Teacher beheaded near Paris after showing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad

It doesn't need anything. Islam is going the wrong way and it's entirely due to the influence of these bearded weirdos.
Islam originally didn't have a priesthood and everyone is equal. And a Fatwa is only an opinion and doesn't have any legal backing. Anyone can give a Fatwa and most of it is contradictory too.
Now these Saudi educated so called Imams are trying to take control of the narrative of Islam. Most of the statements are taken out of context and used for their own gain. They are trying to get a Fatwa as a legal enforcement.
There is no compulsion in religion as in Islam but everyone is trying to force it.

Please. The problem is not Saudi.

The world is full of lunatics and idiots. Saudi may be just another one of them but remind me which power it is that gives Saudis arabia legitimacy? Why is the kingdom not "freed" as a democracy?

You and I both know the answer.
 
That is certainly a large part of it but how do you solve the Saudi Wahhabi problem now that the genie is out of the bottle?

The other part, as marktan alluded to, is other Abrahamic religions had a reformation in the 17th century which helped them get less radical.

You mean they got rich and industrialized.
 
And it will stay that way until people start questioning it without the god damn PC police coming out to defend the indefensible. I can make a joke about every religion and every major figure in that religion, with the exception of one. As someone who grew up extremely liberal in their view point, it beggars belief that liberals are never criticising the one religion which goes against their views far more than any other.
Bill Maher has been the only liberal who’s been consistent on this.

Keep it up. Ignorant Idiots like bill maher is exactly what causes people to radicalize . Unless you are willing to analyze the cause behind the symptoms your constant criticism does absolutely nothing.
 
Please. The problem is not Saudi.

The world is full of lunatics and idiots. Saudi may be just another one of them but remind me which power it is that gives Saudis arabia legitimacy? Why is the kingdom not "freed" as a democracy?

You and I both know the answer.

of course everyone knows that.
 
The thread I think you have in mind doesn’t exclude non-religious people, despite what the OP says - I’m the top poster in it and I don’t follow any religion. It only exists because the other big threads about religion on the Cafe were being used pretty much solely to critique (to put it politely) religion, and it became impossible to have a general discussion about religion that didn’t descend into the usual back and forth, attacks and apologetics.
Ok, thanks for the heads up. I‘ll pop in when I have some time and have a look.
 
Yeah Muhammed jesus and all other religious symbols should suck a big donkey duck
 
It seems that radical Islam is very much alive in Chechnya.
If I'm not mistaken, many Isis fighters - even commanders - were Chechens, and surely there have been more incidents where they were involved.
I have heard that Chechens are highly prized as mercenaries in general as they have grown up in that environment. The whole private army sector is mad, and reads like a Metal Gear Solid script. But that’s not really for this thread, so I won’t go on...
 
A first step might be to avoid needless provocation... I mean, what's happened here is horrific, but was what was the victim was trying to protest here worth the cost they paid?

If I walked into an LGBTQ+ bar spouting bible verse about how they're all gonna burn in hell, and didnt expect to have my head caved in, am I not guilty of being a bit naive?

The guy was teaching at his school. How is that needless provocation? He is not the guy who drew the original cartoon, he is an educator and that's what he seemingly was doing.

Stop teaching about the atrocities of Nazis since a neo-Nazi may take provocation. Stop teaching about the adverse impacts of colonialism since a EDL guy make take provocation. Stop teaching about atrocities in Tibet and Uighurs since China will take provocation?

Teaching is not provocation.
 
Its mental, at the same time, if you knew that drawing someone causes another human to think murder is okay, would you still go ahead and it anyway?

Or would you think of other possible ways to express your position?

Is the world really meant to be a place where everyone is consistently thinking about what they do and how its viewed by others?

The answer is straight 50/50.

The combination of our thoughts and our actions can be either bought through love and kindness where you want the best for everyone, all animals, this earth and its humans - or it can be bought through the opposite, hatred, greed and selfishness.

Was the teacher teaching his students this way out of selfishness and hatred or was this just a mistake made when having a pure mind & heart all that time? I dont know much about the incident but I hardly doubt that the teaching & drawing was done as any act of hatred - if it did then as violent as the result was, the teacher had built his own road & Karma.

However, was the mind of the murderer pure and filled with loving kindness? No, that person had hatred and selfishness. He acted to fill his own feelings, his own journey and ultimately his own pleasure.

My opinion; the fact that a drawing of one person can trigger such hatred in another person says alot about what they value and how they value it.

