Has the 100 year Jihad (war) begun ... ???

[Value Collector]

You put your money in a trade, trust is something else...costs me nothing to be an Atheist, costs you nothing not to be.



.

Being a religious theist can come at a pretty high cost, all those wasted Sundays for a start, and imagine having to abandon you child because a slight variation in the dna code made them gay, which was unacceptable to your dogma.

 

[trainspotter]

Wouldn't a god have got them to add that to their currency from the start, instead of waiting till the cold war as propaganda against the "godless" Russians.

Scotlands national animal is a unicorn, so I wouldn't trust government slogans, motto's or emblems, lol

Money is God me old chum. And if you don't think so then I would like to see you live without it. (silverchair reference)

 

[SirRumpole]

Being a religious theist can come at a pretty high cost, all those wasted Sundays for a start, and imagine having to abandon you child because a slight variation in the dna code made them gay, which was unacceptable to your dogma.

I wonder how religions are going to resolve this issue.

They all have made a complete hash of it so far.

I think Anwar Ibrahim would agree, and he's not even gay.

 

[luutzu]

Agreed, that's why a lot of us atheists are against the idea of taking these things on faith, because regardless of what people say in favour of moderate religion, a certain percentage will take it literally and become extremists, you can't get rid of extremism without out debunking the whole concept.

You have to have pre-existing morality to be able to know which parts to avoid and which parts are the good moral teaching.

But, is there any good aspects of religion that can not be achieved in other ways?

If you can't think of any good aspects of religion that can't be mirrored in secular ways, why would you promote the religious method when you know it has a lot of nasty side effects.

I think religion were never really promoted for moral purposes, it's all done for political reasons from up top.

For the masses though, maybe they go along with it because, at first, they have to, then later generations it's just what they were brought up to do and all those around them are doing it.

I think most people never really sit down and question their religion or read the holy texts. Most would be too busy to think about such "obvious truth" that there is a god - they might just think that there must be a god or else why does so many people believe in it etc. And maybe in believing in a god, they may find some comfort in time of personal loss and sorrow.

I've been to Church a few times and all I remember was the father telling a couple of feel good stories - that I can't hear properly, lots of kneeling and singing, lots of yawning then we all shook our neighbours hand.

So maybe for most people that attend church, mosque, temples... that's also all they do. Then there are some who actually read the fine prints and go search for Noah's Ark (in Turkey apparently).

So I think you're right that people are generally good despite being religious... they, say, pick up and remember the golden rule or the good Samaritan and ignore the others... but then, yea, all these they could read and learn from practically every philosopher or stories around the world. Then there are those who know of the golden rule but reasoned the other person doesn't mind as much as they would.

 

[basilio]

The President of a Patriotic Australian group is behind bars. Worth seeing just what he has done as a "patriot" and consider is this the type of person we want in Australia. (But we can't deport him can we ??)

"Patriots" president locked up in NSW

Date
December 19, 2014 - 11:30PM


The local president of a "patriots" group accused of racially abusing a man near an Islamic centre on Monday has been locked up on separate offences after a NSW police raid of his property.

Aaron Raymond Dudeck, 21, was accused in the ACT Magistrates Court of monitoring the activities of the Canberra Islamic Centre on Monday night, trying to determine whether it was acting as a mosque or library.

Dudeck, also known as Aaron Hudson, allegedly spat on a man and hurled religious and racial abuse at him after the pair were involved in a car crash.

He is accused of overtaking the man as he came out of the centre's car park, later slamming on his brakes, then abusing the man for the rear-ender.

He has pleaded not guilty to common assault and driving while disqualified, but guilty to offensive behaviour.

Police believe Dudeck is the president of the ACT branch of the Patriots Defence League, an organisation that says it is committed to upholding the Australian "way of life".

He was released on bail by the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday, despite fears that he had access to guns at his property and posed a risk to "unknown persons".

Dudeck also had a significant criminal history in multiple states, and had failed to appear or breached court orders numerous times.

NSW police raided his property after his release on bail in the ACT on Thursday.

Dudeck was already facing two firearms offences in NSW.

He was brought back to Queanbeyan Local Court on Friday, and charged over an incident on December 13, in which he allegedly sent a threatening text to his former boss.

It is alleged Dudeck sent a picture of a bullet-riddled car and another of him holding a rifle, with the words "your truck will look good like this".

