VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Steve|DATE|1369391852|CONTENT|Buddhists are slaughtering Muslims in Burma for being Muslims. Christian militias were heavily involved in sectarian violence in Lebanon, after the place had been thrown into chaos by a Jewish army. 68 people died in 2007 when Hindu extremists blew up a train in India. In Mexico, Los Famillias ran (runs) a vicious drug cartel under the banner of social justice for Mexico’s poor.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Atheists – and Muslims – do charity work, help people, and generally act as fully-committed members of an integrated society.

All terrorism is political, done purely in the pursuit of power. Small groups with extremist political views know that they cannot achieve what they want as long as they remain isolated. The quickest way to change this is for them to claim they are acting on behalf of a larger group, irrespective of that group’s feelings on the subject. Religion and politics are both used to this end. Islamic terrorism is a classic case. By trying to eliminate the distinction between the terrorists and the wider Muslim community, they make their “army” a thousand fold larger, and make their cause seem vastly more legitimate.

It is crucial that we don’t buy into this lie. Islam and other religions have lots of things wrong with them, well worth criticising. Terrorism is not one of them, any more than Red Army Faction terrorism was a just criticism of socialism. The general Muslim response to Wednesday’s events has been excellent. Society should encourage all groups, religious and otherwise, to distance themselves as far as possible from the terrorists who claim to act in their name.|IP-ADDRESS|10.0.119.73, 217.36.222.79, 10.37.36.203|MODERATIONFLAG|