The next worse sect, of course, is the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who have proven themselves to be murderous thugs who kill innocent people to gain power and control, and falsely claim to be servants of Allah.
But, Americans should remember that the U.S. is largely responsible for their rise to power in the first place, along with the rise to power of Osama bin Laden and al Queda. That was back in the late 1980s when the U.S. provided financial and military support to the "Mujahadin" (which means Islamic Freedom Fighter) who were fighting Russian military imperialism in Afghanistan. And, while the U.S. support enabled the Mujahadin to drive the Russians out, it enabled the Taliban and al Queda to take over afterward. That's when the "Mujahadin" in Afghanistan stopped being freedom fighters, and instead became cruel, murderous Taliban oppressors.
Even so, Americans should realize that even though the Reagan Regime was nearly as foolish as Russia in what they did in Afghanistan in the late 1980s , the U.S. can now redeem itself and help the Afghanis achieve freedom. But, the U.S. must not continue the Bush Regime's policies, which have proven counterproductive not only because they enabled corruption in the government of Afghanistan, but also because they were careless in their military policies. Now, even though it may be too late, the U.S. needs to stop causing so many civilian deaths and maimings by senseless bombing and strafing in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and stop ignoring local customs in their rude invasions of households in their searches for Taliban and al Queda criminals. The U.S. forces must gain the total support of the civilian population by showing respect and rectifying the mistakes made by the policies of the Bush Regime, and by the policies and "rules of engagement" that are even now causing inexcusable "collateral damage" and death and causing deep resentment and horror in the people of Afghanistan.
Regarding the whole Israeli-Palestinian-Muslim-Christian conflict and the Sunni- Shiite conflict, in my view we will be able to establish lasting peace only when all Jews, Christian and Muslims understand that they were meant to be and actually are a family of religions; that there is indeed One God, One Holy One, the Supreme Universal Consciousness. Whether they call God Yahweh or Jehova or Elohim or Allah, God is God by any other name, and God wants us all to love one another as brothers and sisters, and to treat others as we would have others treat us if we were them. It is as simple (and as difficult) as that. They must obey God's Will, or they will continue to suffer the pain of disobedience and the consequences of their misguided, egocentric, ethnocentric folly and iniquity. God wants them to love even their enemy, and realized that their enemy is a reflection of themselves.
That's part of the reason why we should abide by the golden rule and the universal divine imperative. And since many people have not done that, they must make amends, provide restitution, and reconcile their differences. And we all must ensure that justice prevails and all parties are treated fairly.
Regarding the war in Iraq, we have to realize that there are actually two wars. One is Bush's War, which brought a reactionary "insurgency" by radical Sunni and Shiite Muslims who began fighting guerilla warfare against the American occupation. The other war is a civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites.
Regarding Bush's war in Iraq, most reasonable people would concede that it was indeed a good deed to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and it has been good that American forces have helped Iraqis to begin establishing democracy. It has also been good that they have helped to begin to restore what the initial American bombing raids destroyed. However, the United Nations should have done what needed to be done in the first place. And, failing that, the U.S. government should have let the U.N. handle it following the initial American invasion of Iraq, with a truly international peace-keeping force that includes Arabs and Sunni and Shiite Muslims. (Read the issue page on Bush's Real Record, which includes the real motivation for Bush's War, and what we should do about it now.)
As for the Sunni-Shiite civil war, that will cease as soon as they both start following the teachings of their prophet and those who preceded him, and stop choosing isolated words and phrases from the Qur'an to try to justify their evil, murderous activities. They must start acting like real Muslims instead of bigots, hypocrites, criminals and murderers. And that also goes for the thugs, gangsters and murderers who call themselves the Taliban in Afghanistan, and for others who do the same thing in other countries where misguided Islamic sects work iniquity and cause conflict, division, violence, death and destruction. They are bigots, hypocrites and murderers, and their followers should ignore them and repent.
But don't get me wrong. I fully understand and sympathize with most Arabs and Muslims, and especially Palestinians, because they have very legitimate grievances against England, the U.S.A., and Israel. Palestinians have been terribly and outrageously wronged ever since 1917, and the injustices increased enormously in 1948 when the modern State of Israel was established. The injustices increased more since the 1967 war, and even more recently in all outrageously unfair criminal violence, killing and destruction the Israeli military has inflicted. Two wrongs do not make a right, and violence and toughness only begets more reciprocal violence and toughness. I discuss those issues my books, and I suggest how we might address all the grievances to finally bring peace to the region.
Of course, U.S. and Israeli offenses do not justify the murderous activities of misguided Muslim extremists. There is no excuse for murderers. The only time killing is justified is when it is to protect the life or lives of those in imminent danger of being killed or cruelly oppressed and persecuted. Those who commit indiscriminate murder of people just because they are of a different nationality or religion or religious sect or race, are an abomination in the sight of God. It doesn't matter whether the murderers call themselves Muslims, Jews or Christians. They are NOT "holy warriors" or "holy crusaders" or "jihadists," but evil murderers.
In other words, all sides in these battles have been wrong in certain respects. And it is crucial that Israel repent and stop the offenses, incursions and atrocities she has been committing for so long against her neighbors, and make amends. And radical, violent, murderous "Muslim" hypocrites must also repent and stop their evil warfare.
The "Christian" Right in America must also repent and start acting like real and true Christians instead of divisive bigots, hypocrites, and militaristic, imperialistic theocrats, who not only want to rule America and the world, but also blindly support Israeli Zionism even though it is grossly unfair to Arabs and Muslims.
The message from the Spirit of truth will provide significant help to expose and stop them, but it will also take authoritative good Jewish and Christian and Muslim voices to speak up to help tell the truth to expose the bigotry, hypocrisy and error of the false and spiritually blind shepherds who lead their flocks astray into violent conflict. I'm sure Barack Obama will help significantly. But, only the message and enough good people speaking up to validate the message will reduce the followers of the false, misguided Jews and Christians and Muslims. For once they are fully exposed, they will eventually have no followers at all.
As I said at the top, it is important to keep in mind that most Muslims simply want the West to respect them as much as most of them respect the West. That will require many Christians and Jews to admit to their prejudices, religious bigotry, and hypocrisy, while it will require many Muslims to admit to theirs as well.
So, all good people must stand up and speak up, and spread the word about the message from the prophesied Spirit of truth and all other sources of truth. That's the only way things will change.
Copyright January 22, 2002 - April 27, 2010 Joseph J. Adamson
(Originally posted at
http://reformationcomingsoon.bravehost.com/dividedIslam.html)
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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