You might want to read Tim Kelleher’s perceptive article on the divergence between the West and ISIS and why we are so mutually dismissive. Here’s a snippet:
ISIS may be dead wrong, but they are clear. The president may be right, yet, very unclear. In each instance, the combination is dangerous. And, I would suggest that the case represented by the administration has much to teach us about the degraded state of contemporary Western culture, while pointing to some remedies for it. Like his predecessor, Barack Obama has at times made religious appeals to justify policy. His Nobel acceptance speech, for example, was a veritable seminar on Just War Theory; an anomaly so surprising, critics seemed at a loss for objections, and supporters for plausible denial.
I think we will continue to be surprised and horrified at goings-on in much of the world until more of us recognize that religion is a motivation as strong or stronger than material gain or fear.
Religion is only one – there is also honor and “community” loyalty.
Agree with Andy. Also,f you follow the biographies of the foreign fighters who go to join ISIS, few of them seem to be lifelong devout Muslims. An awful lot of them are second generation guys who feel isolated and angry because they just don’t fit well in either culture. Angry young men who feel dissed and alienated make a great breeding ground for recruits to go fight for some cause. They finally feel like they belong to a group that values them.
Plus, it certainly seems that plain old division of spoils is a factor in Iraq. The Shia govt was dividing up the goodies amongst themselves, leaving out the Sunnis. That was certainly seen as unjust in the rest of the Arab world and probably why a lot of funding came in from the Gulf states.
I think this summation by Metz, though a bit optimistic, is pretty good.
http://chainsoff.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/the-price-of-defeating-the-islamic-state/
While seeing Andy and Steve’s point, I still think there’s something to the erosion of religion in our culture. Two aspects strike me as important: that we have lost a unifying force in our culture, and that there is such hypocrisy in all of our institutions, secular and religious.
These factors, I think, push vulnerable people into extremist camps.
Whether religion is a strong motivating factor, an excuse, or simply a crutch, it is more often than not used by people to explain or justify their extreme tendencies or acts — both for the sake of good and evil.
I would still like to see a more religiously-pointed review of ISIS actions within the context of Islamic laws and traditions. As I recall, beheadings were Islamic punishments for apostasy. This seems kind of pathetic within the grand tradition of Islamic conquest.
Obama is an American Christian, completely soft on numerous points of religious doctrine, but certain that this feels evil.