Of course "Faith" is the motive

Warriors of God?

The book by this title, written by James Reston Jr., details a thrilling narrative and vivid reassessment of the major players in the Third Crusade. The Christian Crusades, 1095 - 1291, were initiated in the name of a religion. Christianity. By no less than the Pope, Urban II. The history of the worlds two major religions is soaked with blood and there seems to be no end in sight. We are long past the chivalry of Saladin who is said to have sent a horse to King Richard I when he lost his mount during a Crusade battle and yet today's savagery might seem benign when compared to the atrocities committed in the past. By both sides. Still, the thirst for blood continues.

“Study the past if you would define the future.”
― Confucius

A 1300 year battle

Having the opportunity to coach youth sports for a few years, I was instructed by the powers of the league administrators that for the 4 and 5 year old groups, we were not to keep score to prevent the kids from losing interest or experiencing feelings which may lead to low self esteem. Interestingly, despite our best efforts to say there was no winner and to congratulate the young athletes on their efforts, every one of them knew the score and proudly proclaimed themselves winners or sadly stated they were losers. It was futile to avoid the truth and we quickly adapted our approach to a short acknowledgement of the outcome and a longer and sincere focus on each of their individual accomplishments and team opportunities for the next game. Deflection.

What benefit then, you might ask, is there in either avoiding or denying a religious connection to the terror being perpetrated against Americans? For that matter, the same can be asked about the terrorist acts committed against Israelis. It is futile. As individual thinkers (this appears to be a slowly diminishing segment of our population) we can make the connection. Let me be perfectly clear - this is not an indictment of the beliefs of either Islam or Christianity. Rather, I am pointing to the elephant in the room: The fight to be number 1. To be the winner. And yes, though we try to hide it, everyone is keeping score.

As a politically correct society, it is increasingly rare to see a criminal faulted for their actions. Rather, we hear about the deficiencies of their upbringing or worse yet, how they were boxed into their actions by the current or past behavior of the rest of us. Where does this deflection of responsibility end? Has the belief that criminals are made and can be rehabilitated decreased the activity in our courtrooms? Has it decreased the population in our prisons ? And has our continued support to Muslim nations, without tying that support to their public interference of extremists violence, reduced the attacks against Americans and our interests?

Obama's outreach to Muslim countries and faithful Islamist's worldwide is the right approach. His inability to call a jihad a jihad is a mistake recognized both by faithful Christians and Muslims alike. The great majority of each religion is peaceful and both contain extremists. The sooner that is recognized and we are able to get our arms around it - up front, in sight and out loud - the sooner we will realize progress in reducing the violence associated with the extremists. America was founded on religious tolerance. Not on religious ignorance.

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
― Winston Churchill

Summary of Major Religions Chart (or, where were you born?) Author's thoughts - Geography determines most people's religion - not some divine revelation.
ReligionMillions of Adherents	One God - The Monotheistic Religions(Also called the "bloody" religions)				Many Gods	No God
	Judaism 13	Christianity 1,955	Islam 1,126		Hinduism793	Buddhism325
Origination	Egypt - Israel	Israel - Rome	Arabia		India	India
When	586 B.C.	32 A.D.	622 A.D.		1500 B.C.	500 B.C.
Prophets	Adam, Noah, Abraham				No prophets
Adherent	Jew	Christian	Moslem		Hindu	Buddhist
Founder	Abraham/ Moses	Jesus	Mohammed		Many	Siddhartha Gotama
God	Yahweh, Elohim	Christ, Jehovah	Allah		Many: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva	none
Devil	No (adversary)	Devil, Satan	Satan		Iblis, Shaitan	Mara
This Life's Purpose	Now, plus test	Just a test	Just a test		One-of-many	This is it!
Afterlife	Eden, Gehenna	Heaven-Hell	Heaven-Hell		Reincarnation	Nirvana
Redemption	Prayer, Study	Confession Repentance	Faith, Works Pray 5 times/ day		Karma Eliminate passions	Enlightenment Eliminate passions
Place of Worship	Synagogue	Church	Mosque		Temple	Temple
Holy Book	Tanakh (Torah) Talmud	Bible	Quran plus Sunna (sayings)		Bhagavad Gita	Tipitaka
Seeks Converts?	No	Yes	Yes		No	No
Main Sects(worldwide est.)	8% Orthodox 34% Conservative 23% Reformed 35% Secular	52% Catholic 17% Protestant 19% Orthodox 2% Anglican	83% Sunni 16% Shiite		70% Vaishnaites 25% Shiavites 2% neo-Hindu	56% Mahayana 38% Hinayana 6% Tantrayana
Labels - Criticism	Worldly	Up tight	Extremist		Backward	Is that it?
Characteristics	Judaism	Christianity	Islam*		Hinduism	. Buddhism
Circumcision	RequiredAbraham introduced	Traditional	Traditional		No	No
Capitol Punishment	Murder	Murder	Murder, Adultery		No	No
Kill for God	Yes	Yes	Yes		No	No
Race Equality	Chosen by God	Equal	Equal		4 Castes	Equal
Original Sin	No	Yes - Baptism	No		"saddled with past"	No
Alcohol	OK	No - Yes	No		No	No
Women's Status	Far Improved	Not Bad	Supressed**		Poor***	Ambivalent