Politics
Out of context: Reply #13294
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- TheBlueOne0
I have a general theory, and I haven't done alot of work to back it up, but I'll through it out there. But I have a hunch that there are certain similar evolutionary changes or steps that organized human societies go through on a measurable timescale. I would include organized religion as "societies" as groups of humans bonding together with common cause and belief and acting in concert
For example, if we compare Christianity to Islam. Christianity is roughly 2000 years old. Islam, as an organized religion started roughly in or around 630 AD. So you have a time lag of about 400 years give or take.
So, are there parallels between the development of these two religions? I propose their might be.
I mean, look at where Christianity was roughly in it's 14th century. It was the world's fastest growing religion, converting and presiding over vast swaths of the great unwashed of the time. It started to have inner conflicts over doctrine and history. And it turned outward, towards foreign enemies to consolidate factions at home in Europe.
The Crusades where a great way to a) relieve the pressure of having roving bands of hungry, poor single men looking for something to do and b) to consolidate and promote power at home (between different proto-nations and different takes on Christian doctrine - even within the Roman Church).
If I look at the role Jihad is serving in Islam now - well, Islam is the fastest growing religion on the planet, encompassing the poorest countries with huge populations of single, purposeless young men. There is tremendous upheaval in the religion itself - between Sunni and Shia factions, and between regional power centers (Tehran, Saudis...) and the West is a convenient sharpening stone to point these multitudes of blunt men at home and create a narrative of whose version of Islam is "superior" by how well they do in battle against the "Great Satan".
How is this any different from say the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages, or any other Christian Crusade group that gained power back in Europe by gaining victory - actual and moral, in the battlefields of the Near East?
So in a longer historical perspective, this is a growth stage of Islam. If we were enlightened we would understand this and not help fuel it by giving the extremists in Islam exactly what they want - a reason to hate us. By this hardheaded and stupid insistence on "muslin=terrorist" we just feed the rhetoric and recruitment of the factions of Islam that are seeking to consolidate their power at home. If we could be enlightened we would be able to blunt this and perhaps help speed along Islam to a more moderate course in the onrushing global civilization.
I know. Just a theory. And well, anyway, go back to arguing about mosques that aren't mosques being built nowhere near "ground zero" even though that's all you hear.