When it's something this extreme, I find that it goes beyond mere religion.8O
To a degree you're right. It does go beyond mere religion..... but religion is still a huge part of it.
The way it goes beyond mere religion is that it extends to "
Fear of One's Own Religion and the other Religions Around You."
Because of this fear some people have towards being punished by their God(s) for not doing enough in defending their said religion and their said God(s), they will generally resort to the most extreme course of action.
Why?
Is it because of religious devotion?
Nope..... it's because of pure selfishness.
Selfishness in that one is so scared of what might actually happen to them after they die, that they will resort to extreme violence or radical actions at the expense of their fellow man/woman & have no regard for their safety or their lives because they keep telling themselves that they're either saving these people somehow..... or they're ridding the planet of these people in order to save others in the future from fallen under their competition.
And by doing so, they believe they'll be somehow rewarded in the afterlife.
It doesn't really matter about what happens now, it doesn't matter how many people die in the process...... so long as they get their little seat in their imaginary paradise, that's all that matters to them, because they're so god damn ignorant and their lives are such crap now, that all they have to look forward to is dying..... because this life doesn't matter somehow.
And I'm not just talking about Extremist Muslims..... I'm talking about the Extremists in all religions, and including this idiot jackass who burns these books.
Yes, these people committing violent acts are directly responsible for their own actions, but this idiot who burned the books knew damn well what was going to happen, he knew exactly how they would react and how they would see it..... and he did it anyways.
To me, that's pretty similar to inciting a riot...... perhaps indirectly, but to even assume or excuse this idiot as having no responsibility for what has occurred is just as insane as saying these extremist Muslims are not responsible for what they did or are doing.
We all know bears are dangerous and can be pretty violent when provoked..... yet there will always be one or two idiots out there who will find one, poke it with a stick a few times and end up getting their face peeled off their skulls..... then turn around and play the victim, crying about what happened and expect people to go out and shoot the thing as if they had no part in what occurred.
^ The same mentality applies here...... we all know Extremist Muslims are touchy about their religion and have a tendency to react violently when provoked. We all know that burning their holy book is one of the worst ways you can provoke them..... they even openly warned what would happen, they all protested and caused a stir back when this book burning thing was just an idea.
Did this idiot think they were bluffing??
You cross a rattle snake's path and it rattles it's tail to warn you to get the hell away from it or get bit..... you don't keep walking up to it and try and pat it on the damn head and then turn around and moan to everyone else that you got bit.
Like I said, I'm not excusing the actions of either side.... this is the Extremist's mentality.
They run around and behead/kill people because they're extreme that way when it comes to believing in their religion..... and idiots like this guy who burnt the books are indirectly extreme by knowing what would happen if he provoked the other extremists, knowing that he'd create a worse situation then what already exists.... and then does it anyways, but blames them for their reaction as if he had nothing to do with it and that what he did shouldn't be such a serious issue.
Each religion has their own things they take very seriously that others see as completely ridiculous.
Yes, I agree that burning a book, whether it's a holy book or grandma's cook book, shouldn't be that big of a deal..... but at the same time, I don't think sex before marriage, abortions or homosexuality are that big of a deal either like some Christians make them out to be..... and depending on how extreme one person takes their
"fear" of their religion and the
"fear" that they will be somehow punished in the afterlife because they didn't do enough to stop what they believe their religion thinks is wrong..... a Christian shooting an abortion doctor or blowing up a clinic is just as bad as an Extremist Muslim who beheads someone or suicide bombs a market because of their own stupid, ignorant beliefs that drives their own fear towards their own punishment in the afterlife.
To sum up.... Religions thrive and still exist all because of their own custom style of fear of punishment.
If religions didn't have fear of punishment in the afterlife, then nobody in those religions would give a sweet damn what others did in their lives and nobody would probably continue to follow those religions.
People would just try and live their own lives, try and live for today, try and live to better the lives of those they care about & love.... and try and make the most of the time they have on this planet, rather then run around threatening people, killing people, beating people up and trying to poke a stick at those who believe in something other then what they believe in.
I think that people that do these sorts of atrocities would do them regardless if religion was tied into it or not. It takes a "special" kind of person to be able to do those kinds of acts.
Indeed it does.... it takes someone who's been brainwashed all their lives who've been taught to believe in their own version of God, to defend and spread their religion & God to those around them, by force if need be, and if they don't do a good enough job, they will suffer for all eternity.
Them killing others who don't believe in their religion isn't really a crime..... not in the eyes of their God anyways, and to them, that's all that matters because their God/Religion controls what happens to them after they die.
That's the kind of special person it takes.... a brainwashed individual who's filled with fear of their own God and who is selfish towards their own personal well-being in their version of the afterlife.