Lee Weissman · @JihadiJew
7th Feb 2017 from TwitLonger
The answer is not to "weaponize" your faith.
The Muslims did not invent religious violence or extremism. Religion is easy to "weaponize." All religions, especially the Abrahamic family of religions, feature an "us vs. them" world view. There is the chosen, the saved, the righteous and everyone else. Mingle this sense of us and them with powerful ideas of good and evil and you easily end up with The Good Us vs. The Evil Them. Add a little dehumanizing language, Find a few verses to justify the use of extreme violence (not at all hard to find) and you have a fully weaponized religion.
A weaponized Christianity launched the crusades, aimed at Muslims and destroying Jewish communities in its wake. A weaponized Judaism has started to fuel settler violence against Palestinians. A weaponized Buddhism inspires meditative monks in Burma to burn mosques. We are right to be terrified of weaponized Islam, and indeed of all weaponized religion.
The response is NOT to weaponize back. The response is NOT to engage in the very same black and white thinking as the extremists, or to re-create our own faiths in the image of our weaponized enemies.
The response is to show that un-weaponized religion can be passionate, meaningful, committed, and transformative. Put down the weapons, pick up the books, learn, pray and fix the world.