Aztec Joe has some points on this subject.
Actually, I have some thoughts on the evolution of religion. Almost all religions start out from an US against THEM situation and as such eventually call upon their God to lead them in war. If you read the old testament, you will see a whole lot of that.
The Jews went into the Promised Land led by Joshua and Caleb and, "Slew all the inhabitants thereof."
If they ain't us, They ain't sheeet, and deserve to die. Our God has told us so."
That is not too much removed from a modern street gang that kills other young men who have come into their "turf."
When I speak of all this senseless killing and link that history to the modern Islamic faith I am constantly reminded of the Crusades.
As an historian, "YES, I have heard of the Crusades." I tell people. Not only that, I have heard of numerous atrocities all over the world in the names of various gods, not just the Christian God.
The reality is that mankind will do atrocious things while claiming that God gave him permission. We have done it throughout history right up to the modern era. Gott Mit Uns (God is with Us) in World War One was the German Saying that confirmed in their eyes that their gassing of thousands in the trenches in Flanders and France was justified.
One of the Crusades actually accomplished something as regards freeing the so called Holy Land from the aggressive throat cutters who are sometimes called Moslims. The leadership of that crusade was violent and brutal. That does not mean that God led them in that brutality. They just had a brutal leader who was not afraid to shed human blood.
And that just means that Man was doing what man has always done, acting on the violent (sinful?) nature of Man and doing very ugly and violent things.
Man is not supposed to call upon God to help him kill more men, but man is supposed to call upon God to help keep man from killing his brother.We are almost there, but not quite. Many Serbians were quite convinced that it was OK to kill Islamic Farmers in Kosovo just a few years ago simply because they did not worship the Christian God. (From a Serbian perspective.)
My bloodline is German Saxon. Over 1600 years ago, my ancestors worshiped Gods of violence and war like Weden, Thor and Frei. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were named after those bloodthirsty German Gods. Fighting to take land that was not theirs was the Saxon way.
You hear that the English (Angelish) are commonly called the Angle-Saxons. Those were two German tribes, the Angles and the Saxons. The Angles and Saxons were not in England 2000 years ago. They took it over after the Roman empire started collapsing. They conquered England because they were Bad Assed dudes with a Bad Assed Attitude and served Bad Assed Gods. When you get three days of the modern week named after you, you might say they got a lot of respect from the Christians who were terrified of them.
Asking Weden (Woden) or Thor to give you victory in battle does not make it right. It just means that man is acting evil and asking his god to give him victory and protection. It is what has made most of world history. We teach world history from War to war to war to war. Regardless, it is always wrong.
True Christians supposedly worship a God of Peace. "Peace give I unto you."
If any Christian says they are killing in the name of God, they are lying as is human nature. We lie. We cheat, We steal, We hurt others, We make war. That is the way of man.
Only if we ask God to make us loving and kind can we ever change. When my Saxon Tribe was finally introduced to the Christian God, their violence greatly decreased, but it was not totally erased. Christianity can work for a great deal of good in the world if the so called Christians actually try to do what the Bible tells them to do. "Go forth and sin no more."
Islam needs to get out of the old Testament times and stop beheading people because they are different from the Radical Islamics. It is time for their religion to grow up. Personally, I doubt that it will happen anytime soon, but it sure would be good if it did.
