Religion & Politics of Religion – Page 3

Howard Bloom

A Worst Case Documentation of Islam as Evil

EDIT of 20161201: Religion is one of the most complicated topics, and it is very hard for most people to grasp that at root most religions based on dogma, including Catholicism, are a mix of outright fabrication (for example, see Christ's Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity), good intentions at various points in the “invention” history, and utterly despicable exploitation for personal and institutional profit. Within Islam — and I defer mostly to those who have actually read the Koran in the original in Arabic — there are moral and intellectual factions, each with their own interpretation, some warranting great fear, others great tolerance.

Continue reading “Review: The Muhammad Code – How a Desert Prophet Brought You ISIS, al Qaeda, and Boko Haram”

2016/09/292016/09/29

Review: Islam vs. ISIS – Why the True Islam is the exact opposite of the Islamic State

5 Star, Country/Regional, Intelligence (Spiritual), Misinformation & Propaganda, Religion & Politics of Religion, Threats (Emerging & Perennial)

Absolutely Recommended, Some Flaws, But Many Illustrations and an Easy Read, September 29, 2016

I rate this book as a solid five because it is a very important collection of insights — including a buried but all important indictment of Saudi Arabian Wahhabism and Western Imperialism as the true roots of ISIS. The graphics are so exceptional that I urge the author to offer this book in Kindle form where color graphics and the easy jumps from picture to brief test to picture will make this book twice as valuable as its present form limited to black and white photos.

There is absolutely no question about the author's erudition or integrity. This is a man deeply steeped — as an observing Westerner — in Arabic culture, history, and language; in the political-economic history of the region; in the role of Islam as the foundation and the glue for society and the Islamic economy; and in the contributing factors including the US invasion of Iraq and the US dismantling of the Sunni officer corps in Iraq leading to ISIS. A solid five on intent and substance.

Continue reading “Review: Islam vs. ISIS – Why the True Islam is the exact opposite of the Islamic State”

2016/04/162016/05/04

Worth a Look: Sufis, Salafis and Islamists – The Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism

5 Star, Religion & Politics of Religion

NEW: 30% discount at publisher, enter code AN2

NEW: graphic below on four threads of Islam.

Sufis, Salafis and Islamists: The Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism

The Arabic terms Islamism, Salafism, Jihadism and Wahhabism have acquired currency in the English language and are synonymous with violent Muslim extremism. But what do they actually mean? Why does Muslim religious conservatism and radicalisation appear to be on the increase? What long term impact could they have on Western societies? In this unique, ground breaking book – British Muslim academic Sadek Hamid evaluates the impact of three globally influential religious paradigms by using the UK as a case study. He devotes a chapter to each of the four faces of faith-based activism: reformist Islamist, radical pan-Islamist, Salafi and neo-Sufi by tracing their intellectual genealogies and explaining how these trends migrated, evolved and integrated into British society.

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Sufis, Salafis and Islamists – The Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism”

2015/11/252015/11/25

Review: Christ’s Ventriloquists

5 Star, Religion & Politics of Religion

Eric Zuesse

5 Star Christianity is Fraud Subordinated to Empire, New Testament Written by Enemies of Jesus & Judaism

Unlike other books that gently question the Bible's authenticity without challenging the Vatican or Protestant denominations outright, this book pounds a stake into the heart of Christianity with fatal effect. I've read and reviewed several of the books I refer to here at Amazon and I recommend them as context for this book; the below list is both books I have read and others in the same vein I have not.

Continue reading “Review: Christ's Ventriloquists”

2015/05/142019/09/06

Review: Truth – Philosophy in Transit

7 Star Top 1%, Philosophy, Religion & Politics of Religion, Science & Politics of Science

John D. Caputo

7 Stars Life Transformative Fundamental, Joyous, Optimistic, Calming Integrates Faith with Reason, God with Science – Cosmic Root

I read across 98 categories and the older I get, the more I think college should be spaced out over 20 years and degrees given expiration dates. This is an extraordinarily profound and moving book that is both readable and joyous.

Bottom line up front: truth in transit is truth in the becoming, the event, the conversation, the evolution — all men are created equal was initially all white elites; then all white men; then including slaves generally of color; then women; and now evolving to include transgender and perhaps one day, animals other than humans and even plants.

Continue reading “Review: Truth – Philosophy in Transit”

2014/11/082014/11/08

Review: Afghanistan: The Perfect Failure – A War Doomed By The Coalition’s Strategies, Policies and Political Correctness

4 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Congress (Failure, Reform), Corruption, Crime (Government), Culture, Research, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Insurgency & Revolution, Military & Pentagon Power, Misinformation & Propaganda, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Religion & Politics of Religion, Terrorism & Jihad, War & Face of Battle

John L. Cook

4.0 out of 5 stars Deep Insights, A Couple of Misses, Certainly Recommended as Core Reading, November 8, 2014

A hold over from my time in Afghanistan, I finally got around to reading this book on a long flight and give it a solid four stars. There is some very good eye opening stuff in this book, including some facts I itemize below that I plain did not know before. However, the author is also very wrong on a couple of key points, I address those at the end of my review when I suggest ten other books to also read. I do respect this book and the author's candid useful appraisal, and recommend it to anyone thinking about how criminally insane our US national insecurity/fraud system really is. We are our own worst enemy, and as Martin Luther King said before he was assassinated for saying so, “the greatest purveyors of (illegitimate) violence in the world.”

At a meta-level, this is a five-star read and absolutely worthy of being included in any orientation collection. Meta points I salute:

Continue reading “Review: Afghanistan: The Perfect Failure – A War Doomed By The Coalition's Strategies, Policies and Political Correctness”

2014/11/042014/11/05

Review: Revolution

5 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Banks, Fed, Money, & Concentrated Wealth, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Change & Innovation, Civil Society, Complexity & Resilience, Consciousness & Social IQ, Corruption, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Culture, Research, Democracy, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Impeachment & Treason, Insurgency & Revolution, Justice (Failure, Reform), Military & Pentagon Power, Misinformation & Propaganda, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Philosophy, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Priorities, Public Administration, Religion & Politics of Religion, Survival & Sustainment, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized)

Amazon Page

Russell Brand

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Intricate, Non-Violent, and Optimistic, November 4, 2014

In relation to the 2,000 plus non-fiction books I have reviewed here at Amazon, this book is brilliant. Normally I would consider giving it four stars for lacking an index and endnotes, obviously needed for the poorly educated morons that cannot grasp the many (many) direct references to top authors and thinkers. For crying out loud, Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century is received by the author in his home and cited in this book, as are so many others. So a solid five stars for impact and self-made erudition.

Let me state very clearly that the publisher has sodomized this author by not including an index, a bibliography, or endnotes. As the top Amazon reviewer for non-fiction, reviewing books across 98 distinct non-fiction categories, I am blown away by the clever, poetic, and pointed manner in which the author has integrated a vast (vast) range of reading and personal conversations into this book.

Continue reading “Review: Revolution”