Reply To: The barbarism of ISIS

[PopeBeanie]

Paraclete wrote:

The problem is with religion in general. It makes people batshit crazy. So, while Islam may deserve the billingsgate it has been receiving, the opprobrium is, at least partially, misplaced. It should be laid at the doorstep of organized religion rather than at the door of the mosque.

I mostly agree but am recently taking a step even further back… the problem isn’t just religion, but any in-group vs out-group taken to its extreme. I.e. I might call it something like “extreme intolerance”, which has arisen in societies and taken on wide-scale (and now “world”) significance since the beginning of civilization. Specifically for religion, we could call what’s needed a “reformation”, such that theism or hero worshipping (e.g. in North Korea) should never be allowed to enforce intolerance, even over minorities.

I’d call N. Korean citizens “batshit crazy” and intolerant of dissent, even though it’s not really their fault. It just happens that religion (with its eternal beacon of divinity) has been by far the easiest version of extremism to enforce.