It seems to me (note that this is a linguistic cue that means what follows is my opinion based on my own experiences and observations.. it may or may not be offensive, and if it is, apologies) that religion is a tool.
It is a tool utilized in the hands of a devotee to carry out what that devotee wants, cares or is motivated to accomplish It can be shaped, tuned and turned to the deep purposes known only to the devotee.
Does the devotee have benevolence, the want to spread love throughout the world and care for those who have few to care for them?
Does the devotee want to enforce a morality thinking the world is a cesspool of vice and they are the means by which the interpreted rules of behavior shall be enforced?
Does the devotee want to belong to a community that wraps their arms around them when they need it? Or a source of friendships, activity, perhaps gossip and mischief?
Religion is all these things, and in the hands of the devotee performs the role fashioned for it, not by the religion, but by the devotee. With all of humanity's frailties, jealousies, passions, feelings, egos, generosities, love, hate, goodness and capabilities for evil.
If Islam did not exist, these people would kill in the name of something else. Or others just like them would. This is not a religious problem. This is a people problem. These people hate the world they're in. How do we change that?
It is a tool utilized in the hands of a devotee to carry out what that devotee wants, cares or is motivated to accomplish It can be shaped, tuned and turned to the deep purposes known only to the devotee.
Does the devotee have benevolence, the want to spread love throughout the world and care for those who have few to care for them?
Does the devotee want to enforce a morality thinking the world is a cesspool of vice and they are the means by which the interpreted rules of behavior shall be enforced?
Does the devotee want to belong to a community that wraps their arms around them when they need it? Or a source of friendships, activity, perhaps gossip and mischief?
Religion is all these things, and in the hands of the devotee performs the role fashioned for it, not by the religion, but by the devotee. With all of humanity's frailties, jealousies, passions, feelings, egos, generosities, love, hate, goodness and capabilities for evil.
If Islam did not exist, these people would kill in the name of something else. Or others just like them would. This is not a religious problem. This is a people problem. These people hate the world they're in. How do we change that?
