Blogging Roller: Tim Bray's blasphemy

Tim Bray's blasphemy

Tim Bray: To all the excellent Christians and Jews and Muslims out there: I know you exist. But youâre vanishing from view behind the cloud of mucky dust being raised by your lunatic fringe; as of right now, in the twenty-first century, when someone claims to be deeply religious, thatâs grounds for suspicion of bigotry, greed, and a predisposition to homicide. Which is one reason my little boy isnât being taken to church, for the moment.

I wish I had the guts to be so brutally honest on my blog. Tim's right on. And I'll add this: if we don't curb the crazies, we're not going to make it through this century.

Dave Johnson in General • 🕒 05:52AM Feb 14, 2006

Tags: politics

Comments:

The trouble is in comparing the crazies in the West to those on the Islamic side. West: Rant on TV, threaten boycotts, work within the political system as it exists Islamic: Burn down embassies, threaten violence, actually kill people Now, call me nuts, but I see a difference there. I have zero fear of people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. I disagree with them on nearly everything but - and here's the crucial point - they work within the system for change. They don't threaten to overthrow the system if they don't get their way. The sad thing is that too many in the West - you and Tim apparently included - can't see that.

Posted by James Robertson on February 14, 2006 at 02:41 PM EST #

I do see your point. Violent crazies are the worst kind of crazies and they are not evenly distributed across all faiths (unless, perhaps, if you count historical crazyness like the inquisition, the crusades, etc.).

Posted by Dave Johnson on February 14, 2006 at 02:59 PM EST #

Really, I don't think the difference is between the West and the Islamic world as James suggests. The difference is bewteen rich developed countires and places where many people appear to have nothing to lose by rioting and torching buildings. Clearly, there is a huge difference bewteen the protests in the war torn poorer countries and those protests in the likes of cities such as London, Toronto and others in rich developed countries. But, this is an imperfect analysis as the violence of certain "christians" against specific medical practices demonstrates.

Posted by Brian Blakeley on February 15, 2006 at 01:50 AM EST #