Weirdly enough, the Islamist formerly-labelled-as-terrorist militant leader is making quite a lot of sensible moves and well thought out public statements. Maybe it’s illogical, but I’m getting somewhat hopeful about Syria’s future.
The life of the Prophet Mohammed sas. is a great example of statecraft, going from a persecuted outcast in his own city to challenging the Roman and Persian empire within two decades. People saying Islam would not or should not be political are missing the key notions about how social and religious values are deeply integrated with politics.
The same holds true for Jesus, who challenged the corruption of politics and religion in his time and Moses, who is the O.G. insurrectionist liberator. Also Moses is the most mentioned prophet in the holy Quran.
All Abrahamic religions are inherently political.
One could also argue that all politics are inherently religious, creating false objects of worship, like money and the individual, glorified dictators or a twisted understanding of collectives.
Imagine people took the message of Jesus serious to stop hoarding wealth and give to the poor. Truly a scary prospect. What comes next? Treating the sick without charging them?
I always considered the problem not to be any one part of the message or other, but the process.
It is a bad idea to make a perfect, inalterable text of any kind into law, no matter how good it is.
The legal process does need guidance from higher principles, but the best way to do that is with a constitution, which can also be altered if necessary.
That is why I’m glad Jesus is kept the hell out of my government.
Because yeah, he actually does try to teach a lot of commendable principles.
But Jesus also says that all of the old Jewish laws of the old testament still hold.
There is some fully crazy shit in the old testament.
Meanwhile, Jesus does all kinds of stuff in violation of those same laws.
Is it no surprise, then, that, following Jesus’s example, Christians follow the bible just as selectively?
Not really analogous, I think? The Taliban are and continue to be wackos, and the US-supported government in between the Taliban regimes was always obviously made up of incompetent crooks and grifters.
Weirdly enough, the Islamist formerly-labelled-as-terrorist militant leader is making quite a lot of sensible moves and well thought out public statements. Maybe it’s illogical, but I’m getting somewhat hopeful about Syria’s future.
Oh yeah absolutely. I think it’s just hard for people to remember, but dictatorships used to transition to democracies all the time.
I do wonder, though, if it has happened to a country with so many foreign actors involved.
Chile
The life of the Prophet Mohammed sas. is a great example of statecraft, going from a persecuted outcast in his own city to challenging the Roman and Persian empire within two decades. People saying Islam would not or should not be political are missing the key notions about how social and religious values are deeply integrated with politics.
The same holds true for Jesus, who challenged the corruption of politics and religion in his time and Moses, who is the O.G. insurrectionist liberator. Also Moses is the most mentioned prophet in the holy Quran.
All Abrahamic religions are inherently political.
One could also argue that all politics are inherently religious, creating false objects of worship, like money and the individual, glorified dictators or a twisted understanding of collectives.
I for one am glad Jesus is kept the fuck out of my government.
Imagine people took the message of Jesus serious to stop hoarding wealth and give to the poor. Truly a scary prospect. What comes next? Treating the sick without charging them?
I always considered the problem not to be any one part of the message or other, but the process. It is a bad idea to make a perfect, inalterable text of any kind into law, no matter how good it is. The legal process does need guidance from higher principles, but the best way to do that is with a constitution, which can also be altered if necessary.
That is why I’m glad Jesus is kept the hell out of my government. Because yeah, he actually does try to teach a lot of commendable principles. But Jesus also says that all of the old Jewish laws of the old testament still hold. There is some fully crazy shit in the old testament.
Meanwhile, Jesus does all kinds of stuff in violation of those same laws. Is it no surprise, then, that, following Jesus’s example, Christians follow the bible just as selectively?
Afghanistan: “First time?”
Not really analogous, I think? The Taliban are and continue to be wackos, and the US-supported government in between the Taliban regimes was always obviously made up of incompetent crooks and grifters.
It is a little bit similar in that the Taliban also said that they were going to be more moderate. That didn’t last very long though.
Fair enough. I think the “Taliban are moderating” narrative was also helped by the fact that the Taliban were being compared against fricking ISIS.