're recorded in the middle east spreading messages of hate and trying to incite violence.
When the reporter for the documentary cited them on their remarks. They claimed it was how people in the middle east joke. It didn't seem much of a joke to me.
561design said:
You bring up an interesting point. A point I have thought about. My thinking is that there are people who support and people who are against every act. Jerry Falwell & Pat Robertson seemed to blame gays, abortionists, ACLU etc. for 9/11. That is nuts - and as nutty as Muslims who support the killing of women & children because they disagree with US foreign policy.
That other thing that comes to mind is the concept of "black and white" thinking. The concept that 'we' are good, pure, nice, civilized etc. and 'they' are Satan. Such thinking scares me. One must keep in mind that there may be people who are against the September 11th attacks and at the same time are also against the 'reaction' of the US. My grandpa always used to repeat that old saying "2 wrongs don't make a right". There are probably many Muslims in that camp. They may hate the terrorists but also do not agree with the response. The President said "either you are with 'us' or you are against 'us'". This is an extreme view. Why can't I be not with you and also not be against you? That would be the middle path. That would be the path of Moderation. That would make cognitive sense and would not be a cognitive distortion.
The world is complicated. The 6th commandment is "thou shalt not kill". That is the correct message but we all know that there are some exclusionary criteria. For example, killing in self defense is okey dokey. Then there are Religiously motivated killings such as the Inquisition, the Crusades, and 21st Century Terrorism committed by Muslims. Are these exclusionary criteria too?? As an Agnostic with Buddhist leanings I would say no. There is no simple answer.
Extremists have simple answers. For example, according to Christians I have a wretched soul because I do not accept Jesus. To Christians they are right. There is no room for discussion. The same goes for Muslims. Since I do not follow Islam - my butt is toast. The Jews would agree with the Muslims and Christians that my butt is toast but this time the reason would not be Jesus or Islam - this time the reason would be because I do not "keep Torah."
My suggestion - do not look for simple answers and simple slogans. I like one slogan though and that is "Use Condoms" :?