There was just another incident last week when Rhianna had clearly made a mistake when making a song with some religious background in it during a fashion show. She was lucky to be one of the most famous people in the world so that all she got was social media hatred for her actions & not killed like this guy today (both guys). The fact is that some (not all) people can become extremely defensive of their feelings and actions in such situations by being selfish and thinking about only them & their viewpoints first. This can be within any human at all but is ultimatley stopped by feeling love and kindness instead. What we call radicalisation is nothing more than the opposite, an increase of that hatred leading to an action of selfishness aswell.
 
Muster against them all the men and cavalry at your disposal so that you can strike terror into the enemies of Allah and of the believers and others besides them who may be unknown to you, though Allah knows them. And remember whatever you spend for the cause of Allah shall be repaid to you. You shall not be wronged.

— Quran, [Quran 8:60]


Well when you are fed this from childhood, you can't really blame the man. The book needs lots of editing.
 
Let's not start blaming the guy at all by saying that he could have avoided it by keeping quiet or whatever, it's entering "Well she was wearing a skimpy dress..." territory.
 
Just heard the attacker was only 18 years old, he’s obviously been radicalised by someone..
A lot of recent time in front of a computer or listening to radicalized speech probably accelerated this person’s descent into madness.
 
Shocking to hear about. One mad act and many lives ruined.

The criticisms of Islam in this thread are ignorant and witless. Regurgitated banalities.
What’s at the core of this mad act? Just the perpetrator having a bad day?
 
And it will stay that way until people start questioning it without the god damn PC police coming out to defend the indefensible. I can make a joke about every religion and every major figure in that religion, with the exception of one. As someone who grew up extremely liberal in their view point, it beggars belief that liberals are never criticising the one religion which goes against their views far more than any other.
Bill Maher has been the only liberal who’s been consistent on this.
I don't think my community (Hindus) has anywhere near the the same propagation of violence, all things considered, but over the last 5-7 years, we're definitely moving towards becoming a closet fascist society that favours those from our own religious dispensation and dominates those from others (like Muslims). So I can no longer (not that I ever did) make the claim that "they are the only religion one cant joke about..". You'd be in big trouble if you made jokes here too about my religion, sadly.

However there's no doubt that Islam does have bigger problems than the other regions. My feeling has always been that it's some really really rotten apples that have dragged the whole lot down into ruin.

Can anyone point to some unbiased articles that gives a factual picture of the overall state of the Islamic community/world and how it got to where it has? I'd like to learn more, but without reading agendas and bigotry.
 
I know religious people will disagree but this is it's biggest problem. That it is given such importance, that it's deemed to be worth dying or killing for. There's nothing else in this world that is viewed through such an intolerant lense.
 
I don't think my community (Hindus) has anywhere near the the same propagation of violence, all things considered, but over the last 5-7 years, we're definitely moving towards becoming a closet fascist society that favours those from our own religious dispensation and dominates those from others (like Muslims). So I can no longer (not that I ever did) make the claim that "they are the only religion one cant joke about..". You'd be in big trouble if you made jokes here too about my religion, sadly.

However there's no doubt that Islam does have bigger problems than the other regions. My feeling has always been that it's some really really rotten apples that have dragged the whole lot down into ruin.

Can anyone point to some unbiased articles that gives a factual picture of the overall state of the Islamic community/world and how it got to where it has? I'd like to learn more, but without reading agendas and bigotry.
The incessant wars in the region probably dont help
 
The incessant wars in the region probably dont help
True. And I know that other players have muddled their waters for their own gain/politics. I'd just like to better understand how that lead to radicalisation of groups around the world (not just in the war torn regions). As I don't believe people of any religion are simply bad. That would be absurd. But things like this incident or other brutal acts in the name of religion have to be a by product of an institution or state behaving in the same manner. Maybe the Saudi and other such states? Which encourages behaviour like this from others replicating those values?

As I said earlier, there's a rise in fundamentalisms in my own country with many supposedly "stray" incidents in the name of our own religion. Because it's indirectly promoted by the current leadership. But of course incomparable with the genuine terror and death in the name of Islam or using it as the excuse.

I think I've just answered my own questions over the course of my thinking aloud. You tend to become what your leadership believes in. Same with the rise of white supremacists in the US I guess. Theirs and ours are smaller transgressions but nevertheless similar in their direction.
 
