"ISIS/ISIL/Daesh acts of vandalism..." Topic

If I could wipe them off the face of the Earth and end their bloodlines, I would not hesitate for a second.

They are barbarians.

inexcusable.

On the bright side we used to say these folks were living in the Middle Ages. Now they have made it to The Reformation…

Heartbreaking.

Unfortunately, some humans just get a perverse glee out of mindless destruction.

Sometimes the excuse is religion, as in this case, and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan: link

Sometimes it's just adult delinquency, as when these two idiots toppled a one-ton, 170-million-year-old rock formation in Goblin Valley State Park: link

Too bad more of these priceless treasures weren't taken at the time of their digs to western museums.

You could, perhaps, understandif people actually worshipped these relics but no one does. It is just mindless stupidity dressed up with religious motives serving no purpose.

They don't live in the middle ages, they live in the stone age.

Most stupid brainless people on earth.
I'm sorry to call them people, they are much closer to animals.

I completely agree with Coelacanth1938!!!

It's not often I get upset by things I see. But these ers need some old fashioned biblical justice. "Ugly 50 Cleared Hot"

The purpose, as I understand it, is to provoke the West into striking out at Muslims in response, which then leads to Armageddon (I believe they win in their version).

It' so bloody disgusting…

Book burning and destroying previous culture has always been a hobby of the religious fanatic. These peasants are no different to the fathers of the Christian church in that regard.

Book burning and destroying previous culture has always been a hobby of the religious fanatic. These peasants are no different to the fathers of the Christian church in that regard.

What an utterly ignorant statement. Wanton destruction was never a mark of the early church. The destruction of pagan idols didn't develop until centuries after Christ and the apostles, and was never part of their teaching, as any reading of the various gospels and epistles will show. When it did develop, even then it was usually only in reaction to active pagan practices, not as attacks on works of art with no active religious connection. Yes, some groups did so, and the term iconoclasm originates from the Byzantine era, but it is hard to call such behaviors as arising from "the fathers of the Church." Even during the Reformation, destruction was not sought by the intelligentsia behind the reforms, but by the ignorant mob. Your statement Is thus nothing but a false equivalency painted with too broad a brush. Yes, you can compare the ignorant mob that is ISIL with the ignorant mobs of the past, but the similarity is more with movements like Nazism than anything else.

By the way, while I too abhor this destruction, it is hard to see it as significant compared to the barbaric cruelty which ISIL has practiced against human beings from the beginning. They are evil, smashed statues or not.

Well said.

We did add a fig leaf or two and do recall some musket shots fired at the Sphinx. More like light vandalism then an organized attempt to destroy a cultures historic artifacts.

Vince

JezEger – The Vatican Library, and I'm not Catholic
link

What an utterly ignorant statement. Wanton destruction was never a mark of the early church.

Depends on what you mean by Early Church and destruction. As Parzival states, wanton destruction was not condoned by the church fathers. Unfortunately that came much later.