SciAm: Fueling terror - how extremists are made

+1'd before you requested, JJ

And I agree with what your saying about the New Testament. But a person unfamiliar to the Bible and Christianity, just browsing the pages, wouldn't be aware.

 
teachercd said:
As with anything thing at all...there are radicals...it doesn't matter the topic.
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Hey, that's well said.

I mean, I think it's undeniable that mainstream Christianity has been a very good force in the world for some time now. There were times when this was maybe less true, and times when some of the more foremost and tolerant societies (not by today's standards, mind) in the world were Muslism. Current trends aren't guaranteed to continue, of course, for either world. One hopes that with time and increasing globalization all cultures and religions start converging on a lot of the basic 'good's while moving forward from, rather than regressing back towards, the baser aspects of humanity which societies are meant to curtail.

I'm less interested in which group has the higher moral standing, though. What I wanted to really highlight with this article is the point that low-grade reactions embolden these extremists. They love to indulge in the idea that through their efforts, they gain the power to induce our societies to abandon our own values. And they're really not that ineffective at provoking the exact kind of responses that they want.

One would hope we're strong enough as a whole to keep true, no matter how much of this acting out continues.
 
zoogs said:
teachercd said:
As with anything thing at all...there are radicals...it doesn't matter the topic.
Click to expand...
Hey, that's well said.

I mean, I think it's undeniable that mainstream Christianity has been a very good force in the world for some time now. There were times when this was maybe less true, and times when some of the more foremost and tolerant societies (not by today's standards, mind) in the world were Muslism. Current trends aren't guaranteed to continue, of course, for either world. One hopes that with time and increasing globalization all cultures and religions start converging on a lot of the basic 'good's while moving forward from, rather than regressing back towards, the baser aspects of humanity which societies are meant to curtail.

I'm less interested in which group has the higher moral standing, though. What I wanted to really highlight with this article is the point that low-grade reactions embolden these extremists. They love to indulge in the idea that through their efforts, they gain the power to induce our societies to abandon our own values. And they're really not that ineffective at provoking the exact kind of responses that they want.

One would hope we're strong enough as a whole to keep true, no matter how much of this acting out continues.
Click to expand...
The thing is...the second the population of the world went from 1 to 2...there was an extremest. That is just how it works.

 
funhusker said:
+1'd before you requested, JJ

And I agree with what your saying about the New Testament. But a person unfamiliar to the Bible and Christianity, just browsing the pages, wouldn't be aware.
Click to expand...
I was just joking about the +1.

I liked what you did with it, turning the tables. If people did that with more issues we would have much less extremism in this world. It's a good way to check your point of view.

 
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