I was reading this today on News 24. This user is about as conspiracy nut as you get.
But was wondering if he has a point when he says
It is this Shia End Times theology (Eschatology) that is driving Iranian foreign policy today.
What do you think the chances are that a fundie state like Iran start a war because it thinks it will bring
on the end times. George Bush for that matter was a bit fundie and believed in the end times.
It’s a very real possibility, especially with Islamic theocracies. Mullahs teach the fanciful idea that suicide in the service of Allah leads to the highest reward. Pakistan is currently perhaps the most dangerous one because it is known to have nuclear capabilities, as does India, and the two are constantly at one another’s throats over territorial disputes rooted to a significant degree in religious affiliations (viz., Kashmir, which also tangentially involves China). This is clearly not a recipe for a warm harmonious glow of peace and serenity.
A bit? The man is just a hair’s breadth from froth-at-the-mouth zealotry. Only his wealth separates him from being a full-blown evangelist.
'Luthon64
Well I guess that is one of the better points of living in the southern Hemisphere we wont get nuked. And these states arsenal is small enough that 2 or 3 would do it so no chance of a nuclear winter in that case.
Scary, it makes our problems, Zuma, my bank statement and so on, rather pitiful.
I have to admit I’m still consfussed about Islam in general. They keep claiming to be the “religion of peace” whenever the subject is broached but usually just a casual look around the world confirms the opposite: If you find a religious group practising everyday violence in the name of their religion 9/10 times it’s going to be some flavour of Islam.
Yet you get people claiming extremism is on the decline all the time. Once again, where are the problems? Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Egypt…
These guys seem to have a huge PR team running around telling everyone everything is peachy while in the background they’re striking a match to light the world on fire.
It seems problem is: Who counts as “Muslim”?
This conflicting identity is surely due to islam being “more than a billion” people, each of which having a different idea about what “it” is all about.
And that just brings us right back to the eternal problem with religion, don’t it? Everything is up to interpretation and there are LOTS of people wanting to do the interpreting.
Mark Twain probably explained it best: “Man is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight.”
Actually, as a religion, Islam is considerably more cohesive than Christianity. It has far fewer factions, sects or subdivisions. This is probably due to the fact Islam is about seven hundred years younger than Christianity, its tenets are jealously guarded by a small group of select vessels, and the Qur’an does not have even nearly half as much interpretational leeway as the Bible does.
Yup.
'Luthon64
I’m starting to think we should let the Fundies have there end time mythical battle.
And then the survivors can see no end time is coming (the really crazy ones will have some excuse.)
But like the World Wars and cold war changes country’s taste for war, maybe having the mythical end time war won’t be so bad.
Does anyone know what time the world is slated to end on the 21st? Will we get the cricket match v. New Zealand in first?
Hrm, Douglas Adams was right, Cricket (or Krikkit) is not only a bad subject to translate into a sport, we humans are even brave enough to play it on the day of armageddon.
The game having to end prematurely does not necessarily mean that it’s the end of the world: there’s always Duckworth-Lewis.
Of course. I forgot about that. What a relief.