Puritanism - n. The deep-seated fear that someone, somewhere is enjoying themselves
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I was watching my favorite talk show last night and one of the guests mentioned the computer talk to religion analogy as mentioned in the title of this thread. He pointed out that for radical, over the top Muslims who have this love-hate relationship with the "infidel" West, they see their religion as "god 3.0" or in other words, the BEST version (interpretation) of god there is. Yet when they look around at some of their countries, even with immense wealth from oil, they are still, for the most part, living in the 10th century. The conflict lies in reconciling having the best version of god yet still well behind the times.
To them it is blasphemous to blame their religion as being a foundation for setting things up as they are so the blame has to be shifted elsewhere. Their leaders, exploiting them through the same religion, gives off this pretense they are devout Muslims who also the hate the west as much while their kids are attending Oxford and Harvard and living out every fantasy and pleasure in the hated west.
Naturally, this kind of environment produces lots of disillusioned youths who are told that their problems are not grounded in their religious foundation or their leaders, but in countries thousands of miles away, plotting to destroy them through corruptive influences, seeking to take away their countries and "Westernize" them. For some, rejecting these influences is just too much. Destroying the source is better.
While many travel to the west and either assimilate altogether or find a balance in holding their religion in one hand and "doing as the Romans do" in the other, some just can't deal with the guilt produced by their religion. The temptations "of the flesh" gnaw at them but their religion tells them such desires and indulgences are evil. It produces a schizophrenic mentality that then creates a love-hate relationship in that, the very things they are supposed to dislike, reject, abstain from, as per their religion, are the very things pleasuring their senses. They feel they must atone for this guilt and blowing up stuff/people in the name of Allah is the ultimate atonement. If not that, killing the wayward ones or the objects of their desires amongst them is just as good because the ways of their religion needs to be preserved and Allah does not mind the help. On a side note, one has to wonder what a bunch of male fugitives hanging out in caves do with their time?
All of that being said, I do not want to trivialize the fact that some of these people are not sometimes also victims in other ways and their anger is more out of revenge than religion entirely. Maybe they have lost family to bombings from the west or see extended exploitations that stem from the west, however, they are another story altogether.
On to another, somewhat, in a roundabout way, related topic:
Do we see a similar thing with American styled, fundamentalist, super conservative Christianity nowadays ESPECIALLY in light of the shocking upset to their world in the highest office in the country? All of a sudden groups are coming to the forefront wanting to "reclaim America" from the "too much fun" and "anything goes" people. Their "freedoms" are being threatened and they are ready to "fight" to resist "change" (
READ: anything they perceive is threatening to their way of life...READ: anything NOT like them). They seem to even have a news station that stokes their fires and heat up the molecules. It just takes one or a few of them to take themselves too seriously and we before you know it, we have another "domestic terror" situation on our hands while we're busy looking at the international "A-rabs" instead.
It is interesting to me how anything they do not like is conveniently condemned by the bible and somehow equated with, "threatening our freedoms." Are these "freedoms" ALL tied to a biblical verse or is it all that "we don't like" tied to a biblical verse even if a biased meaning has to be milked out of it?
Now, as up top, this does not mean there are not people out there with legitimate fears that are not stemming from racism, bigotry and misinformation, however and unfortunately so, they are drowned out by "god-fearing Christians" seeking to rid America of anything that "threatens their freedom."
- Disjointed rant ends You can run with it.
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Islam - god 3.0, Christianity - god 2.0, Judaism - god 1.0
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