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Where's God?

Entry 1780, on 2016-03-24 at 22:29:08 (Rating 5, News)

So yet another vicious attack on a civilised and peaceful country has been carried out by a group motivated by Islamic extremism. And just like it has been in the past with almost every attack of this type we can all say "Islam Again" (see my previous blog post with this title from 2015-06-29). Why is it always (or almost always) Islamic extremists who perform these revolting acts of violence?

Is it because Islam is just a religion which encourages violence? I think that is certainly a factor. Is it because even though the fundamental reasons for extremism are non-religious that religion is still a convenient excuse for it? That is probably true in some cases. Is it because this is what their god actually wants? Well, apparently he does.

I mean, if he really does want peace you might think he would make those wishes known to his followers. But his communications with humans have always been a bit confusing. There are over 20,000 different Christian sects all with their own interpretation of God's thoughts, for example. And different sects within Islam routinely kill each other in significant numbers.

But God always has been pretty mixed up. I mean Allah is the same god as the god of the Jews and Christians and his wishes seem to be very contradictory. With the Jews it was mostly "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". With the Christians mainly "turn the other cheek". And with the Muslims something like "a religion of peace which was spread by the sword".

So you can see how Islamic terrorists might reasonably think they are doing their god's bidding. There are parts of the Islamic holy books which seem to indicate that killing infidels is OK and their god hasn't really indicated that they are doing the wrong thing, has he?

I mean, if these atrocities really were against his will you might think he might want to clarify things a bit. Like by sending a sign that terrorism isn't good. You know, like some of the cool stuff he did in the Old Testament. When he didn't like Sodom and Gomorrah he destroyed them and all their inhabitants with fire. Sort of like an early form of napalm attack. God was so bad-ass back then!

But today he just sits around twiddling his thumbs while his followers commit vile acts in his name. And yes, that is literally true because we know the words "Allahu Akbar" are commonly used during terrorist attacks.

So I blame God for the violence we see today. If he approves of this stuff, fair enough, he should just keep quiet and let things continue. But the followers of the same religion who claim to be peaceful should have a think about this. Either God condones this violence and lets it continue or it is against his wishes. And if it is why doesn't he do something about it?

It gets back to this: if the Islamic extremists have got the message wrong they need to be told they are wrong. And really only their God can do that. But where's God when we really need him?

Comment 1 (4479) by Christ Centered Teaching on 2016-03-24 at 23:03:57:

Allah is not a real god.
Islam is purposely violent.

Comment 2 (4480) by OJB on 2016-03-24 at 23:04:22:

Exactly, he's not a real god because he doesn't exist. That was really the point I was making in a rather satirical way. Of course, as an atheist, I would say none of the other gods are real either!

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