Three reasons for the current crises

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Aug 31, 2016 at 19:08

Thank you for the translation, Daniel.

Your exchange with Mr. Ferretti discussed many nuances about the current World Islamist Problem (if I may call it that), brought up by several scholars. Some notable quotes:

"To take a single example, it is impossible to argue that Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel killed 86 holiday-goers on the beach of Cannes, France, for economic reasons."

"Islam is – no surprise – the key to political violence carried out in the name of Islam by Muslims."

"This confrontation took a new turn with the German-Turkish labor agreement of 1961 and the American immigration reform of 1965."

Those three items might sum up the West vs. Islam situation today:

First of all, there is a religious intensity involved, that cannot be explained by Western materialist thinking: Religion is not the "opiate of the masses", as claimed by the Communists; it is a central, driving factor in the lives of many, perhaps hundreds of millions, of people. Muslims and Christians both are willing to gladly lay down their lives in the service of their respective G(/g)ods. Laying down one's life seldom comes from hunger; nor is it a mental exercise; it is visceral: It involves giving up one's most precious earthly possession, his own flesh and blood.

Secondly, Islam itself is the main motivator for Jihadi terrorists. I am a Christian; and about half of my family and friends are or have been involved in missions, usually to places where their lives are potentially in great danger: China, Malaysia, Bali, Thailand, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Turkey, Kenya, Guinea, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Cuba and elsewhere. They do this in order to fulfill what they consider their Christian duties of evangelism and service. None of them have fomented insurrections, nor have they gone with the intent of carrying out some sort of "Crusade". We are encouraged by the scriptures to "press in", the original word being very close in tenor to "jihad", or "struggle". In Christianity, this translates into self-sacrificing service; in Islam, it translates often into the most inhuman, barbaric acts (though there seemed to be a meeting of minds between creeds during the days of the Inquisition).

Thirdly, the migration problem: It was brought about not by Jihad, but by the greed of European and American industrialists, willing to sacrifice the social fabric of their countries in order to get cheap labor and turn a better profit.

Putting those three points together, goes a long way to explaining much of today's news.

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