11 November 2014

Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism

.... Most of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims do not countenance violence and human rights violations, but the fact remains that fundamentalists are not a fringe group; they occupy senior positions in Muslim clerical hierarchy. There are tens of millions (or more) of them, and they believe their interpretation of Islam is the only correct one.

Moderate Muslims claim they are being unfairly lumped into this motley crew, but if they are claiming a schism, they haven't been clear about it.

When Martin Luther, a Catholic priest and a theology professor, repudiated two core teachings of the Catholic Church, he acknowledged that, by definition, he was no longer Catholic. He was part of the Protestant Reformation, and his followers are called Lutherans.

Moderate Muslims still call themselves Muslims. But there will never be a Quran 2.0. According to fundamentalists, moderates do not follow the rules, and fundamentalists are correct on this point. Fundamentalists view them as bugs in the program. [The Huffington Post] Read more