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[MetalSlimeHunt]

I really hope they can cooperate. Given how long other people have been stepping on the Kurds' necks, they should at least be able to work with each other. (I also have a wry appreciation for the one group in Iranian Kurdistan who field female soldiers to anger the religious types elsewhere in Iran.)

[Sinistar]

From the info CNN put up, ISIS apparently likes to cruxify their criminals. O.o Not sure if they just decided that they liked the Roman method of punishing criminals or there is a larger meaning behind it because, well, you know, Jesus and the Cross and Christianity and all that. Either way, brutal as hell.

Islam actually recognizes Jesus and Maria and some other Biblical stuff... just interprets them differently.

Regarding Kurds:
Here's an interesting article about some Kurds fighting FOR ISIS. Worth reading, imho.

In other news:
ISIS reportedly massacred a large number of people that were probably Shia Iraq army personnel. The number allegedly around 300.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Differently enough that they might as well not be the same people, as clearly demonstrated by their genocidal hatred for non-Muslims (or, more realistically, non-ISIS).

[Owlbread]

Islam and Christianity have a lot in common. Islam is more like an updated form of Christianity in some ways. They all worship the same god, anyway.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I suppose the real question is: if they all see themselves as worshiping different gods even though theologically they are descended from the same thread, are they worshiping the same god? Is a permutation upon an existing character still the original?

[Owlbread]

I suppose the real question is: if they all see themselves as worshiping different gods even though theologically they are descended from the same thread, are they worshiping the same god? Is a permutation upon an existing character still the original?

This is put to the test most strongly in Rastafarianism. Jah is a permutation upon the same existing character, but he's certainly very, very different from the Christian, Jewish and Islamic interpretation, given that he was a living Emperor and a black man to boot. It's a powerful message - "God/Jesus Christ is alive today and he's black. He is our rightful Emperor so we don't accept your Babylon governments."

I'm sure I heard somewhere that Jabhat al-Nusra believed that they were preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus; he will come to Damascus to do do battle with the Antichrist i.e. Assad and so on.

[SalmonGod]

No matter how I try to look at it, religion is the dumbest possible thing to get violent over.  No matter who or what the creator is, you're destroying what was created. 

I can understand the emotional desire to attack those who don't respect that which you have ultimate respect for.  I can understand that given the idea of hell, it could be seen as necessary to destroy corrupting influences that will result in more people going to hell.

But I still can't understand the justification of violence which seems to me like the ultimate disrespect one could express towards any major religion I'm aware of.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Given that religious beliefs such as these arise from a form of exaggerated tribalism, no, violently slaughtering everybody who doesn't tow the line is completely...."logical" from that viewpoint. Both Christianity and Islam are very clear on the point that non-adherents are The Enemy and must be destroyed, even if most of their followers do not actually engage in this.

[LordSlowpoke]

the whole desert trilogy contains clauses of "if you're not with us, you're against us" and frankly while this is probably the sole reason why jews still exist as anything else than a footnote in history it's also the part which caused us the greatest amounts of shit and i think it could be done away with what with christianity doing it semi-decently well and not exactly being worse off for it

wow look at me speaking about religion.

* LordSlowpoke commandeers bus

* LordSlowpoke goes on a ride to chimerica

[SalmonGod]

Just like I said... I can understand it on a purely emotional level.

I guess I just have trouble comprehending people who completely give in to emotional urges like that over a very long term and put lots of thought into how to pursue those emotionally-based goals, without the intellectual effort involved ever drifting towards irrevocable thoughts of "what the fucking hell am I doing".

I'm a very introspective person.  I cannot comprehend people who do zero introspection ever, but exhibit intelligence and agency in other ways.  It's completely alien to me.  In my mind, emotions and thoughts and goal development are all both triggered by and subject to internal reflection in a never-ending cycle, and if the internal reflection part is taken out then none of it exists at all.  I don't understand how they function.

[Descan]

Well... They ARE subsuming themselves to a religious text. That's what extremism *is*, moderates have internal reflection colored by their Bible or Qu'ran or what have you. Extremists replace their internal reflection with what the Bible or Qu'ran tells them and what their Imams and pastors tell them the bible says.

Least that's the best I got to explain the difference between extremists who follow a religion and moderates who follow a religion. It's still the same book. Which is why I dislike religion.

[Willfor]

Yes, Buddhism is quite possibly the most violent thing in the world.

This is basically the second time in about three days that I've seen a circlejerk about the dislike of religion by many vocal posters (many of whom are the same in both cases) in two separate threads that I follow. There may be more. And while you're perfectly entitled to debate the topic, I would ask that you take it to a separate topic where it can be encapsulated so that I don't get tempted to weigh in here. I'm trying my very best to, and failing as you can see from the very first line of this post.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Well...no. People are literally being crucified by ISIS over religion. The simple fact is that it is going to come up, and your persistent discomfort with criticism of religion is not reason enough to stop the conversation.

[XXSockXX]

Well... They ARE subsuming themselves to a religious text. That's what extremism *is*, moderates have internal reflection colored by their Bible or Qu'ran or what have you. Extremists replace their internal reflection with what the Bible or Qu'ran tells them and what their Imams and pastors tell them the bible says.

This is especially relevant for Islam. Islam has no central authority, there used to be a weak one - the Caliphate - which lead to the Sunni/Shia split in the first place.
Islam is not homogenous at all, much less even than Protestantism in the US, so there is a lot of room for weird interpretation, mixing in local tribal traditions, ethnic conflicts and extremism.

Yes, Buddhism is quite possibly the most violent thing in the world.

Even Buddhism is not a great example of a peaceful religion, it's just that these days Buddhist violence is relatively limited to Burma.
I agree though that this doesn't need to become about religion in general, the Shia-Sunni conflict is very very relevant here, but it is not the only issue, there are also ethnic conflicts, arbitrary post-colonial borders and bad history at work here.

[Owlbread]

Yes, Buddhism is quite possibly the most violent thing in the world.

Especially when you consider the actions of Buddhist monks in Burma against Rohingya Muslims.

This is basically the second time in about three days that I've seen a circlejerk about the dislike of religion by many vocal posters (many of whom are the same in both cases) in two separate threads that I follow. There may be more. And while you're perfectly entitled to debate the topic, I would ask that you take it to a separate topic where it can be encapsulated so that I don't get tempted to weigh in here. I'm trying my very best to, and failing as you can see from the very first line of this post.

Considering this thread covers predominantly ethno-religious issues I think we're very much on topic.