Comments on: The Secular Islam Summit http://www.daylightatheism.org/2007/03/the-secular-islam-summit.html NIGHTTIME IS FOR DREAMING. DAYLIGHT IS FOR ACTION. Mon, 1 Dec 2008 18:20:10 +0000 By: Robert http://www.daylightatheism.org/2007/03/the-secular-islam-summit.html#comment-19495 Robert Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:19:20 +0000 http://www.daylightatheism.org/2007/03/the-secular-islam-summit.html#comment-19495 Part of the lager problem with religious extremism is of course, us. That is to say that much of what is happening in Christian (and I suspect Muslim) sects are that they are being abandoned by non-theists, who still claim nominal membership but are no longer involved. I have seen this effect in the churches around me, where the moderate voices that tempered the radical elements are now silent, generally by their absence except for high holy days. Ministers with strange ideas are tampering with the service, rearranging pews, and discarding old hymns, along with other changes, only serve to drive the moderate elements of the congregation and give free reign to those who would see a major shift in the church’s role. While this is a positive trend for us, in that some people are now critically examining their faith, it does make their abandoned congregations much more active in areas that they would not have been a generation ago. Unfortunately in some cases the influence that these churches wield in the community at large has not diminished and thus the apostates may find themselves dragged along in projects that they do not support but cannot object to as individuals without damaging their status at school, at work, and in their neighborhoods. Part of the lager problem with religious extremism is of course, us. That is to say that much of what is happening in Christian (and I suspect Muslim) sects are that they are being abandoned by non-theists, who still claim nominal membership but are no longer involved.

I have seen this effect in the churches around me, where the moderate voices that tempered the radical elements are now silent, generally by their absence except for high holy days. Ministers with strange ideas are tampering with the service, rearranging pews, and discarding old hymns, along with other changes, only serve to drive the moderate elements of the congregation and give free reign to those who would see a major shift in the church’s role.

While this is a positive trend for us, in that some people are now critically examining their faith, it does make their abandoned congregations much more active in areas that they would not have been a generation ago.

Unfortunately in some cases the influence that these churches wield in the community at large has not diminished and thus the apostates may find themselves dragged along in projects that they do not support but cannot object to as individuals without damaging their status at school, at work, and in their neighborhoods.

]]> By: Chris http://www.daylightatheism.org/2007/03/the-secular-islam-summit.html#comment-19491 Chris Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:13:43 +0000 http://www.daylightatheism.org/2007/03/the-secular-islam-summit.html#comment-19491 <i>Race and nationalism also cause bloodshed, of course, but I know of no other cause in the world that still inspires people to slaughter each other over a thirteen-hundred-year-old grudge.</i> Only sixty years after WWII, and you still don't hear of Israeli terrorists massacring German civilians in retaliation for the Holocaust, or Japanese terrorists attacking the U.S. for nuking civilian populations. And while certain people seem to hate the French today, it isn't for the excesses of Napoleon. Religion carries grudges for centuries when nationalism would forget them in a couple generations, or even less. And almost all terrorist attacks are religious - not just carried out by religious people (that would prove little, since most people *are* religious), but carried out for religious motives and purposes. Race and nationalism also cause bloodshed, of course, but I know of no other cause in the world that still inspires people to slaughter each other over a thirteen-hundred-year-old grudge.

Only sixty years after WWII, and you still don't hear of Israeli terrorists massacring German civilians in retaliation for the Holocaust, or Japanese terrorists attacking the U.S. for nuking civilian populations. And while certain people seem to hate the French today, it isn't for the excesses of Napoleon.

Religion carries grudges for centuries when nationalism would forget them in a couple generations, or even less. And almost all terrorist attacks are religious - not just carried out by religious people (that would prove little, since most people *are* religious), but carried out for religious motives and purposes.

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