Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
As many readers know I was a member of a religious cult for too many years in a former life and have since delved into some of the specialist literature by psychologists, sociologists and historians to help me reflect on and understand that experience. I have mentioned before how fascinated I was when once watching … Continue reading “Trump, Trump Supporters, and Cults”
How it happened I never planned to be a librarian. An academic career was stymied as a consequence of joining up with the Worldwide Church of God. That episode brought chaos into my life that led to my early departure from advanced studies. Some years later after more advanced studies I was offered the opportunity … Continue reading “On Being a Librarian”
James Haught of Daylight Atheism has posted the historical pathway that led to the Branch Davidians and the Waco disaster beginning from the Millerite movement of 1843 and 1844. The Story Behind Waco’s Tragedy It’s a story of dashed idealism, sordid and cruel moments, the power of belief, and too much that I can personally … Continue reading “Waco (the background story)”
Interesting to read an article by PhD candidate Galen Watts, Pioneering sociologist foresaw our current chaos 100 years ago in The Conversation. Reminded me of what I once posted about Durkheim here: Understanding the Nature of Religion and the Religious. And that reminded me of something I read years back by Ghassan Hage in his book, Against Paranoid … Continue reading “Guns, Violence and Durkheim”
Yes, we know that suicide terrorists regularly announce that they are killing in the name of Allah and they quote the Koran to justify what they are doing. And, of course we should, must, listen to what they say and take it seriously. Far from denying any of that, I think it is all necessary … Continue reading “Why Blaming Islam for Terrorism is Misguided”
Now that Islamic State has been defeated in the most prominent of its several bases it may not be a bad idea to extend our understanding of what we have just witnessed and its likely ongoing ramifications. There is something terribly modern about the jihadi terrorist violence that has unfolded in the past twenty years … Continue reading “Jihad and Death, the global appeal of Islamic State”
A autobiography I found of special interest in understanding how a British Muslim became radicalized and eventually de-radicalized was Radical by Maajid Nawaz. I discussed one aspect of it in the post The Conflict between Islamism and Islam. From his biography and in his online writings and talks I have read and heard since there is absolutely … Continue reading “Flawed Counter-Terrorists”
Yes, time for me to finish blogging on what the research has shown about how radicalisation works, how people are recruited into terrorist organisations, religious cults, . . . even extreme sports . . . As Jason Burke (whose works I have blogged about here, most recently on “the new threat“) points out: it’s all the … Continue reading “Radicalisation — whether extreme sports, cults or terrorism”
The survey of Muslim religiosity was carried out in Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Egypt and Turkey. It included statements on the respondents’ image of Islam. The survey listed forty-four items that examined religious beliefs, ideas and convictions. These statements were generated by consulting some key sociological texts on Muslim societies by authors such as … Continue reading “Something Rotten in the Lands of Islam”
New Atheism . . . must recognize the humanity in religion while maintaining a candid dialogue about deep-rooted conflicts between reason and faith. A matured New Atheism is needed more today than ever before . . . Those words are from New Atheist writers, Peter Boghossian, James Lindsay & Phil Torres, published in Time: How … Continue reading “New Atheists Who Want to be Nicer (and Smarter) with Religion, esp Islam!”
Nazi ideology was set out by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, Communism was explained for all by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto, and radical Islamism was planted with Sayyid Qutb‘s Milestones. Qutb was hanged in 1966 for involvement in a plot to assassinate Egypt’s President Gamal Abdul Nasser. Qutb’s ideas appear to have been … Continue reading “The Founder of Islamist Extremism and Terrorism”
Previous posts in this series: Sam Harris: Wrong (again) about Religion and Radicalization Religion: It’s more than we often think Was Religion Invented to Explain Things — or to Compound Mystery? . . . Or. . . ? Since we tend to take it for granted that beliefs in spirit beings and associated myths were invented … Continue reading “Where Religious Beliefs Come From”
Thunder, earthquakes, droughts, a good harvest, the movements of the sun, moon, planets — we know that ancient people had hosts of myths to explain how all of these things “worked”. It is easy to assume that religious ideas were developed out of primitive attempts to explain these sorts of natural phenomena. Then there are … Continue reading “Was Religion Invented to Explain Things — or to Compound Mystery? . . . Or. . . ?”
Some interesting research datasets relating to who joins ISIS have been published by Nate Rosenblatt. They make interesting reading alongside other research into the motivations and profiles of who are the most likely candidates for extremist radicalization. The data was supplied by an ISIS defector so of course must be assessed with that in mind. … Continue reading ““All Jihad is Local””