tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post3231478989526620591..comments2024-03-28T06:07:03.667-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: TERRORISTSRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-7141411948214763022015-12-05T22:27:05.466-05:002015-12-05T22:27:05.466-05:00Argghhh...my apologies Professor Wolff. After pos...Argghhh...my apologies Professor Wolff. After posting my comment, I read your comment again and I see that you said "nothing IN PARTICULAR to do with Islam," where I had understood "nothing to do with Islam." Yes, I agree, there is nothing unique to Islam about this. What I was reacting to, and have had on my mind recently, is the naïve claim that you hear that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, or sometimes, nothing to do with "true" Islam. (In the latter case, since most of the people making this claim are not themselves Muslims, I have no idea how they are able to pronounce on what is "true" Islam or not.)<br /><br />Anyway, you are right, this part of the imponderable, human mess, which, in this case may have been inspired by a certain interpretation of Islam, but could just as easily have been something else.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-87743787159494546592015-12-05T22:18:19.137-05:002015-12-05T22:18:19.137-05:00According to the Globe and Mail, this was only one...According to the Globe and Mail, this was only one of an estimated 355 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. Incredible.<br /><br />Motives may vary in this sad, near daily, toll. But I think that in this case we will find that it had something to do with Islam. I think that it is as wrong to say that this has nothing to do with Islam as it is to say that this IS Islam and all that Islam can be. Religions are open to widely varying interpretations, and there is a violent, uncompromising, intolerant interpretation of Islam, just as there is of other religions. I think that that is what we saw in San Bernardino, Paris, and on the part of ISIS more generally. I think that saying that this is not Islam, or not "true" Islam is like saying that the Crusades were not "true" Christianity. Christianity/Islam IS what Christians/Muslims do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com