Islamic terrorism? It is patently clear that the problem with Islamic terrorism isn't Islam as some might erroneously surmise, and for proof I need not go farther than our own shores.
America is home to thousands if not millions of Islamic Americans. If Islam were the root of terrorism, then we would have to ask ourselves how it is that none of our fellow Islamic American citizens and residents are blowing themselves and each other up. Is it not obvious that the are not suffering from what I call the misery factor. These Americans like most Americans live in relative comfort and security, have jobs to go, homes to live in, mosques to worship in and need not fear that their some suicide bomber might blow themselves and their family up. It simply does not happen here and for good reason. By and large people in this nation, regardless of their religion enjoy a lifestyle unknown in some of the darker regions of the Mideast.
And you'll note that for the most part, we don't hear about suicide bombings in the stabler parts of the Mideast. Not in U.A.E. or Jordan, or Saudi Arabia, but in places where turmoil and misery reigns, such as Israel, where the Palestinians are miserable, or Iraq, still struggling to rise from the ashes of George Bush's ill conceived war. Poor impoverished Afghanistan and neighbor hing Pakistan where tribal and economic conditions drive many young Muslims to the point of desperation.
Because if you ask yourself a simple question you will arrive at a very simple and correct conclusion. What would drive anyone to kill themselves along with anyone with the misfortune of being in their vicinity, with no regard or concern for the suffering such an act unleashes, other than the fact they are completely and utterly miserable. Perhaps they have no job and their family has been killed in the war, or by suicide bombers. They are hungry, lonely, emotionally battered and without hope. They live in countries with battered infrastructures where electricity and clean water are luxuries, where jobs and good meals are scarce and where pleasures are few.
I will add however, that Islam insomuch as it is a religion, much like Christianity, does exacerbate matters in that in creates especially in males an irrational hostility towards one's own human sexuality. It perhaps in many cases becomes a straw that breaks many a camel's back, as lonely souls bereft of love and the comfort of a woman's touch, seek respite in martyrdom and the promise of virgins in heaven. It's a cruel and mean joke to play on these poor souls in so many ways. some but the problem isn't exclusive to Islam. This war on the flesh creates self hatred as one's own natural and innate desires are view as vehicles to damnation. It is I believe at the heart of the child molestation problem in the Catholic priesthood. Denying a human males normal needs for sex, can result in sexual feelings finding expression in unnatural ways.
You don't hear about other religions that allow the priests to marry etc. having the kinds of problems the Catholic Church has had. Not that all catholic priests are sexually repressed child moles tors, and are able to sublimate such primal passions in healthy ways, but I still do view such repressive sexuality as unhealthy and potentially dangerous, just as most Muslim males are happily married and have satisfying sex lives.
Still, don't go explaining how sex is God's gift to loving couples in monogamous marriage for the purpose of procreation. Don't go confusing God's purpose with our purpose. Sexuality is of and always will be of the jungle, even within the confines of social institutions. Now that is not to give one license of free reign to act on impulses, but rather to make a case for self-compassion towards one's own sexuality. Because any species whose males did not feel a compulsive and overwhelming urge to engage in sex, would be deselected in the evolutionary process.
But again let's not confuse life's purpose with our own. We seek sex because it's fun and pleasurable and makes us feel less alone in the world and intimately close with those whom we love the most. It's the bait and we lunge after it whole-heartedly. Just like life's purpose for hunger is for us to feed our bodies, nurture them and keep them warm, but we don't' eat for this reason. We eat because we are hungry and it feels good to eat. These qualities ensure we survive as the fittest for a species that did not eat or engage in sex often would slowly die off due to starvation and a lack of reproductive activity.
