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Thread: Islam, Catholisism, religion, and conflict

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    Council Member TheCurmudgeon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Red Rat View Post
    Pertinent tweet from an Islamic State (IS) affiliated Twitter account.

    The context of the conversation was comment on IS nascent air capabilities and their probable lack of necessary logistical support. An unsolicited response received was (verbatim):

    "we taught u u a lesson in how a trained Heart doesn't fail. Unfortunately u didnt pass"

    Clearly for many in IS this is a religious war, which to my mind puts the political dynamic closer to that which the Israelis perceive in their dealings with Hamas. This is not a battlespace (political or military) which the West appears comfortable in dealing with. As Alastair Campbell said with regards to the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair: "We don't do God".
    It is not that we "don't do God", western states cannot legitimize a religious war. We can legitimize a war for freedom. Freedom is what we are willing to fight and die for. We can replace oppression with freedom. It is harder to replace religion with freedom. I would argue that it is impossible to do by an outside source.

    The result is that we are fighting two different conflicts, almost fighting past each other. Western states with their quasi-religious belief in freedom as the cure for all political ills and groups like ISIS who use religion to legitimize both their war and their rule. In any case, the result is a war without end, because we can never control the ultimate battle space, the support of the population if our aim is to give them freedom. Freedom does not include forcing them to give up or modify their religious beliefs.

    The ultimate result is war without end ... at least as long as you see force as a way to de-ligitimize religion and "impose" freedom. There are things that have to occur from within.

    Which brings me around to my questions/comment. The only countries that currently attempt to impose freedom are countries with a judo-christian history. I could argue that Christianity is a "individualistic" religion in that each individual is capable to reaching salvation based on their own individual life choices (depending on which parts of the bible one consults). Does that matter?
    Last edited by TheCurmudgeon; 07-26-2014 at 10:09 PM.
    "I can change almost anything ... but I can't change human nature."

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