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7 Responses to “9/11 again”

1. Jorge says:

   September 11, 2007 at 13:20

   O problema não é a religião. É o fanatismo. E este pode muito bem existir sem religião…

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2. Fabio says:

   September 11, 2007 at 13:27

   And the world will live as one

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3. Jorge says:

   September 11, 2007 at 13:47

   (Sorry for my response in Portuguese. I didn’t notice this blog is written in English. Please excuse me)
   Here’s the translation:
   The problem is not religion. It’s fanatism. And it can very well exist without religion…

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4. Pedro Timóteo says:

   September 11, 2007 at 14:29

   Jorge: fanaticism is simply following ALL of some religion, instead of just the “pleasant” parts.

   It’s common to say “oh, the 9/11 hijackers were extremists, Islam isn’t like that”.

   Much the opposite: Islam IS like that. The “moderates” are those who ignore more than 50% of the Koran.

   And Christianity is no better. How many people have you stoned to death because they were gay, disobeyed their parents, ate shellfish, or worked on a saturday? None, I hope. And yet Christianity tells you to do all of those.

   “Fanaticism” and “extremism” are not distortions of a faith, they are TRUE faith. “Moderation” is nothing more than ignoring the unpleasant parts of a faith. Which pretty much amounts to “making up your own religion”…

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5. Jorge says:

   September 11, 2007 at 16:10

   “Fanaticism and extremism are not distortions of a faith, they are TRUE faith.”
   That’s not true, but that would be a discussion that would take too long.
   Anyway, you didn’t argue against what I think is the most important point: even if you could end with all kinds of religion, you wouldn’t end fanatism.
   It’s a mistake to think that.
   No one can assure that terrorism wouldn’t exist if religion didn’t exist. Take a look at ETA. It has nothing to do with religion.

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6. Moderates and Extremists at Way of the Mind says:

   September 11, 2007 at 20:38

   [...] posted by other members of Planet Atheism, so it’s probably not new to readers of this blog), its equivalent on my technology blog did draw a few ones, which inspired me to write this (it’s here because [...]

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7. Pedro Timóteo says:

   September 11, 2007 at 20:45

   Jorge: I agree with you, religion is not the only way to be a fanatic. As to extremists, however, I stand by what I said, and I’ve just written a (I hope) clearer reply here. It’s not on this blog because it’s really offtopic here. Feel free to comment there, if you’d like.

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