Islam, Catholisism, religion, and conflict

[TheCurmudgeon]

You have a bad habit of misquoting and taking people's words out of context to support your view. Very few people posting on SWJ have attacked Islam, they have simply pointed out al-Qaeda's principle motivation is religion, and Islam dictates social and political behavior. Yes, al-Qaeda is waging a religious war of sorts, but that sure has hell doesn't mean 90% percent plus Muslims in the world agree with al-Qaeda. We're waging a war against AQ and AQism who are waging a religious war. That doesn't mean we are waging a war against Islam.

Where do we draw the line? It isn't our line to draw when it comes to hate between the various sects, we draw the line when groups or individuals threaten the U.S. or our interests.

I have a habit of trying to show people there is more than one way to view a problem. i do that with their own words. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sarcasm doesn't always translate well in this medium. If i offend, I usually apologize.

None-the-less, I open this because I felt that the topic was tangential to many other threads here, and comes up quite often, but is never addressed directly.

I had a conversation with a retired Armor Colonel the other say that one of the reasons Europeans and Americans are such good warriors is because our common faith provides for an afterlife. Eastern religions generally do not. Of course then the topic turned to Samurai suicide and Kamikazes attacks - honor in a martial society. It dawned on us that Islam could call on both these strengths. Its offered an afterlife and its history is far more martial than Christianity (perhaps on par with Judaism?) These social factors complicated first, our understanding of others (Muslims, Buddhists, etc) view the operational environment, and two, the rational these others might use in making tactical decisions. In the case of middle eastern Muslims, the advantage that their religious convictions hold (afterlife, Religion founded by a warrior of sorts) stands in contrast to the less favorable views most of the books I have seen in western literature about the Arab military and the way they fight. Clearly not everything can be answered by religion. ... of course, on the flip side you have a group of religious zealots who take on an armor column and win ... can we say that the fighters faith helped them achieve that victory?

Of course, there is also our biases. America is schizophrenic when it comes to religion. We claim we are secular but we are a deeply Christian country. Our founding documents are based on rights endowed on us by our creator. This sets up an uncomfortable problem, particularly for a country that tries to be multicultural in difficult times. The first instinct when attacked by outsiders is to withdraw and rally around out basic principles. This causes problem for us. It is something I think we do a poor job of confronting, and religion is central to that.

I am actually less interested in fights between different sects of any particular religion. I would like to explore how religion, in general, affects how we view conflict and the operational environment. It may be a large topic, and I may be the wrong person to continue this thread. Bill is right to observe that some may think I have an agenda. I do, but not the one that most would think. In any case, this will be my last post except to ask specific questions.