Whether radical Islamic terrorists are distinguishable from mainstream Muslims depends upon your species.
A sheep, goat, or a camel whose throat is being cut in Halal slaughter or Islamic sacrifice is just as terrified, in just as much pain, and just as murdered as is an American journalist or a Syrian refugee having his throat cut by Jihadi John or any ISIS thug.
Mainstream Islam is a terrorist plague on animals. The sick religion requires animals to be murdered as sacrifices to Allah and slaughter to be done to fully conscious, frightened creatures.
I abhor all slaughter. I abhor all religions which require and practice animal sacrifice. Santeria, orthodox Judaism, Armenian Orthodoxy, Hinduism. Any religion which teaches such barbarism is my enemy. Islam murders more animals than all the world’s religions combined, by orders of magnitude.
Personally, I would ban all religions. They are anathema to science, reason, empathy, human…
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Exposing the Big Game 
American imperialism (neoconservative zeitgeist) has killed 20-30 million people since Korea in proxy wars, militaristic interventions, regime changes, nation building, picking the good guys against what we think are the bad guys, direct conflict. America is the number one arms exporter. America spends more on defense than the next 7-8 countries combined. America has 900 bases in 153 countries. We do all this for our imperial state and self righteous, moral superiority. Our religions back us up in our moral superiority. American crusaders on the march. We create terrorists. We have been shoving righteous selves down the throats of the world for 50-70 years. We should now fear our own president more than Islam.
What’s your point? The US tries to influence events for its own benefit? No other country does this? The US has a lot of military might? So what. The US is responsible for Islamic terrorism? Please cite your sources for that position. What does your diatribe have anything to do with the article? Oh nothing!
Abusing animals for religious ritual and sacrifice is reprehensible to many people. Engaging in bloodshed seems incongruent with an institution that is considered the arbiter of morality and that usually promotes mercy and justice. The constitution demands that people be free to exercise their religion even if results in animal victims. But that does not mean that those outside a faith must respect or approve of all its practices and rituals.
Islam is not the only religion with practices that harm nonhumans. As noted, kosher slaughter also requires animals to be conscious when killed. Kaporos mistreats and kills chickens in a ritual of atonement. A branch of the Hindu religion in Nepal held a ceremony, Gadhimai, every five years. The sacrifice of animals was a bloodbath, a massacre. In 2009 more than 20,000 buffaloes were killed, and it is estimated that 250,000 animals in all died in that ritual. The ceremony has now been canceled due to increasing global protests over the brutality involved. Those who worked to close it down were not bigots or ‘phobes. They were people who were appalled at the massive suffering and loss of life. They did not attack Hinduism itself or the people who practiced the faith.
In Florida, Richard Couto is working to shut down the sacrifices of Santeria. He recently found a dog who had all four legs broken and then was tied to a cross in mock crucifixion. The dog had a stake forced into his mouth to keep him from fighting back and was left suffering for five days before he was decapitated. Trying to stop such torture should not be labeled bigotry.
And what about Christianity, e.g., Catholicism? It is not guilty of animal sacrifice. But it is guilty of the sin of silence. That is the sin of omission rather than commission. Catholicism consistently refuses to condemn the torture of animals in countries where it is the major faith—Spain and Latin America. Obviously, bullfighting is one example. But there are festivals of the saints where animals, especially bulls, are tortured. One example is the El Toro Embolado event, celebrated in Valencia. Balls of flammable material are attached to the bull’s horns and then set on fire. The burning pitch can flame for hours and drips over the bull’s face, into his eyes and nostrils. Eventually the animal is blinded, “much to the delight of the villagers and the mayor of Medinaceli.” In another “festival” in Coria, a bull runs loose through the streets while people throw darts at him. When he weakens from loss of blood, he is shot but not fatally, so that his testicles can be removed while he is still alive. The festivals devolve into an orgies of macho sadism, each one trying to devise worse suffering for the animals.
The Catholic Church has not condemned those specific spectacles, and Christianity in general has not spoken out against other cruel “entertainment” such as circuses, rodeos, horse racing, hunting, even dog fighting. But its sins of silence speak loudly.
So if all religion, ritual, and superstition were abandoned for the realm of science and rationality, would the animals fare better? Well, probably not.
Millions of animals suffer and die in laboratories run by Big Pharma, the National Institutes of Health, and the research universities around the country, all for the advancement of science and the betterment of humanity. Mechanical engineers design the technology for slaughterhouses that speeds up the process of turning the commodified and living units of production into steaks and hamburgers. The results of the speed are similar to kosher and halal slaughter, with conscious animals having their throats slit and their hides ripped off while still conscious. Pigs and chickens are sent still alive and aware into scalding tanks. Male chicks are ground up alive in macerators, another product of technology.
The sad fact is that animal abuse is entrenched throughout all of human culture. So advocates who fight that cruelty also have the right to criticize its source.
I don’t have a problem criticizing religious rituals that kill animals. But I also support criticizing religions that refuse to condemn the killing, the institutions of science that participate in the killing, the technology that abets the killing, the economic system that profits by the killing, and the people who create the demand for its products.
Finally, in this blog the word “terrorism” is appropriate but more widely applicable. The whole history of H. sapiens on this earth has been a reign of terror for virtually every other species. When it comes to animals, we are ISIS.
I don’t understand why humans are so violent. 😦 I had read that the mass killing of animals in Nepal had been stopped? What an awful thing. I’m glad animals have Richard Couto too.
Thanks for reblogging!
I loathe all religions.