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Comment by spindritf | Hacker News Reader

> please rewrite your post to replace 'islamists' with 'militants'.

No need to rewrite anything, it's both their hostility and philosophical differences that scare us. Overcoming that fear and reaffirming our values is the basis for one of the most important texts in the European culture — The Song of Roland.

EDIT: I do know what you mean and I'm sorry but those are just feel-good platitudes. West quite obviously is not afraid of militant Christians or atheists. Mostly because there aren't really any left, and those who still hang around don't regularly erupt in violence, but also because they're much more like us and it's easier for us to understand their particular extremism.

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> there aren't really any left

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_God_(USA)

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/342577631....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutaree

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/todd-green-phd/anders-behring-...

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/guest_bloggers/...

At this risk of getting this all out of order (since you edited rather than replying)..

The west is RUN by militant christians (and militant jews and militant atheists etc). They use armies to inflict their particular brand of extremism. They killed about a million iraquis. They murder people in cold blood by dropping missiles from drones from 50,000 ft up. Pretty fucking extreme if you ask me.

Could you please show us the militant Jews and atheists running the West?

Yeah, you got me there, I actually have no idea.. I just assumed there would be some people with other beliefs in the armed forces in US, UK, Israel, Australia (ie. the west).

I'd bet the UK and Australia have atheists in their armed forces, but they don't run the world. I've met militant Jews in Israel's armed forces, but they don't run the world either. The United States runs the world, but has a heavily Protestant tilt.

Fair cop.. I was just trying to be inclusive ;)

Point I was trying to make is the militancy is an end in itself and the belief structures are simply bent to serve it.. in refutation of the idea that militancy in the muslim world is peculiarly religious.

They find religious justifications for operational killings in order not to abandon their religion, not because their religion demands it. US forces just abandon religion when it suits them and call themselves a secular nation. The British made themselves a whole new religion answerable to the head of state. These are all just ways of twisting religion to serve power.

This is a commonly made argument, but it's silly. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were declared by the secular government of a secular state for geopolitical reasons. Most of the individuals are Christian, but the war and tactics have nothing whatsoever to do with Christian doctrine or motivations.

The "Muslim militants" under discussion launch attacks for specifically Muslim motives, with carefully constructed justifications cross-referenced to precise verses from the Koran and Hadiths.

Read up on the neo-conservative philosophy on Israel and its support from Armageddon Christians.

The hostility and philosophical differences of muslims or militants?

I think you also misunderstand. Militants are a small subset of society which also includes some muslims, some christians, hindus, atheists etc. Point is, vast majority of muslims are peaceful, just the same as christians or atheists.

hostility and philosophical differences that scare us. Overcoming that fear and reaffirming our values is the basis

The Wikipedia entry for "Song of Roland" ends with the actions of Roland's avengers:

"The traitor is torn limb from limb by galloping horses and thirty of his relatives are hung for good measure."

What differences in philosophy and hostility were you referring to again?

The US spent 2001-2009 terrorized by militant Christians.

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