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/patriots-president-locked-up-in-nsw-20141219-12b14j.html

 

[Calliope]

The President of a Patriotic Australian group is behind bars. Worth seeing just what he has done as a "patriot" and consider is this the type of person we want in Australia. (But we can't deport him can we ??)

I hope they throw the book at him...but of course they won't. His crimes are insignificant compared to those of Monis, who was allowed to walk free. But you never know...apparently he spat at a Muslim. I know you can spit at a policeman and get away with it...but at a Muslim???

 

[overhang]

I know you can spit at a policeman and get away with it...but at a Muslim???

How do you know this Calliope? The last I checked spitting on a police officer is actually considered 'serious assault of police'.

 

[overhang]

I spotted this comment on a news article about the Pakistan school terrorist attack.

Pakistani here.

It doesnt matter how many Taliban the Army kills it encounters or hangs in our jails. Yes it is important to take the fight to the Taliban, but it seems nobody in our government has understood yet that the root of terrorism is islamic extremism!

Will the government audit donations to religious seminaries and monitor what the children are taught? Will they monitor what is propagated in our mosques all over the country and censor hate speech? Will the edit the curriculum in our schools and colleges which glorify muslims as superior to non muslims? Our urdu and islamic studies text books glorify martyrdom to a level that boggles the mind! Will the government stop this morbid obsession? Will we get rid of our hudood laws that punish rape victims for the crimes of the rapist? Our draconian blasphemy laws? Will we stop fussing over Kashmir because we pretend to give a **** about the Muslims that live there and admit what we really need is access to Kashmiri water?

Will we arrest Hafiz Saeed? Maulana Abdul Aziz? Maulana Sami-ul-Haq?

All this remains to be seen... far to many Pakistanis think that all this country needs to do is kill a few hundred terrorists to win the battle. America has ****ed up its own war on terror, but it can just take its soldiers back to America, the moderate Muslims(and non muslims) of Pakistan have no America to go back to.

My bold. What hope does a country like Pakistan have of controlling this when even in a secular country like Australia we still have an issue with controlling Islamic extremism when Muslims only make up 2% of the population.

 

[bellenuit]

France Dijon: Driver targets city pedestrians

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europ...ng&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central

 

[DB008]

In light of the Paris shootings....

MI5 warns of copycat terror attacks

London: Andrew Parker, the director-general of Britain's Security Service, MI5, warned that the threat of a "mass casualty attack" was growing and that intelligence pointed to the existence of specific plots.

Security was stepped up on Thursday at British ports, and armed police were put on patrol at the Eurostar terminal at London's St Pancras station.

Mr Parker warned that although three terrorist plots had been foiled in recent months, it was almost inevitable that one would eventually succeed.

MI5 officers have increased surveillance of British fanatics who they fear may launch copycat attacks, after 12 people were slaughtered by al-Qaeda gunmen at Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

Intelligence has shown that the Syrian arm of a resurgent al-Qaeda is planning similar outrages against the UK, possibly from British jihadists who have already returned from fighting in Syria or Iraq.

They include plans to blow up a passenger jet; Mumbai-style shootings in crowded places; or even a hit-and-run attack using vehicles.

Mr Parker said the number of random "crude and potentially deadly" plots from "lone wolf" extremists was increasing.

In a stark warning, he said: "Although we and our partners try our utmost, we know we cannot hope to stop everything."


http://www.smh.com.au/world/mi5-warns-of-copycat-terror-attacks-20150108-12kqc5.html

 

[DB008]

Seem familiar?

ISIS Gives Japan 72 Hours to Save Hostages




Japanese men become latest hostages in pre-beheading video, the first time ISIS has threatened Asia instead of the West.

The Islamic State (ISIS) group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages unless Tokyo pays a $200 million ransom within 72 hours, in a video posted on jihadist websites on Tuesday.

In the video, a black-clad terrorist brandishing a knife addresses the camera in British English standing between two hostages wearing orange jumpsuits.

"You now have 72 hours to pressure your government into making a wise decision by paying the £200 million dollars to save the lives of your citizens," he says.

The terrorist says that the ransom demand was to compensate for non-military aid that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to support the campaign against ISIS during an ongoing Middle East tour that on Tuesday saw him in Jerusalem.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/190204#.VL4StoqUe5I

 

[bunyip]

More fool us if we ignore this warning and think the problem will just go away.

