n7axw wrote:Arol wrote:France has again been the target of a terrorist attack. This one happened at a Basilica in Niece in southern France left 3 dead, one a woman who is reported to have been nearly beheaded.
That the attack was motivated by religious extremism, should be clear as the perpetrator; shot and wounded by police kept screaming “Allahu Akbar” (God is great!)
Followed shortly by an episode near Avignon, where a man; shouting the same phrase, was shot and killed by police, after threatening people with a pistol
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54729957
That France; probably the nation in Europe with the most rigorous legislation separating religion and state, is also the nation currently most afflicted with these nut-jobs probably is probably to be found in its large Muslim minority.
A large minority whose members; where even its fundamentalist adherents, are as abhorred by the actions of the tiny radical elements, as is the rest of greater population.
They fear they all will be stigmatized and tarred with the same brush.
That there are fundamentalist’s adherents in most religious creeds, that don’t equate them with religious terrorism!
But it does seem that it is the Islamic nut-jobs who are setting the agenda.
When fear and rage in the majority sets in, it might not differentiate!
I don't know what has happened now under Trump, but back when Obama was running things, there was outreach to the Islamic community to try cooperate in identifying young people who had been radicalized on the internet. I don't know exactly what they were doing, but I understand they had some success with it. My mom always used to say when I was a young man, "now Don, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar." I wonder if this or a similar principle might be at work here.
I wonder if France has been in to this sort of thing. If not, they probably should be.
Don
-
Up here in Denmark; and probably in France as well, there are outreach programs in place to try to wean radicals Islamists from their extremist viewpoints, and there have probably been success in in some cases. But what about those that have retained their hate and intolerance, they are the ones who are setting an agenda of violence?
As a retired pastor, a man of faith, you’ll probably disagree vehemently that there are some people that are beyond redemption. Who if you reach out to, with as you say “honey” would have your arm off, as well as the honey?
A man who can go into a house of worship, and kill without remorse three innocent people, and in the process almost cut the head of an elderly woman; all the while calling out praise to his God, is an excellent case in point.