Quote:
Originally Posted by Anteater
One minor point: Christianity, rationally speaking, doesn't relate much back to anything in the Old Testament since it predates Jesus's birth. The Qur'an is a different story: Mohammad and his life is the ultimate ideal, not Jesus's. That's where you start seeing fundamental differences in ideology.
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Matthew 5:17 [Jesus speaking]
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
This is an old argument and unfortunately is not one I think holds much water. But it's actually illustrative of the larger point, that the overwhelming majority of religious people are not slavishly devoted to every word in their holy book. Part of the reason I'm not religious is the cognitive dissonance displayed there. It's either written/directly revealed by God or it's not.
Regardless, the majority of the alt-right's claims regarding Islam are provably false. And the ones that aren't (invocations to kill nonbelievers, the superiority of Islam over other faiths, Islamic eschatology) are found in Christianity. Since most alt-right proponents were raised as Christians or at least have been exposed to the faith and it's adherents their whole life, they intuitively understand that following a religion doesn't mean you follow all of that religion.
Some strong analogies in this thread. elphenor's 'faith as clothing' idea is quite accurate for, what I would very unscientifically estimate, 90% of 'believers'. And yes, TheBatlord, a pair of tennis shoes never motivated a suicide bomber. But as myself and others stated earlier, religious violence is most commonly used by people manipulated by those with aspirations for earthly power. Faith is a powerful motivator, but it's hard to directly tie it to violence. As you said, the WBC doesn't engage in mass murder, despite holding the same level of contempt and hatred for the majority of Americans (homosexuals and homosexual allies). Jihadists and WBC/Identitarians/Sovereign Citizens share the similar mindsets; ones easier to turn against their fellow humans. But, with few exceptions, the critical conditions for terrorist action aren't common in the West.
To reiterate, poverty, lack of cultural diffusion, lack of empowerment, and lack of opportunity create the ground for terrorists. It takes emotional manipulation to make a 17 year old shepherd strap a bomb to his chest and kill dozens of his neighbors. Religion is arguably the most powerful emotional impetus; a fact well known by the sadistic nihilists that lead ISIS, al Qaeda, etc.