> We're hardly going to be able to tease this one out over a Hacker News thread. I was just surprised to see someone I esteem so highly as jacquesm expousing what is, to my mind, such an ill-informed opinion. I have no intention of taking it any further.

That's rich, given that you all but dragged the whole thing out in the first place.

If you're ready to call me 'ill informed' and you're unable to see that to victims of war it hardly matters whether the perpetrator is two old white guys praying in an old building for guidance or some Imam in a mosque who by remote control pull the trigger then indeed, I should have left this well alone. But trust me, as long as that is a thing that can not be discussed with some dispassion this mess will not end, it will only get (much) worse.

> I was just surprised to see someone I esteem so highly as jacquesm expousing what is, to my mind, such an ill-informed opinion

Embrace the occasion to reconsider whether it's actually ill-informed, then. :)

To clarify what I was saying before, I don't mean to say that "God" hasn't been the main driver for wars and terror before. My point is that it's usually just an excuse, so that more may join the cause.

If you want to wage war on Madeupistan and 95% of your country is hardcore vegetarian, it's easier to get followers if you tell your people you're spreading vegetarianism than if you tell them you want their unobtainium mines.

> We're hardly going to be able to tease this one out over a Hacker News thread.

Wanna try twitter? #140characters

EDIT: Deleted because it was inappropriate to make this personal.

You respect people when you agree with them, and when you disagree they are 'ill informed'. See there the root of many a problem, it is just this side of possible that I'm not quite as ill informed as you make me out to be and to realize that we disagree strongly on a point where neither of us is willing to make a concession. I'm not calling you un-informed either, I'm sure you have your reasons for believing what you do.