Keep it up. Ignorant Idiots like bill maher is exactly what causes people to radicalize . Unless you are willing to analyze the cause behind the symptoms your constant criticism does absolutely nothing.
A comedian is who is causing the idiots to radicalize? Christ, what mental gymnastics to foist blame on such media personalities.
 
Its mental, at the same time, if you knew that drawing someone causes another human to think murder is okay, would you still go ahead and it anyway?

Or would you think of other possible ways to express your position?
The second part is the correct stance.

I don’t necessarily mean to aim this as you as I have no idea of your religious...persuasions, more to throw this out into the ether: it feels like religion is the only topic for which we make the (functionally speaking) “excuse” of your first question. Why is that? Why do we allow for that?

That said: there are things I myself might not say to a fanatic, not through any sense of it being immoral or improper, merely out of self preservation. But that is not to say those who would say such things are “wrong” by default, they might just be more committed, or maybe even braver, than myself.

As an aside I do not find most of Charlie Hebdo’s “stuff” funny nor did I when I lived in France, but a poor sense of humour is not the topic here-anyway, people should be free to have a bad sense of humour (by which I mean finding stupid things funny, not finding evil things funny) without fear of death.

Anyway, RIP to the victim (I don’t know if he was an arse, he might have been dumping on Muslims-the sound ones get an awful rough time of it and they are an easy target for an awful lot of shit-but even then probably shouldn’t have died for it); the individual who did it, unless suffering from a mental illness which absolves him of all personal responsibility, is a prick; the same goes for whoever might have radicalised him to this degree.

Lastly: I’ve seen some comments in this thread and elsewhere about “the region” or similar comments which equate Islam and the Arabic region(what is the proper term for this?). If I recall correctly, a minority of Muslims are Arabs. I stand to be corrected by this, but I took a course on “political and social institutions in the Muslim world” in college and a Arabic Muslim roommate at the time told me this (I think it’s around 20% of all Muslims). Important to be accurate etc.
 
And it will stay that way until people start questioning it without the god damn PC police coming out to defend the indefensible. I can make a joke about every religion and every major figure in that religion, with the exception of one. As someone who grew up extremely liberal in their view point, it beggars belief that liberals are never criticising the one religion which goes against their views far more than any other.
Bill Maher has been the only liberal who’s been consistent on this.
Define “liberal.” Do you mean it in the true sense of the word (a quick google will show you what I mean) or are you equating it with “left wing” or “Democrat” as is done in the US?
 
A first step might be to avoid needless provocation... I mean, what's happened here is horrific, but was what was the victim was trying to protest here worth the cost they paid?
Surely that is not the fault of the victim?
 
When we see incidents like this we're quick to cure the problems (increased security, punishment laws, anti terror act etc) but failed to even try to address the underlying problems. Just like the American shooting, instead of asking why it happens again and again and again they simply install a metal detector, and when it's still happening, they taught the teacher to shoot back. Like a simple disease they just up the med dose instead of saying wait a minute, maybe change your lifestyle so you dont get sick in the first place.

Islamic terorist isnt a new thing since 9/11 but I've yet to see the western world or the islamic world to try to address the situation with a genuinely sincere heart and make a try on a "it's better to prevent than to cure" approach. It's an eye for an eye trading blows and it's only escalating.

The US has a hand on all this mess directly, it's not even indirect anymore. Untill they stop funding terrorists ideology via their bombing or via their supposed middle east buddy program and made that handshake with the UAE, this thing will be happening again and again. Thoughts candles and prayers, shocked, saddened but nothing will change.

And the other part imho is that islam hasnt had a reform since it's first conception. Christianity for all its fault has gone several reform up to their current standard. Flawed it's still but compared to Islam is way more modernized and at least more up to date. Anyone that dared questioning islam would be met with swords, nobody even try anymore. The Christian still burnt and torture witches not that long ago to be fair.

The grim reality is that this would not be the last, there will be more incidents like this. It's a fecked up tangled mess that's not gonna be fixed.
 
A first step might be to avoid needless provocation... I mean, what's happened here is horrific, but was what was the victim was trying to protest here worth the cost they paid?

If I walked into an LGBTQ+ bar spouting bible verse about how they're all gonna burn in hell, and didnt expect to have my head caved in, am I not guilty of being a bit naive?
It’s this line of thinking that’s helping ensure any sort of reform is a million miles away. Muslims worldwide aren’t actively looking to destroy western civilisation, but a vast majority would probably agree with what you said. Condemnations with caveats are no condemnations at all.