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/justice-jeanine/index.html#/v/3982602485001

 

[DB008]

Foreign Fighters in Iraq and Syria - Where do they come from?

http://www.rferl.org/contentinfographics/foreign-fighters-syria-iraq-is-isis-isil-infographic/26584940.html

 

[basilio]

Interesting historical perspective on the causes and solutions to current terrorist attacks

The War with Radical Islam

NEW YORK – French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was not speaking metaphorically when he said that France is at war with radical Islam. There is, indeed, a full-fledged war underway, and the heinous terrorist attacks in Paris were part of it. Yet, like most wars, this one is about more than religion, fanaticism, and ideology. It is also about geopolitics, and its ultimate solution lies in geopolitics as well.

Crimes like those in Paris, New York, London, and Madrid – attacks on countless cafes, malls, buses, trains, and nightclubs – affront our most basic human values, because they involve the deliberate murder of innocents and seek to spread fear throughout society. We are wont to declare them the work of lunatics and sociopaths, and we feel repulsed by the very idea that they may have an explanation beyond the insanity of their perpetrators.

Yet, in most cases, terrorism is not rooted in insanity. It is more often an act of war, albeit war by the weak rather than by organized states and their armies. Islamist terrorism is a reflection, indeed an extension, of today’s wars in the Middle East. And with the meddling of outside powers, those wars are becoming a single regional war – one that is continually morphing, expanding, and becoming increasingly violent.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/co...itary-intervention-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2015-01

 

[basilio]

Oops Duplicate post

 

[DB008]

Report: Islamic State executes Japanese hostage

According to intelligence group, radical jihadists force one of two hostages to report his countryman's execution.

Twitter accounts linked to the Islamic State group shared a video on Saturday showing Kenji Goto Jogo – one of two Japanese nationals taken hostage by the Islamist radicals – announcing that his fellow countryman was executed, according to the intelligence group SITE.

The footage was released after a 72-hour deadline imposed by the jihadists passed, with Japan refusing to pay the $200 million ransom for the hostages.

SITE reported that the message was sent to Jogo's family and the Japanese government. In the video, Jogo relays the Islamic State group's latest demand.

The video contains a still image of Jogo holding what appears to be a picture of the beheaded hostage, Haruna Yukawa. According to Reuters, the Japanese government is currently authenticating the footage.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4618617,00.html

 

[SirRumpole]

Here is a fellow who puts his life where his mouth is.

Is he deluded or just incredibly brave ?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-...nionist-leaves-to-fight-islamic-state/6045204

 

[Bintang]

Is he deluded or just incredibly brave ?

Probably both. His odds aren’t very good.
Kurds: 1
ISIS: 90

Absolutely brilliant logic from the ABC: "He was able to leave the country because he was not on a watch list"

PS: would be fantastic if all other Labor politicians in the country followed his example.

 

[DB008]

The Islamic State (Full Length)

The Islamic State, a hardline Sunni jihadist group that formerly had ties to al Qaeda, has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group has announced its intention to reestablish the caliphate and has declared its leader, the shadowy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the caliph.

The lightning advances the Islamic State made across Syria and Iraq in June shocked the world. But it's not just the group's military victories that have garnered attention ”” it's also the pace with which its members have begun to carve out a viable state.

Flush with cash and US weapons seized during its advances in Iraq, the Islamic State's expansion shows no sign of slowing down. In the first week of August alone, Islamic State fighters have taken over new areas in northern Iraq, encroaching on Kurdish territory and sending Christians and other minorities fleeing as reports of massacres emerged.

VICE News reporter Medyan Dairieh spent three weeks embedded with the Islamic State, gaining unprecedented access to the group in Iraq and Syria as the first and only journalist to document its inner workings.

 

[DB008]

Islamic State releases video claiming to behead Japanese hostage Kenji Goto

THE Islamic State claims to have beheaded Japanese hostage Kenji Goto in a sickening new progaganda video, ending days of negotiations by diplomats to save the man.

The video, released on militant websites and highlighted by militant sympathizers on social media sites, bore the symbol of the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm.
It was also posted on YouTube but was taken down around an hour later.

Though the video could not be immediately independently verified by The Associated Press, it conformed to other beheading videos released by the extremists, who now control a third of both Syria and neighboring Iraq in its self-declared caliphate.

The video, called “A Message to the Government of Japan,” featured a militant who looked and sounded like a militant with a British accent who has taken part in other beheading videos by the Islamic State group. Goto, kneeling in an orange prison jumpsuit, said nothing in the roughly one-minute-long video.

http://www.news.com.au/world/islamic-state-releases-video-claiming-to-behead-japanese-hostage-kenji-goto/story-fndir2ev-1227203841336