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No religion at it's real core advocates violency. It's the nutjobbers that twist it to say what they want for money and power who are problems. If you look at the major religions you can actually find surprising number of similarities. Enough for there to be coined term religion behind religions.
I remember that test a few years ago. Ten really basic questions about the Bible, and something like 60% of the people who took it could only answer a third of the questions correctly (and I mean really basic, names of Jesus' disciples basic).
I don't think it's surprising that Islam might turn up similar results among adherents, especially in members of an organization like ISIS, where "remotely educated" is probably the last thing recruiters are looking for.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/08/16 06:30:49
LordofHats wrote: I remember that test a few years ago. Ten really basic questions about the Bible, and something like 60% of the people who took it could only answer a third of the questions correctly (and I mean really basic, names of Jesus' disciples basic).
In Finland religion was mandatory and I even took bit more by taking confirmation ceremony which included some going to lessons and week long camp(wanted to be able to be godfather since I love kids). Damned if I could tell much about the Bible though(and during that week camp I actually READ most of the bible out of sheer boredom!).
Jesus disclipines? Judas was one but....Erh. That's about it I can remember Never been good with names anyway
LordofHats wrote: I remember that test a few years ago. Ten really basic questions about the Bible, and something like 60% of the people who took it could only answer a third of the questions correctly (and I mean really basic, names of Jesus' disciples basic).
.
My first thought was John, Paul, George and Ringo...
Full Disclosure; I couldn't even name all of Jesus Disciples off the top of my head at the time. Come on. Like anyone cares about Thaddus, or that there are 2 Simons in the bunch. Is it Nathaniel or Bartholomew? At least I didn't put down Paul (and you know people probably did ).
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/08/19 11:19:19
In good news, Manbij has been liberated from ISIS by the Kurds in alliance with the SDF.
Saw some videos on facebook of the peoples reactions upon being liberated. Women burning niqabs and being able to wear clothing which isn't plain black, people having a smoke in peace, just normal everyday things which most of us would take for granted but which these people had taken away by a load of nutjobs.
Hopefully the town can stay liberated and avoid attack by other groups in Syria.
Stuff like this has helped me over the years with the frustration I've felt at times over the many issues with our involvement in the Middle East/Central Asia.
Stuff like this has helped me over the years with the frustration I've felt at times over the many issues with our involvement in the Middle East/Central Asia.
Hate to bust your bubble then, but Assad's air-force has begun attacking the Kurds and Democratic Syrians, and nearly bagged the US Spec Ops guys. US air cover was a bit slow to show and just got there as the Syrian jets ran for it.
Stuff like this has helped me over the years with the frustration I've felt at times over the many issues with our involvement in the Middle East/Central Asia.
Hate to bust your bubble then, but Assad's air-force has begun attacking the Kurds and Democratic Syrians, and nearly bagged the US Spec Ops guys. US air cover was a bit slow to show and just got there as the Syrian jets ran for it.
Stuff like this has helped me over the years with the frustration I've felt at times over the many issues with our involvement in the Middle East/Central Asia.
Hate to bust your bubble then, but Assad's air-force has begun attacking the Kurds and Democratic Syrians, and nearly bagged the US Spec Ops guys. US air cover was a bit slow to show and just got there as the Syrian jets ran for it.
The rescue of Omran Daqneesh should not make us side with the bloody and merciless Syrian rebels.
Why is Aleppo a war zone in the first place? Do you know? I will tell you. Syria was a peaceful country until it was deliberately destabilised by Saudi Arabia[/u] and its fanatical, sectarian Gulf allies, consumed with hatred for the Assad government and, above all, its ally Iran.
Worse, this monstrous intervention was supported by the USA, Britain and France, all sucking up to the Saudis for oil, money and arms contracts.
In the hope of bringing down Assad, we made a devil’s bargain with some of the worst fanatics in the Middle East, people who make Anjem Choudary look like the Vicar of Dibley.
We know of Britain’s role for certain because of the very strange case of Bherlin Gildo, a Swedish man accused by British authorities of attending a terror training camp in Syria. His trial collapsed in June 2015 because his defence lawyers argued that the terror groups he was accused of supporting had been helped by British intelligence.
