Well, he’s ready to admit that Islam, at least, makes people do bad things. Here’s Sullivan’s post on the Northwest plane bomber:
A classic Jihadist profile:
He is the son of the recently retired Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Umaru Abdul Mutallab. The Al-Qaida-linked Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab is an engineering student at University College London. Saharareporters sources have revealed that prior to his sojourn in the UK, Farouk had studied at the prestigious British School of Lome, Togo. Where he passed his International Bacchalaureates Diploma before moving to UCL.
It sure isn’t poverty that forces these loons to do what they do. It’s religion.
Now maybe Sullivan will ponder the influence of religion on the Catholic loons: those who consign us to Hell for being Jews or for having the wrong kind of sex, those who prefer death from AIDS to condom use, those who cover up child abuse in the “interests” of the Church.
Andrew’s getting warmer.
“Well, he’s ready to admit that Islam, at least, makes people do bad things.”
I think you’re being unfair to sullivan here, but I imagine its a product of being a bit unaware of what he has written in the past.
He’s always thought it was islamism and not other factors that usually get thrown up up to obscure the discussion the underlying problem.
“Catholic loons: those who consign us to Hell for being Jews or for having the wrong kind of sex, those who prefer death from AIDS to condom use, those who cover up child abuse in the “interests” of the Church. ”
Hes also been on the right side of those issues as far as I know – himself an ‘active gay’ man I think hes bound to be in disagreement about the church’s positions on homosexuality.
But he is a ‘rank and file’ catholic who has denounced these things, considering hes not in a position of power (other then of his own membership) I don’t think he can do much other then denounce (or leave the church).
Xen I appreciate what your trying to say with that, but I liken being an active member of the catholic corporation – and as honorable as it may be that he is speaking out against some of their more offensive positions – to being an active member of ‘insert hate group here’ that also periodically does some good.
The overall net effect of the catholic Corporation is negative, despite the odd time that they do some decent things.
Oh, as someone who grew up in and is still surrounded by catholicism I would never argue with those points, the goal of my post was more to express that sullivan’s record regarding islamism has apparently always been pretty clear on the religion being at fault and not say, the israeli palestinian question.
If anything I wish sullivan would indeed leave the church, I agree with sam harris, moderate people like him give cover to the zealots, whether they like it or not.
It is frustrating to deal with apologists who are bent on protecting religion from any criticism, no matter how overwhelming the evidence. It is as if beliefs as transcendental as eternal life or being an agent for the creator of the universe cannot motivate anyone to do anything-except that religions never hesitate to claim credit when their followers help the poor and needy (albeit always with strings attached).
Sullivan, however, is not that kind of apologist, as Jerry’s post shows.
A 15 word comment barely begins to start Sullivan into the realm of rational, critical thought. It may be a start or it may be indigestion.
It also may not even be written by Sullivan; it’s been recently revealed that many of the posts on the Daily Dish — especially some of the short ones — are written by his staff.
But even if this is Sullivan, I don’t think it would reflect a change in his reasoning. He’s always been willing to apply criticism to Islam; it’s all the other religions that get a pass.
He’s wrong. The most prolific suicide terrorists prior to 9/11 were the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, which is a secular group. They are composed primarily of Hindus but they do not have a religious orientation as a group.
The primary cause of suicide terrorism is living in a country or identifying with a people that live in a country occupied by an outside military presence that is vastly superior technologically. Read Robert Pape’s Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. He profiled every suicide terrorist case worldwide from 1982 onward and shows conclusively that which is pretty obvious from a logical standpoint. Suicide terrorism is a consequence of political motivations, not religion.
He’s right that it isn’t poverty though. The data also show this.
I’d say japanese kamikazes weren’t muslim either. The all knowing wikipedia says they used to die for their country and the emperor.
Oh please. A typical jihadist profile? Explain the evidence.