Is Islam to blame ?

15 November

Yesterday I sat quite happily in my ignorance of events in the wider world as I typed my blog for yesterday. When I got onto Facebook I saw an entry from one of my friends saying she in Paris. So me in my ignorance quipped, ‘Ah, but which gallery are you in?’ Only much later did I realise that yet another atrocity had taken place in Paris. I put BBC News 24 on and sat in stunned silence as the talking heads prattled on and on, trying to analyse the events of Friday evening.

Now the whole thing has been looked at superficially and much more will come out as the investigation continues. But you know what? The investigators will spend weeks looking into it and the people who committed the attack. People have been arrested and more will no doubt follow; and yet they probably miss the most obvious reason for what happened. All the target venues had just one thing in common; they were full of people enjoying a night out and having fun. The terrorists seem incapable of doing the same thing. Fun is lacking in their understanding of our world.

I can see no future for the world if these people actually get their own way, and living in it with a constant fear of being killed for smiling at another person is a nightmare thought. But you know what? I bet those killers were laughing as they strapped on their explosive vest and loaded their magazines with bullets. Is that a contradiction? Probably yes, but as with all thugs and bullys who only attack those who can’t fight back, they don’t like others doing what they enjoy.

The world seems to be full of such people, and yet it’s only a few of them that can cause as much damage and fear as what was seen last Friday evening. ‘Boots on the ground’, should not be the answer simply because that is what they want. They want to be seen as a legitimate force, or state. That must not be allowed to happen!

This whole issue has wiped everything else in the world from our minds. So many folk are going to work as normal; they are going out for a night of fun on the town. Others are working hard to protect them; doctors and nurses and their support staff are still at work caring for and patching up the ill and injured just by life’s normal knocks and bumps. Even more volunteers are giving up their own time to help those in need. Food banks are doing a great job feeding people when they have nowhere else to go (the rights and wrongs of this need are for another time). But ask yourself a question as you read this … ask why are all these people who are at the bottom of the pile and have no further to fall, why are they not running off to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS?

The answer is Islam! Yes, I know, Muslims are claiming that they are being blamed for what is being done in the name of Islam, that it isn’t a true reflection of their faith. But hang on minute; it is Islam that has raised these people to become what they are; it is Islam that gives them vision to kill in God’s name; it is God fearing, mosque attending Muslims who go off to fight; it is Muslims who have funded their trip in one way or another; it is Muslim parents who have produced passports for their children to use to travel to Syria or Iraq. Until all that stops, Islam and Muslims will be pointed at as the cause of it all.

Today’s photo … 

This is ISIS doesn’t like, people having fun.

Today’s funny …

 Officer: "Madam, swimming is prohibited in this lake."
Lady: "Why didn't you tell me when I was removing my clothes?"
Officer: "Well, that's not prohibited."