Harris,+Ryan

=** Research Question: **= “What are the different religions views on extremism?”

=** Introduction: **= In order to under the research question, you’d have to know what extremism actually is. Webster Dictionary defines extremism as: “the advocacy of extreme measures and views”. Well what does this mean? It means that this person or people are willing to go to drastic measures for their cause, lifestyle, etc. This is very prevalent in religion since so many people take religion seriously, they’ll do anything to protect that. I thought that since there were so many different religions in the world, they should have different (possibly similar views) on extremism, or for any other topic. Maybe examining through these three religions can possibly give us a better understanding of religion as a whole.


 * Buddhism **



Buddhism is the world’s 4th largest religion next to the 3 Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). It focuses on your personal being. It emphasizes peace, humility, and enlightenment. With all that being said, Buddhists as a whole are pacifists and do not believe in killing or violence at all. The Dalai Lama himself does not approve of extremism at all. He also says that the very act of extremism is against the Buddhist lifestyle and culture as mentioned before. He says extremism is more tied to human emotions.


 * Christianity **



With Christians it’s a bit more difficult. There are so may different schisms of Christianity ranging from: Catholicism, Lutheran, Baptist, so on and so forth. From what I could guess is that these schisms have different views on extremism. Some condemn it, some can condone, while others have no view on it. One example of Christianity is The Crusades. They millions of people risked their lives, sanities, and morality to claim back their holy land of Jerusalem.


 * Islam **



Islam another one of the Abrahimic religions, has an interesting concept on extremism. In Qur’an, the Islamic sacred text, extremism in any form is completely sacrilegious. One quote from the Qur’an is: “Let there arise from among you a band of people who invite to righteousness, and enjoin good and forbid evil”. Now with my interpretation, I think it means that those who are against war and violence will be rewarded by Allah. Another quote I’ve found is: “Whosoever kills an innocent human being, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and whosoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.” What this means is that if you are to killed an innocent individual, it’s as if you’ve betrayed Allah. But on the other hand if you save and innocent you will be seen as a great individual in Allah’s eyes.

=**Individuals/Organizations that have committed acts of extremism amongst the religions**=


 * Westboro Baptist Church**



The Westboro Baptist Church is one the most prolific Christian extremists groups to date. She and church population of about 100 are infamous for their various protests at funerals, other religious establishments, and etc. Their church has a deep hatred for a laundry list of things, ranging from: Judaism, Islam, Homosexuality, other Christians and many more. They've shown their hatred by means of mainly protests with signs saying things like: " God Hates Fags"; "God Hates America"; "Thank God For 9/11".




 * James Cromitie, David and Onta Williams**

On May 21, 2009, Three muslim men were arrested after their plot to blow up a synagogue was intercepted by the FBI. They planned on doing this in response to the hundred of muslim deaths in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Cromitie, the main leader, had tons of plastic explosives and even Stinger missile. But there was a twist, the various explosives were fakes supplied to them by an informant of the FBI. When the men finally set out the attack, they were met by the FBI and local police. The covert operation had worked completely in the FBI's favor. The men do not regret what they did (or more so were going to do), and wanted to get back the Jews, who they believed killed their fellow muslims.

=Thích Quáng Dúc=



Thich Quang Duc was an Vietnamese Buddhist, and his form of extremism was his self-immolation on a busy Saigon street during 1963. This was in protest against The Diem Government being imposed on Vietnam at the time. Ngo Dinh Diem himself was a very devout Catholic man, so he wanted his country and it's citizens to be the same. WIth this, he got political and financial backing from America's president John F. Kennedy, who was also Catholic. At the time, over 70% of Vietnam's population was Buddhist and they were enraged. Diem enforced laws that would surpass Buddhist activities. Since Buddhist are against violence amongst each other, they decided that self-murder would their tool. They asked for volunteer to do so and the first was Thich Quang Duc, 66. As he lay there burning, they said he never moved a muscle. After this incident, many other Buddhists did the same and America saw what was going on, eventually allowing Diem to be overthrown by a military coup in November of 1963.



=**Compare/Contrast**=


 * Christianity & Buddhism**

Here I think there's a lot comparison between these two. With my example, Westboro Baptist Church, they don't really believe in form of violence towards others. This similar to the Buddhist lifestyle, they are also against violence of any kind as well. Where the line draws is in their motives. The Buddhists of Vietnam only wanted their religion to remain intact from a Government that was trying to suppress it. They saw the only they'd listen was if some took the ultimate sacrifice. With the Westboro Baptist Church, they use bullying, and scare tactics to try and people to convert with them. They have a deep hatred for anyone that isn't them and are too stubborn to here the other side of argument.


 * Buddhism & Islam**

Here also I think that their some similarities involved. Both wanted only people to be protected from those they thought were dangerous. The glaring difference is that the muslims gentlemen were willing to extreme force in order to get their point across. They'd readied heavy-duty weapons and explosives and were going too blow up a synagogue. With the buddhists, since their against violence, their only way get their point across greatly was to use self-immolation. In my mind, both had selfless intentions but were carried out in different ways.


 * Islam & Christianity**

Being that they are both Abrahamic religions, they'd have similar views on stuff like extremism. Also both are known for terrorist attacks other religions. The muslim individuals had heavy weaponry while the Westboro Baptist Church only used words to attack people they hated. All in all, both religions shared a great amount of violence amongst their followers.

=**Final Thoughts**=

In the end, this project shed some light on some other religions. When a lot of people relate religion to extremism, they using think it's the religion, but ultimately it comes back to what the Dalai Lama said, extremism is more tied to the human emotion not the religion itself.

=** Bibliography: **= Berkin, George. "Westboro Baptist Church hates God." 11 Oct. 2010: 1. Web. 2 Dec 2010. .

"Four Muslim extremists arrested over plot to bomb synagogue and shoot down planes." 21 May 2009: 1. Web. 2 Dec 2010. .

Musaji, Sheila. "Qur’an & Hadith Against Extremism." //The American Muslim (TAM)//. 07 Sept. 2007. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. .

Ratnayake, K. "Sinhala extremists stir up anti-Muslim violence in Sri Lankan capital." //World Socialist Web Site// 12 Nov. 2002: 1. Web. 2 Dec 2010. .

"The Burning Monk – Thich Quảng Đức." //In-Humanity.Net// 20 Nov 2009: 1. Web. 6 Dec 2010. .

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