It is power and the drive to preserve power that is behind much of this. Religion is a convenient scapegoat in the case of islam because much of the islamic world is some combination of poor and lacking freedom. Islam is also in the relatively unique situation of mixing religion with politics that leads to the power struggle in the first place.

Nah it's religion. Power and the desire to preserve power is behind religion. Religion is just "you'd better d̶o̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶ do what god says (he said you should listen to me) or I̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶g̶r̶y̶ god will be really angry and punish you after you die!"

God never talks to anyone directly - there's always some human who conveniently relays god's message. Usually an authority figure, like a parent or a priest. It's just a tactic they use to reinforce their authority and help them control other people.

Each offshoot Abrahamic cult is worse than the last.

At least the second toned down on the ethnic superiority complex of the first. As did the third for that matter.

Why are people so eager to give the first of those religions a pass?

Bahai seem relatively chill.

You think "turn the other cheeck" (christianity) is worse than "an eye for an eye" (judaism)? You think the sermon on the mount is worse than advocating genocide in judaism.

You think this...

"Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys." ( 1 Samuel 15:3 )

is better than

"Blessed are the the meek for they shall inherit the earth..."

You think an ethno-supremacist ideology that says only jews are human and saved by god and non-jews are animals is better than an ideology that believes all humans can be saved by god?

You might want to read the bible once in your life.

Religious flamewar is not welcome here and we ban accounts that post like this, so please don't post like this.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

@dang this need to be flagged for inflammatory content.

Are you new to HN ? Or haven't you read it in the last years ?

I don't know what you're referring to but we moderate such posts every time we see them.

@dang doesn't do anything. The only way to reliably get a message to us is to email [email protected].

Religious flamewar is not welcome here and we ban accounts that post like this, so please don't post like this.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html