Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It

By KAMEL DAOUD - NOV. 20, 2015

Black Daesh, white Daesh. The former slits throats, kills, stones, cuts off hands, destroys humanity’s common heritage and despises archaeology, women and non-Muslims. The latter is better dressed and neater but does the same things. The Islamic State; Saudi Arabia. In its struggle against terrorism, the West wages war on one, but shakes hands with the other. This is a mechanism of denial, and denial has a price: preserving the famous strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia at the risk of forgetting that the kingdom also relies on an alliance with a religious clergy that produces, legitimizes, spreads, preaches and defends Wahhabism, the ultra-puritanical form of Islam that Daesh feeds on.

Wahhabism, a messianic radicalism that arose in the 18th century, hopes to restore a fantasized caliphate centered on a desert, a sacred book, and two holy sites, Mecca and Medina. Born in massacre and blood, it manifests itself in a surreal relationship with women, a prohibition against non-Muslims treading on sacred territory, and ferocious religious laws. That translates into an obsessive hatred of imagery and representation and therefore art, but also of the body, nakedness and freedom. Saudi Arabia is a Daesh that has made it.

The West’s denial regarding Saudi Arabia is striking: It salutes the theocracy as its ally but pretends not to notice that it is the world’s chief ideological sponsor of Islamist culture. The younger generations of radicals in the so-called Arab world were not born jihadists. They were suckled in the bosom of Fatwa Valley, a kind of Islamist Vatican with a vast industry that produces theologians, religious laws, books, and aggressive editorial policies and media campaigns. (...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/opinion/saudi-arabia-an-isis-that-has-made-it.html

'Just wait…' Islamic State reveals it has smuggled THOUSANDS of extremists into Europe

AN OPERATIVE working for Islamic State has revealed the terror group has successfully smuggled thousands of covert jihadists into Europe.

By AARON BROWN
PUBLISHED: 07:27, Mon, Nov 16, 2015 | UPDATED: 08:54, Mon, Nov 16, 2015

The Syrian operative claimed more than 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen had been smuggled into western nations – hidden amongst innocent refugees.

The ISIS smuggler, who is in his thirties and is described as having a trimmed jet-black beard, revealed the ongoing clandestine operation is a complete success.

"Just wait," he smiled.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/555434/Islamic-State-ISIS-Smuggler-THOUSANDS-Extremists-into-Europe-Refugees

Cruz, Huckabee, Jindal preach conservative principles

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the Freedom 2015 National Religious Liberties Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, Nov. 6, 2015.

Passionately professing that the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage must be overturned and laying out their conservative credentials, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal pulpiteered to over 1,700 conservative Christians in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday for a two-day National Religious Liberties Conference.

Before hearing from the presidential contenders, evangelical families collected name tags, perused a table filled with books like "What does the Bible Say About That: A Biblical Worldview Curriculum for Children" and connected with other like-minded conservatives. In the dimly lit hall, Kevin Sawnson, executive director of Generations, which was hosting the event, set the tone in describing same-sex marriage as a "significant cosmic revolution against almighty God."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cruz-huckabee-jindal-preach-conservative-principles/

Religious upbringing associated with less altruism, study finds

By Susie Allen - November 5, 2015 - The University of Chicago

A team of developmental psychologists led by Prof. Jean Decety examined the perceptions and behavior of children in six countries. The study assessed the children’s tendency to share—a measure of their altruism—and their inclination to judge and punish others for bad behavior.

Children from religious families were less likely to share with others than were children from non-religious families (...). A religious upbringing also was associated with more punitive tendencies in response to anti-social behavior. (...)

For the altruism task, children participated in a version of the “Dictator Game,” in which they were given 10 stickers and provided an opportunity to share them with another unseen child. Altruism was measured by the average number of stickers shared.

For the moral sensitivity task, children watched short animations in which one character pushes or bumps another, either accidentally or purposefully. After seeing each situation, children were asked about how mean the behavior was and the amount of punishment the character deserved. (NB: Muslim kids dish out the harshest punishments) (...)

Children from religious households favored stronger punishments for anti-social behavior and judged such behavior more harshly than non-religious children. (...) “Together, these results reveal the similarity across countries in how religion negatively influences children’s altruism. (...)

The study was supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

- See more at: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/11/05/religious-upbringing-associated-less-altruism-study-finds#sthash.XiPDlIqD.dpuf