I have got to tell you that from the post-Bar Mitzvah 40 years wandering in the American Wildness, I had no idea!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_commandments
Hitler’s racist lunatic standard was one-quarter inheritance (one Jewish grandparent of either gender) of “Jewish blood” for a train ticket.
Jews remain “other defined” as well as self defined.
Christians: shall we revisit Henry vs. The Pope? Or Luther’s “95” and his excommunication?
Perhaps when Muhammad placed himself in judgement of others — whether he did so autonomously, as an atheist would have it, or within the design of the Abrahamic God, or in relation to the vast storehouse of surprises given to our species by nature and the nature o the universe — he invited the judgment of others as well PLUS the judging of his followers by way of their attitudes toward others and their actions.
Some, I believe, are sensitive to this social mirroring system and adjust and embrace the normative values that lend themselves to modernity and the appearance of ambitious and kind educators and physicians and so many others that construct the favorable aspects of a modern society.
Some may be not so sensitive — or responsive — to their global social feedback, and those I have been happy to refer to as “narcissistic sociopaths”.
It’s why the two idiots from Columbine (Colorado school mass shooting by two students) well resemble the two Boston bombers, but with a big difference: the latter had reference to a program — the sword of Islam — seemingly designed for them, easily accessed (see Kavkaz Center or Inspire and numerous related productions), and, yes, in the mosques and throughout the Wahhabi reach casually reinforced.
Is this MEMRI-conveyed snapshot of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah the sole manner and voice of Islam?
I know it is not, but it far overshadows other signal.
The above relates to “shimmer”.
Between the vociferous conservatives of the anti-Jihad and the liberals wearing rose-colored glasses, the character of the assault on the west (impossible to deny with so many organizations stating that as their purpose) seems perceived as either total and indicative of the pervasive will of all (1.2 billion or so) Muslims or, worse, I think, merely anomalous, merely a tragic addition to the atmosphere and texture of quality of life in the west and elsewhere.
The Islamic Small Wars comprise a large and sapping phenomenon in the life of the world.
Increased funding and related empowerment of state security services comprise part of the cost of this nuttiness as do military asset and organizational reconfiguration.
Add the costs of cultural distraction to the impact.
Does God or do generals want always a little war around?
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