(What’s good, and bad, about blogging on your own is that it requires no self-discipline. If I keep thinking about a topic, I can keep writing about it, regardless of whether my readers may have lost interest. But I do intend to get to a planned project of reading more in-depth and writing about the latest GOP proposals re: Obamacare, soon, I promise!)
In Obama’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, he labelled ISIS exactly that: “a brutal, vicious death cult that, in the name of religion, carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism.” He, as always, disclaims any relationship between an organization that calls itself “Islamic State” and, well, Islam, but can we work with this term?
What, after all, is the meaning of “cult”? Is there an agreed-upon meaning to this term?
Of course, it’s not quite meaningful enough on its own, but, rather than making acceptance of the label “Islam” for ISIS and the Charlie Hebdo killers, into a shibboleth and fixating on it, perhaps we could make-do with “Death Cult of Islamic Origin.” The question, then, still remains the same: prodding Islamic leaders to face up to the fact that something in the nature of their religion makes its adherents particularly at risk of abandoning Islam for the DCIO.
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