The Assad state, as you might expect, defended itself against its attackers, helped in the end by Iran and Russia.
And the war which followed was the ruin of Syria, whose innocent people found their peaceful cities and landscape turned into a screaming battlefield, as it still is.
If you are truly grieved by the picture of poor little Omran, just be careful who you blame.
Worse, this monstrous intervention was supported by the USA, Britain and France, all sucking up to the Saudis for oil, money and arms contracts.
Or you know... Because one party (one guess who) started throwing chemical gas at civilians. The Syrian Civil War wasn't even a Civil War until after the Ghouta chemical attack (and an alleged early chemical attack, no idea if it was ever confirmed). More of a low boil insurrection that had been building for decades that finally kicked off with the Arab Spring. So what? The Saudi's started the Arab Spring? I'm pretty sure they didn't, and the origins of the Syrian Civil War have nothing to do with anyone but the political inequity of the Syrian state.
The way people can boil the entire conflict in the Middle East to really be about their country is bizarre.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/08/21 12:37:01
Worse, this monstrous intervention was supported by the USA, Britain and France, all sucking up to the Saudis for oil, money and arms contracts.
Or you know... Because one party (one guess who) started throwing chemical gas at civilians. The Syrian Civil War wasn't even a Civil War until after the Ghouta chemical attack (and an alleged early chemical attack, no idea if it was ever confirmed). More of a low boil insurrection that had been building for decades that finally kicked off with the Arab Spring. So what? The Saudi's started the Arab Spring? I'm pretty sure they didn't, and the origins of the Syrian Civil War have nothing to do with anyone but the political inequity of the Syrian state.
The way people can boil the entire conflict in the Middle East to really be about their country is bizarre.
The inequity of the Syrian state? By that logic, all Middle Eastern countries should be having civil wars right now, because they surely aren't any better than Syria used to be when it comes to inequity. Why did this lead to civil war in Syria and Libya, but not in Saudi Arabia or Iran? The Syrian Civil War has only one real cause, and that is the constant power struggle and stoking of sectarian conflict by the extremists in Saudi Arabia and Iran. Without the salafists setting up the sunni population against the government, there wouldn't have been protests against Assad in the first place, much less a civil war.
Iron_Captain wrote: The inequity of the Syrian state? By that logic, all Middle Eastern countries should be having civil wars right now, because they surely aren't any better than Syria used to be when it comes to inequity.
Politics is not a physics equation. It isn't like boiling water, there is nothing as simple as 'once inequity reaches x then revolution will occur'. Different countries, different underlying issues, different kinds of government response, different final results.
The Arab spring led to increasingly large protests and calls for Assad to be removed from power. Even if we ignore the humanitarian reasons, on a purely political level the extreme measures taken by the Assad regime were a huge political gamble. Ordering the armed forces to use violence to shut down protests can restore stability (see Tiananmen Square) but it can also produce a more hardened resistance and even military defections. Assad got the latter, and from there everything really went to gak.
The US and UK no doubt have plenty of connections and have given support for lots of groups fighting in Syria. So does Russia. That's how it works once things have turned to crap. But to claim the US or UK somehow created this it'd require a claim that people in Daraa started protesting not because they'd faced decades of economic marginalisation and security forces who could disappear people without trial. but because US/UK intelligence agent told them to start protesting. It's beyond stupid.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/08/22 07:59:29
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
Pfft don't you know the CIA is behind literally everthing, including this post that's disparaging the CIA being behind everything, in a bid to get you off the scent?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/08/22 09:28:29
The inequity of the Syrian state? By that logic, all Middle Eastern countries should be having civil wars right now
How many Middle Eastern countries responded to civil unrest with chemical weapons?
because they surely aren't any better than Syria used to be when it comes to inequity.
Agreed.
Why did this lead to civil war in Syria and Libya, but not in Saudi Arabia or Iran?
Because Saudi Arabia has a tendency to bend before public discontent becomes so dire as to lead to such an end. The Saudi's have been at this game for nearly 200 years, and thus far they play pretty well. As much as Americans might dislike them, Iran is democratic, and while I'm sure elections there aren't 100% clean, I don't think they're so dirty as to result in widespread discontent tantamount to civil war. That a reformist like the current Iranian president got elected is a huge eye opener for the current status of the Iranian state and its democratic progress. Iran is honestly probably one of the more equitable states in the region (accounting for relativity).
