69 million page views

Theology Counts

Reader comment on item: The Causes of Terrorism: It's Not about Money
in response to reader comment: The good old days!

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), May 10, 2013 at 05:49

While I also think that most Muslim immigrants wish to live in peace in the USA, I also believe that Islamic theology and spirituality is a "wild card" that has a lot more to do with terrorism than most of us would like to admit.

We in the North Atlantic world are beneficiaries of a theology (Christian Reformed/Calvinist) that saw unlimited power in the hands of a sinner (all of us save Jesus Christ) as a very dangerous thing. Hence, they developed a view of temporal power as ministerial and limited by the law of God rather than magisterial and absolute. While we Americans like to stress the "secular" character of our republic, the influence of a century and a half of British and other European theologizing on the limits of power and when revolt is justified often shows through.

Islam, however, has a very different theology (and theological anthropology). Unfortunately, most of our social scientists and other members of our governing, media, and academic elites have at best the theological understanding of a ten-year-old when it comes to ANY theological tradition, his will probably be missed.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (13) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Beyond the reach of social scientists [49 words]UgriApr 4, 2013 07:02204940
1The good old days! [496 words]dhimmi no moreApr 1, 2013 14:14204891
Theology Counts [187 words]Peter HerzMay 10, 2013 05:49204891
1India's Islamic Neighbors; Does fundamentalism cause backwardness (and poverty)? [488 words]SudiptoOct 17, 2010 23:04179376
1THE MUSLIM ECONOMIC TRAP: THE CORRELATION OF GOVERNMENT ECONOMIC POWER WITH PRESENT-DAY TERRORISM [82 words]Carol M. FullerJul 11, 2008 16:08134887
1Root Cause Analysis. [957 words]Allen smithJan 9, 2006 20:0531364
context [163 words]ReaderJan 10, 2006 00:1131364
2Minority and majority in Islam are like anywhere else. But... [155 words]Alain Jean-MairetJan 10, 2006 01:0431364
1Your logic is flawed as well [882 words]Allen smithJan 10, 2006 16:1731364
how so? [26 words]ReaderJan 12, 2006 12:0931364
Flawed logic [76 words]ReaderJan 9, 2006 07:5331329
your logic is flawed as well [878 words]allen smithJan 10, 2006 01:3131329
Flawed Logic [48 words]Amin RiazMar 18, 2013 21:4831329

Comment on this item

Mark my comment as a response to Theology Counts by Peter Herz

Email me if someone replies to my comment

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

See recent outstanding comments.

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)