Generational Dynamics Forum - New Site

Dear John,

I split this into two posts b/c the conversation seemed to be moving in two directions.

John wrote:... Historians generally regard
Mohammed himself as someone who never used violence unnecessarily,
although he was harsh with people who defamed or mocked Islam. And
Mohammed held Jews and Christians in high esteem, not as "infidels" to
be killed.

I hope this is so, and that it is something that Muslims can draw upon. Currently, many Muslims and certainly Muslim nations are quite intolerant; virtually banning other religions, executing Muslims who convert and splitting the Earth into two spheres: the World of Islam and the World of War.

John wrote: All the "teachings of Islam" that talk about killing the infidels are
perversions of Islam that were adopted by later people like Osama bin
Laden.

Again I hope this is so and that Muslims embrace the true, peaceful, tolerant Islam.

John wrote:This is not surprising. From the point of view of Generational
Dynamics, religion is an important tool in every generational crisis
war. The only way that a leader can justify the slaughter or
extermination of the enemy -- whether by machete or by nuclear weapon
-- is to protray them as inferior in some way, and religious is
frequently used to do that.

Generally I agree, though many wars are fought out of a sense of self-preservation, revenge and hatred with little judgment about the enemy's inherent inferiority or superiority.

John wrote:As I've written many times before, religion does not cause war. It's
the other way around: war causes religion...

I agree that religion doesn't cause war (isn't the root cause of war), but the reverse is an interesting premise that requires consideration.

with regard to the "global rise of Islamophobia," I would expect (at least in Europe), this is due to actual visible immigration of Musilms (they'w the ones with beards or waering burkas!). But in the US, I think it's just because it's an election year..."Islamojihadists bent on destroying our way of life" is just a convenient wedge issue...it's the "gay marriage will destroy our way of life" of this election cycle.

So we move up to Cromwell, or the Puritans beating Quakers or pick your century. There's no lack of violence in the name of Christ or Mohammed or even Buddha.