Without the salafists setting up the sunni population against the government, there wouldn't have been protests against Assad in the first place, much less a civil war.
That's pretending this whole thing started in 2014, when it really started in 2011 and 2012.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/08/22 11:21:48
LordofHats wrote: I remember that test a few years ago. Ten really basic questions about the Bible, and something like 60% of the people who took it could only answer a third of the questions correctly (and I mean really basic, names of Jesus' disciples basic).
I don't think it's surprising that Islam might turn up similar results among adherents, especially in members of an organization like ISIS, where "remotely educated" is probably the last thing recruiters are looking for.
I seem to recall there also being a thread on a study that revealed that Atheists were more knowledgeable regarding religion than most religious people. I'll try and find it.
LordofHats wrote: I remember that test a few years ago. Ten really basic questions about the Bible, and something like 60% of the people who took it could only answer a third of the questions correctly (and I mean really basic, names of Jesus' disciples basic).
I don't think it's surprising that Islam might turn up similar results among adherents, especially in members of an organization like ISIS, where "remotely educated" is probably the last thing recruiters are looking for.
I seem to recall there also being a thread on a study that revealed that Atheists were more knowledgeable regarding religion than most religious people. I'll try and find it.
LordofHats wrote: I remember that test a few years ago. Ten really basic questions about the Bible, and something like 60% of the people who took it could only answer a third of the questions correctly (and I mean really basic, names of Jesus' disciples basic).
I don't think it's surprising that Islam might turn up similar results among adherents, especially in members of an organization like ISIS, where "remotely educated" is probably the last thing recruiters are looking for.
I seem to recall there also being a thread on a study that revealed that Atheists were more knowledgeable regarding religion than most religious people. I'll try and find it.
Not specifically ("blame the victim" is commonly invoked in OT because it happens a lot in OT, hence why it is on the bingo card). No. That thread is an example of a different piece of DakkaDakka history which we generally don't speak of anymore out of courtesy
Somehow I had forgotten about that thread...and its magnificent meltdown.
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LordofHats wrote: I remember that test a few years ago. Ten really basic questions about the Bible, and something like 60% of the people who took it could only answer a third of the questions correctly (and I mean really basic, names of Jesus' disciples basic).
I don't think it's surprising that Islam might turn up similar results among adherents, especially in members of an organization like ISIS, where "remotely educated" is probably the last thing recruiters are looking for.
I seem to recall there also being a thread on a study that revealed that Atheists were more knowledgeable regarding religion than most religious people. I'll try and find it.
Get that feeling that ISIS is going for Global Level conflict...
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Turkish Armed Forces and air forces belonging to the U.S.-led international coalition on Wednesday began an operation against Daesh in an effort to clear the Syrian city of Jarabulus from the terror group, Turkish officials told Anadolu Agency.
Turkish forces are using intense artillery fire against Daesh elements in Jarabulus in a retaliatory strike, officials said.
The operation, which began at around 4 a.m. local time (0100 GMT), is aimed at clearing the Turkish borders of terrorist groups, helping to enhance border security and supporting the territorial integrity of Syria, they said.
Preventing a new flow of migrants and delivering aid to the region’s civilian population in need are also among the goals, officials added.
The move comes after a series of mortar bombs landed in a residential Turkish area along the Syrian border beginning Tuesday morning, security sources said.
There were no injuries in Karkamis, which lies approximately 1 kilometer across the frontier from Jarabulus -- part of Aleppo governorate -- where Free Syrian Army forces are fighting to take control of the city from Daesh.
Operations of Turkish Armed Forces, which has been actively fighting Daesh, have significantly contributed to ongoing efforts of U.S.-backed international coalition against the terror group.
wrote: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation was aimed against both IS and Kurdish fighters.
Turkey shelled Syrian Kurdish forces in the region this week, determined not to let them fill the vacuum if IS leaves, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports from Gaziantep, near the Syrian border.
The concern in Ankara is that the Kurds could create an autonomous area close to the border which might foster Kurdish separatism within Turkey itself, our correspondent says.
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Never been good with names anyway 
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