Religious thinking (skip if you're not particularly religious).

Often I reference Islam as a "religion". Those quotation marks come because I don't see anything particularly religious in it.

IMHO a religion requires we strive to be better. It means going against our base sinful nature and doing what DOESN'T come naturally. Yeah I know a lot of crap has been done over the centuries in the name of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. Spare me the laundry list, I've a few personal stories of my own about supposedly devout people.

But comparing the actions of a few assholes to the lives of true saints inspired by the teachings of the Catholic Church is what brought me back to it. That and a few other things not pertinent to this post. Catholicism in particular and Christianity in general give examples of what I believe a true religion requires. It requires we get outside of ourselves.

I might be as wrong as a football bat to use that same thinking in regards to other faiths. I know zippo about Hinduism, Bhuddism, etc. except that Bhuddists are know for being pacifists and Hindus have some interesting looking gods/goddesses. However the believers of these and other nonChristian faiths aren't known for words like "jihad".

Islam on the other hand caters to the base instincts of humanity. It sanctions slavery, spousal abuse, lying, cheating, stealing, rape, pedophilia, beastiality and the list goes on and on. If it feels good, do it as long as its done against nonbelievers.

And Muslims are constantly eyeing each other to verify they're all "true believers". If you're not one of the faithful then you're outside the pale and fair game for all the items I've already listed. So you've got the Sunni's squaring off against the Shia who are fighting with the Sufi who are taking on someone else. Yeah they might have a temporary alliance against anyone not closely associated with their "prophet" but it won't last. History proves that one!

So if Islam is truly a religion then I'm Elvis.

One of the tenets of Catholicism is that we are all born with a natural predisposition towards sin. That has to be fought against our whole lives and never can be forgotten. It's why Catholics try avoiding the "near occasion of sin", we know we're not up to long term fighting of it on our own. An example of this thinking can be found in the "Lord of The Rings" trilogy. In it the Ring Of Power is offered several times to various characters, only those with the wisdom to know their own sinful/weak nature successfully fight against it's attraction (that particular theme is one of the reasons Tolkien's background as a Catholic was so apparent).

With Islam anything goes. How can that be a religion? If ever there was a belief system seemingly designed in the bowels of Hell there it is. And it's attraction goes right to our base nature.

This attraction seems strongest and most likely to convert those of no particular faith at all. So idiots like John Walker Lindh and Adam Ghadan get sucked up because they've no faith except of a "I'm okay, you're okay and it's all relative" type in their previous lives. Islam gives them a purpose and a highly satisfying one. When it's mentioned that converts to the pedophile prophet are being seen in many Western countries I think it's as much a commentary on the loss of true religous beliefs in the general population as anything else.

The trouble with an open mind is that any kind of crap can be dumped into it.

So the battle against Islamification has a spiritual aspect to it. When faced with those inspired by the Koran it will take something equally strong to counter the assault. "I'm okay, you're okay" won't cut it. Apply that attitude to any school yard fight and you can bet who wins. It won't be the mellow dude wearing the smiley faced tee-shirt either.

If we were simply a bunch of two legged animals, here for this life and no other reason I'd think we should toss in the towel. But we're not. For proof of this in our post-Christian world I'd cite any number of unexplainable phenomena. It's why I drive the War Department nuts whenever I find news stories about frogs raining down on some town. It's an example of how not everything is explainable and that there's more to this life than what we know. There are some wild cards out there, you don't even have to be associated with any religion to recognize that. To quote Shakespeare," There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy". Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 159–167

In my personal opinion it involves a Higher Power with a direct connection to every one of us. Following the trend over the centuries it seems that HP wants us to raise ourselves up from the slime of our natural instincts. If that's true we'll see the ultimate demise of Islam. Probably won't happen in our time though. One thing Americans have never had was a conflict that went on for decades. We've no corrollary of a Hundred Years War or anything like it. The closest we come is the now dying antipathy of the Southern states for Yankees (due in a large part to the Yankees moving south). That's might small potatoes compared to what goes on in other parts of the world.

But the conflict between the West and Islam will go on for centuries. It had a respite over the past few hundred years and now it's back. The world is lot smaller now and if this noxious belief system won't win out you can bet it'll take a long time to kill off and a stronger religious conviction of the public at large than is presently evident. To have the spine for the long haul we need to see the intense daily living out of the Christian faith as exemplified by the early Church. All too often our beliefs start and stop at the doors of the church on Sunday. I've seen this over the years at various jobs where a seemingly devout boss will do everything he can to get out of paying his bills (at one job that supervisor was an ordained minister) or lying through their teeth in order to get a new tenant. Wasn't it St. Paul who said we should be in the world but not of it? We need to get back to what we once had. Once we reserved a day of the week to mull over our relationship with God and His Teachings. Now we use it as a day for tailgate parties at the local stadium where we can watch outrageously paid felons whip the snot out of each other. There is a very long road ahead of us before we'll have the fortitude to stand up to the followers of the pedophile prophet.

Just the thoughts of a retired turd chaser.