If you want to get a great perspective on faith from a Christian worldview, try getreligion.org. I really like this site. This post about “why they hate us” is particularly good. Check it out.
Get Religion
September 15th, 2008 · 3 Comments
Tags: Faith and Doubt
3 responses so far ↓
1 Drew // Sep 15, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I am not sure why you like that particular article Bill? For one those quotes are mostly lies. Many Jews for example died in the Towers. Although Mr. Abbas has somewhat of a point about Iraq. Saddam was a bastard but that is no justification for the invasion. All the other excuses (9-11 link, WMD’s, all lies).
However, what strikes me most about that article is that, for, a more clear picture can be made of the interviewees buy asking why they beliee certain things, not what their religious background is.
And the false dichotomy at the end is quite telling. I think there are more than just 2 worldviews, though you wouldn’t know it from that article.
2 Paulie // Sep 16, 2008 at 2:02 am
Drew, I think you are missing the point. These quotes are from Egyptians (presumably Muslims). The point is not that these things they say are true, but that that many Egyptians believe them, and that it may have something to do with the fact that they are Muslim and are likely biased against Jews and Christians. A perfect example of how many people hold factually unsupportable positions, because of the influence of their faith.
3 Drew // Sep 16, 2008 at 5:05 am
I get that point. But the article itself is pretty, bad. For one, those quotes are not unique, and have been out there for years. The Isreali or Jewsih connection has been widely reported, yet the article incorrectly reports:
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Slackman, the writer of the story, deserves a pat on the back for including these quotes in the story. By letting his subjects speak at length, he presented their point of view with a brusqueness that rarely appears in American news pages.
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Really? Was anyone who read that article (in the NY Times dated 9-11-2008) reading the idea that Jews were not killed on 9-11 for the first time? 2nd? I hope not.
And this at the end I referred to:
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But the questions are key in determining whether a speaker has a Regensburg lecture view of humanity or a Lion and the Unicorn one.
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Again, “either or”, suggesting that there can be no other way to view the world we live in.
I was just kind of surprised a journalist would plug that article as a good one, when I found it rather poorly written.
I agree with you that the point of the article is that their religious beliefs color their view of current events and have them believe falsehoods. I disagree with the article that that is important here, and will go farther still and say that it is kind of irresponsible to boot. There are many more factors than just religion at work here.
Government propaganda for one, lack of journalistic integritiy for another, and a lack of education or being a member of a lower social class for a third.
And to be honest, I read the original NYT article and it seemed pretty clear that Muslim was a theme for those who thought the US and/or Isreal were behind the 9/11 attacks.
I am not sure anyone could read that article and not come away with that, but apparently the writer of the Get Religion article felt the religion point wasn’t pounded enough.
We could go on to debate all the reasons people over there feel that way…
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