Tuesday 24 November 2015

"Criminals" or religious maniacs?

Letter to the BBC, in the face of their ongoing, non-stop effort to exonerate religion, specifically to exonerate Islam, from anything to do with terrorism.
The truth seems so obvious, it's remarkable, and difficult to understand, how someone as clever as Lawrence Pollard (who I rather like and seems a very decent chap), can carry on like they do, about "nothing to do with Islam".
Dear Lawrence, 
Hearing you on BBC World Service here in Hong Kong
You asked a guest if the jihadists are just “criminals” and not motivated by religion.
Even if they are or were criminals, they all say they’re motivated by religion. The Paris bombers said they were killing people in a “decadent” society, as defined by their understanding of Islam. (not for any grievance).
Why give the religious motive a free pass, when it’s right in front of our faces in what they say motivates them?  Do we presume to read their minds better than they know them?
By the way, the leadership of all the Islamic terrorist organisations are not “criminals”.  Nor are they “disadvantaged” or “downtrodden”.  Most are well educated and had secure jobs.
What led them to terrorise the west, is their “us/them” dichotomy, as embedded in the doctrines of Islam.
Peter Forsythe.
Hong Kong