- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
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If you claim to be Christian, but don't believe Jesus is God, are you really Christian?
If you claim to be a follower of Judism, but you don't observe the sabbath, are you really a follower of Judism?
If you claim to be Buddist, but you don't believe in karma or reincarnation, are you Buddist?
I think that's what Obama was saying. If you claim to be a follower of Islam, but you kill innocent children, are you really a follower of Islam? Obama is saying that ISIL is not because they do not actually follow important Islamic teachings.
Except this opens up the notion of saying it's legitimate for fundamentalists to declare that someone isn't Christian because they're pro-choice or because they're pro-gay marriage because their interpritation of what the religions tennents allow differ from the interpritation of those who they declare "false".
Obama doens't believe them to be adhering to Islamic teaching. Those members of ISIS do believe their actions are justified under their religious views.
To say that Obama is justified and accurate in declaring them something other than the religion they claim to be is to state that every fundamentality is justified in doing the same type of thing.
ISIS claims to be Islamic. They seek to instill Islamic tennents in government. They identify as muslim. Obama has no standing to simply tell the American public "they're not Islamic". Yes. Yes they are. They may be a sect of Islam with beliefs and interpritations of their beliefs that you disagree with, but they are none the less Islamic.