Why these radicals drink, watch porn etc. Some background

[nolabear]

19. I think this is an important point. Religion all too often uses shame to control. Research

shows that shame is the closest we can come to a feeling of impending death outside of actual physical threat, and we will do just about anything to avoid the feeling, including a whole lot of what we see in the political sphere today. Being welcomed back into the fold, even the fantasy of it post-death, drives many a self-proclaimed martyr.

One of the only things we can do to prevent people from running to do insane and psychologically self-protective things is to, as President Obama said, open our hearts. Or, as Ghandi said, take a Muslim (or Hindu) orphan in and raise him as a Muslim so we must understand what it is to be one.

This is what terrorism instill in us, a deep sense of fear that stirs up prejudices because we can't identify an easily recognizable enemy, of which we are ashamed, so we have to demonize and others, and one thing religion can do is smile and say "You're right. They ARE demons. Destroy them and you'll be loved and safe with us."

Now I'm going to go out on a limb here (and here you can see my internal conflict at work) and say I have known good things to come out of religion. Those who believe there is something bigger that binds us all can actually be helpful in helping reach across those bridges. But that's religion at it's highest, before people screw with it and use it to shame and manipulate that shame.