You would probably get a beating if you walked in to an LGBTQ bar and did that but you sure as hell wouldn’t get your head decapitated. I’d be extremely surprised if you could find any examples of the above happening. People who are LGBTQ are far more likely to be persecuted than the other way round.
 
Let's not start blaming the guy at all by saying that he could have avoided it by keeping quiet or whatever, it's entering "Well she was wearing a skimpy dress..." territory.
Nail on head. This thread has already been done a million times before so I know exactly how it will go. Still amazes me we actually have people who victim blame in these situations.
 
Nail on head. This thread has already been done a million times before so I know exactly how it will go. Still amazes me we actually have people who victim blame in these situations.
It’s wholly unsurprising. The worlds problems wouldn’t exist if each person was capable of thinking rationally and logically.
 
Sure. He should go to prison, if he wasn't killed. Even better would be for him not to be allowed in to a place where he could be so easily offended in the first place.



If I believed eternal bliss awaited me, may be no limit to what I'd be willing to do to escape this place of suffering and what not..

People just gotta live with it that there will be things that offend them. Including Blasphemy. There is no proportion of this "offense" to the crime.
 
When we see incidents like this we're quick to cure the problems (increased security, punishment laws, anti terror act etc) but failed to even try to address the underlying problems. Just like the American shooting, instead of asking why it happens again and again and again they simply install a metal detector, and when it's still happening, they taught the teacher to shoot back. Like a simple disease they just up the med dose instead of saying wait a minute, maybe change your lifestyle so you dont get sick in the first place.

Islamic terorist isnt a new thing since 9/11 but I've yet to see the western world or the islamic world to try to address the situation with a genuinely sincere heart and make a try on a "it's better to prevent than to cure" approach. It's an eye for an eye trading blows and it's only escalating.

The US has a hand on all this mess directly, it's not even indirect anymore. Untill they stop funding terrorists ideology via their bombing or via their supposed middle east buddy program and made that handshake with the UAE, this thing will be happening again and again. Thoughts candles and prayers, shocked, saddened but nothing will change.

And the other part imho is that islam hasnt had a reform since it's first conception. Christianity for all its fault has gone several reform up to their current standard. Flawed it's still but compared to Islam is way more modernized and at least more up to date. Anyone that dared questioning islam would be met with swords, nobody even try anymore. The Christian still burnt and torture witches not that long ago to be fair.

The grim reality is that this would not be the last, there will be more incidents like this. It's a fecked up tangled mess that's not gonna be fixed.

Thing is you can't really reform scripture that claims to be the undilluted word of god, the highest and the holiest and a religion that claims it is the final religion and revelation. I guess though you can always reform how you want to intepret it and act upon it.
 
No. You seem to have failed to understand a pretty basic comment.

I do think half arsed comments that throw generalisations about are often unhelpful. Particularly by posters who have proven themselves time and again over the last few months to be hugely ignorant of that which they slag off, and careless in their responses.

The criticisms of Islam in this thread are entirely valid. Not sure how you can come to any other conclusion. Maybe they’re recycled again and again because there’s some truth in them.
 
Is anything known about the attacker and exactly how this happened?

Can anyone point to some unbiased articles that gives a factual picture of the overall state of the Islamic community/world and how it got to where it has? I'd like to learn more, but without reading agendas and bigotry.

Not quite sure if this is the kind of thing you’re looking for, but here’s something I wrote on the Cafe - https://www.redcafe.net/threads/religion-whats-the-point.215250/page-287#post-25574991
 
The world is going down the shitter anyway. I wouldn't like to live on earth in fifty or hundred years, i think bad times are ahead of us. While we are more and more modern on one side due ro technology and knowledge, conflicts and radicalisations are brewing at the same time. Islam is just one of them, not the only one. I see dark to be honest
 
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The world is going down the shitter anyway. I wouldn't like to live on earth in fifty or hundred years, i think bad times are ahead of us. While we are more and more modern on one side due ro technology and knowledge, conflicts and radicalisations are brewing at the same time. Islam is just one of them, not the only one. I see dark to be honest
It’s could be a tad interesting in my country in fifty days.
 
Has anyone seen these caricatures, and what exactly is Muhammad supposed to be doing that is deemed so bad people are willing to cut another humans head off?
 
Is anything known about the attacker and exactly how this happened?
First reports that it was an 18 year old but they seem to have been debunked.

Sky news saying the attacker didn’t have a child at the school and the content of what happened in the classroom was posted on Twitter.
Police have not released information on the attacker..