I’m always amazed that so many commenters imagine all violence (or even most) is religiously motivated. Religion is frequently used to justify it, true, but I am positive there would be just as much and just as horrible violence if there had never been any religion at all. And we westerners have no room to judge other cultures. As others have pointed out, we in the west invented most of the most horrible forms of murder. We have invented, or at least previously employed burning alive, crucifying, beheading, drawing and quartering, gassing, electrocuting, shooting, scalping, and so on. Americans were particularly good at subduing and exterminating the indigenous people, even intentionally employing biological warfare. This does not in any way justify what ISIS did – but we can not imagine that they are novel in their horror or that we are really any better.
I’m always amazed that so many commenters imagine all violence (or even most) is religiously motivated. Religion is frequently used to justify it, true, but I am positive there would be just as much and just as horrible violence if there had never been any religion at all. And we westerners have no room to judge other cultures. As others have pointed out, we in the west invented most of the most horrible forms of murder. We have invented, or at least previously employed burning alive, crucifying, beheading, drawing and quartering, gassing, electrocuting, shooting, scalping, and so on. Americans were particularly good at subduing and exterminating the indigenous people, even intentionally employing biological warfare. This does not in any way justify what ISIS did – but we can not imagine that they are novel in their horror or that we are really any better.