Terrorism: Problem #1

It seems that with each passing year, the number of trouble spots around the world is getting worse. Efforts at introducing democracy are becoming increasingly futile. With each successive intervention the problems escalate. When you consider the 'before and after' conditions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Nigeria, Sudan and other countries, the results have been deplorable. Countless lives lost and billions of dollars spent, for what? All that seems to have been accomplished thus far is to fuel the terrorist agenda.

As part of the 1.1 billion people in the world that are included under "secular/non-religious/agnostic/atheist", I have lost faith in all organized religions. Even though there are those that may feel their religions provide them a source of peacefulness, the track record of some religions throughout the centuries is not that great. All religions should have an organizational component with some type of senior executive structure that controls the message and the behaviour. Although the Roman Catholic organization is not without fault, it does have the ability to exert some form of influence from the top down. Islam, the second largest religion after Christianity, lacks in organizational structure with the interpretation of religious doctrine left to the most influential. The growth in Islamist fundamentalism and its terrorist agenda to pursue its objective of world dominance is, from my perspective, probably the most pressing issue of our time.

If we cherish our freedoms, we need to ensure those freedoms are there for future generations. Rather than get upset because our nose is out of joint for what we may perceive is an infringement on our privacy when those engaged in protecting us stretch the boundary of a law, we ought to be willing to sacrifice a little to gain a lot more.