“Oh Lord, what fools these mortals be!” -Shakespere
Most widely practiced Religions contain some notion of Heaven and Hell. We’ll address the concept of Heaven and Hell within the context of Christianity and Islam and its impact on terrorism.
Christians and Muslims alike look forward to a life of eternal bliss with God, the angels, family, friends and colleagues who have heretofore passed. Meanwhile, both abhor the notion of hell along with its inherent spiritual and physical torment. Christians describe hell as an “Sheoi,” Hebrew for “underworld,” a place where “Gehenna” a locale of eternal torment in the form of “unquenchable fire,” (Mark 9:43) reserved unrepentant sinners. Similarly, Islam describes hell (Jahannam in Arabic) as fiery crater of various levels, much like Dante’s Inferno, the level of torment being commensurate with the degree of offenses committed by the unfortunate resident during his relatively short time on Earth. No mitigating factors here folks! No reprieves, no parole, and, of course, no shortage of innocent people.
Both Christianity and Islam describe Hell as some type of below-ground cavern, presumably close enough to the Earth’s core to fuel its cadre of torments. This concept is supported by no credible scientific evidence. Similarly, as the notion Heaven being somewhere high up in the sky as it would defy even the most fundamental laws of physics. Even if one could travel at the speed of light (the universal “speed limit”) to “get into” heaven, it would take millions of years to arrive. Similarly, if such a place existed a reasonable travel distance from Earth, Scientists would certainly have found it by now.
Not unlike politics, religion has its moderates, conservatives and radicals, and adherence to the above described beliefs varies depending on where one’s religious beliefs lies on this spectrum. The key criteria for identifying where a group resides is its degree of adhesion to its primary religious “authoritative source” document, e.g. the Bible and the Quaran for Christianity and Islam respectively.
The Right espouses a loose adherence to its authoritative source. Most “Rights” are moderates who consider their authoritative source as an imprecise but useful tool in overall guidance to how to live one’s life; a symbolic approach. Most believe in an afterlife, but it’s what this afterlife is remains to them a mystery. The notion of life after death can be construed as supported, or rejected by the 2004 research published in PubMed of the “out-of-body” perception that occurs as part of the near death experience. The believer adheres to the hope that this experience supports the notion that the soul leaves the body, hovers about for a bit and then travels up “towards the light,” we would assume, on its way to the Pearly Gates of Heaven. The nay-sayer believes that the out-of-body experience has a scientific explanation. The 2014 Journal Frontiers study that suggested a “strong deactivation of the visual cortex” that, in turn, engenders mental imagery of bodily movement while observing oneself on, lets say, on a hospital gurney. Our concern is the radical Left who strongly espouse the former and would probably seek to behead anyone who support the latter.
As we approach the Left, stronger adherence to the authoritative source emerges and intensifies. Moderate fundamentalists are conservatives and their beliefs are tantamount to the literal interpretation of their authoritative source, however, they are able to draw the line when it comes to the more radical contents of the authoritative source. For example, you are not likely to find fundamentalists Christians executing women they expect of practicing witchcraft based on Exodus 22:18, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Similarly, peace-loving conservative Muslims are practical when it comes to passages like: “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing… but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah” (Quaran 2:191-193.) IBoth Christian and Muslim moderates will rightly defer any decisions regarding killing unbelievers, infidels and nay-sayers to its Jesus or Allah.
Now the fun part. The radical Left, the extremists, the reason the world is so f***** up and the United States Government cannot afford to provide free higher education and healthcare to its citizens! This faction tends to be undereducated provocateurs who, while knowing little to nothing about their authoritative source, designate themselves (not their God) as the enforcers of the faith, largely because they have nothing else to do. They don’t leave the burning of Witches to God, they personally take on the burning. They don’t defer the authority of dealing with the unbelievers to God; they stone, behead and otherwise eliminate them themselves. At the core of the radical Left are groups like the KKK, the Army of God, ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Al-Shabab. All of these religious agendas are predicated on what is referred to in Theology as the “end game.” This is one’s final destination subsequent to when one’s time on earth has expired, naturally or intentionally. The Right believe that some higher power will transform them into a spiritual entity and take them to a place of eternal happiness and peace. Not necessarily “Heaven” as described in the Bible, but something unknown, but good. At the other end of the spectrum are Muslim extremists who believe that the better and more effective they are at enforcing the will of God as enumerated in the Quaran, the better the reward; 72 virgins (or “raisins” if you accept the interpretation of the Arabic term ḥūrīyah) and a lifetime of eternal bliss. These extremists are also inclined to support the notion of intentional termination of life in the form of suicide bombings. To the Christian, it’s both a “place” closer to God’s “house” and a higher status in Heaven.
This thesis espouses the dangers of ignorance that result in terrorism. As leaders of the free world, the USA has chosen the use of its vast military resources to combat terrorism. This has resulted in death, destruction and increased hatred for what is good and Right. Wouldn’t it be better to import armies of educators and use force only to support the efforts of these educators in their fight against ignorance, hatred and hate crimes against humanity?
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