WE NEED MORE RELIGION, NOT LESS

The statement sticks in my mind as if attached with glue – something that is quite rare as I approach senility. It was the statement of Greg Barton, the Director of The Global Terrorism Research Centre. He was speaking about the rise of Islamic State (IS) in Northern Iraq and said “We need more religion, not less”. The point he was making was that “there is a need to do some positive counter messaging and so far no-one is doing it very well …….. The message of I.S. is a positive message (leave the comforts of home behind, fulfill your religious destiny and you’ll be part of history) and we need to demythologize it ….. We need more religion, not less.”

The statement reminds me of an article by John Gray in the Financial Review where he applauded Karen Armstrong’s “Fields of Blood” and accused secularists of distorting the present…