MUSLIM OR NOT, ISIS IS A RELIGION

ISIS IS BOTH A CULT AND A FLUID LOOSE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION

ISIS is a rather loose organisation though it has its organised side.  But for membership it simply decrees that any person who decides that Muhammad is the prophet of the only God Allah and the Koran is God's literal word and then commits to ISIS is a true ISIS member so ISIS can appear literally anywhere.  ISIS then has a lot to do with Islam even if it is heretical.  Islam is its framework.  It does not regard an unbeliever who commits to it as a member.  No religion can afford to be smug for a form of the IRA could appear in Ireland tomorrow that requires members to commit to the Church by going to Mass on Sundays and they take an official oath of allegiance to this IRA to be considered members and the oath can be taken by anyone anywhere.  Even the fact that there is that potential is a warning sign of the danger of religion.

ISIS can appear anywhere for Islam is a faith religion.  You become Muslim by believing there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet and the Koran is the literal word of God.  Then you make a vow to support ISIS.  Islam makes that possible for it embraces ignorant believers who think they can kill unbelievers to their heart's content as true Muslims even if misguided.  And when Islam depends on faith why can't ISIS see committing to ISIS without any formal ceremony or contract as making you an ISIS member?  Muslims pretend to be against ISIS but they will not excommunicate them meaning they are considered to be fellow Muslims in okay if not good standing.  The argument that they cannot be excommunicated for they are not Muslims is rubbish for groups that call themselves Muslim but which are at odds with Muhammad such as Sufis are excommunicated.  Excommunication can deal with bad Muslim groups and also groups that are not Muslim any more but think they are part of the Islam family.  Muslims have no right to expect people to believe that merely joining a cause in your heart as you might do with ISIS is in any way invalid or defective.  Outward membership is not membership as much as being a member in your heart.  Islam's method of becoming Muslim has something to do with how you become ISIS for ISIS merely imitates it and if Islam can do it so can ISIS.  Islam in many ways feeds the narrative of ISIS.

It has been noticed that there is link between Muslims joining ISIS and Muslims failing to integrate into the wider society.  People always sacrifice their faith commitments to get food and drink and shelter. The saints, monks and nuns vowed to peace will gladly slaughter if they lose those basic resources. A religion with a blood splattered warmongering past will behave itself and seem to integrate when it is a minority. Muslims fitting in in say the UK means nothing. When numbers get big enough in the area and the Muslims feel more self-sufficient they end the integration. The integration was never real in the first place.

Islam is a religion and it is also a legal and judicial system rolled into one.  It is government by the Muslim God done through his representatives who apply his laws.  Governments are always corrupt and there is never any such thing as judicial justice for nobody really knows how to be properly fair to criminals so Islam is bad at the root and cannot complain if monsters that would scare even it start to grow out of it and in it.

Pleas for Muslims to be peaceful and not to be sympathetic or emphathetic towards violent Islamist terrorism will fall on deaf ears when the victims are those who would terrorise or condone attacks on Muslims in a war.  Such pleas are often insincere.  War breeds war and unjust war breeds war fastest.

RELIGION AND VIOLENCE FROM PSYCHOLOGY TODAY

"ISIS ... expressed goal is ethnic and religious cleansing of territory they control."

ISIS, whether truly Islamic or not, is still a religion.

Why and how can a religion be that malignant?

One's religion is a reflection of oneself. Human nature is prone to selfishness. No matter how much sympathy we bestow on others, we would prefer them to face cancer and torture than ourselves or our loved ones. Religion acts as a placebo for the travesty of virtue that we engage in. If God exists and God is all-love then God deserves all our devotion not a portion of it. Yet people feel they connect with God though they certainly do not love him as much as they may say. They adore a God who in many ways only suits themselves and exists in their heads. Religion tends to condemn much evil while sanctioning hypocrisy and false virtue as long as the religious community is not impaired. The person who is totally honest is never popular and will be an outcast and labelled disruptive. She or he will not fit in a community that asks her to put up an appearance for the sake of peace or making the religious grouping feel like it is a community.

A religion becomes dangerous when it sanctifies and sanctions unrepentant but socially useful evil.

ISIS is an example of what can start in any religion.  Catholicism has had its ISIS in the form of the Ustashi.