Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think

Based on the largest and most in-depth study of its kind, this book presents the remarkable findings of the Gallup Poll of the Muslim World, the first ever data-based analysis of the points of view of more than 90% of the global Muslim community, spanning nearly 40 countries.

John L. Esposito, one of the leading experts on the Muslim world, and Dalia Mogahed, Gallup’s executive director of Muslim studies, offer readers an evidence-based understanding of extremism, the role of women in Muslim societies, Islam, and democracy, and what more than a billion Muslims really think about the West.

CONTINUOUS TRAINING
When it comes to training, continuity gets the best results.

The great Samurai, Musashi, wrote, “The essence of strategy is to train day and night”.

Most of us don’t need to be trained at the level of the Samurai but in a competitive world we do need some edge. The best way to secure that ‘unfair advantage’ is daily training.

Ten Minutes A Day!
Even 10 minutes a day, every day, will put you on top. If you have a continuous training system that gives you the opportunity for daily training you have a guaranteed strategy for success.

The School of Thinking’s daily training system is a simple example of continuous training.

School of Thinking congratulates Melbourne Grammar School on celebrating its Sesquicentenary–150 years in education today!

I attended the Official Opening of the Nigel Peck Centre for Learning and Leadership by the Premier of Victoria, The Hon John Brumby.

Since 2006, SOT has been contributing to the MGS Leadership program by providing resources for training in thinking skills.

Many MGS students and faculty have participated in SOT training …

The problem with The Truth is that it’s not always true.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a witty, mischievous and articulate thinker who is very effective at helping other people to think about how they think.

•••Click through here for his main argument.

And, here’s his web page.

Enjoy!

I think the time has come to escape from the concept of ‘Holy Wars’ and to return to the concept of ‘Just Wars’.

Since the ‘Holy War’ concept was invented by Augustine of Hippo, such a move could be accomplished by Pope Benedict XVI who is not only a thinker but also an Augustinian scholar. In fact, with his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, he may have already begun to do so.

Just Wars
Before Augustine, Aristotle coined the phrase ‘Just War’ in Politics to show acceptable warfare categories. ‘War must be for the sake of peace’ and was acceptable in instances such as self-defence to avoid the state’s enslavement; or to obtain an empire to benefit the inhabitants of the state. There was no concept of a holy or religious war. Then the Romans built on Aristotle’s ideas and added causa belli, wars for a just cause. In God’s War, Christopher Tyerman says: “The practical consequences of these theories lent an aura of justice to all Rome’s wars against external enemies.”

Holy Wars
Later, Rome evolved into a Christian Empire under the authority of the popes. Pax Romana came to mean Christian Peace. To the enemies of the State were now added the enemies of the Faith. Now, even heresy could be positioned as treason. Then, along comes Augustine and to ‘just cause’ he adds ‘just intent’ and that means ‘the authority of God’. Now we can have ‘Holy Wars’ because … Deus Vult! God wills it!

This began the disastrous move from ‘Just Wars’ to ‘Holy Wars’. Although Augustine was no warmonger himself, his new premise provided the basis for later warmongers to up the ante. Tyerman says: “Nonetheless, Augustine had moved the justification of violence from lawbooks to liturgies, from the secular to the religious.”

In the 9th century, Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade as a ‘Holy War’ and it’s been on for young and old ever since. Holy War became an enduring obsession of the papacy, part of the papal programme … bellum Dei, a war of God.

I think we have outlived Augustine’s concept of Holy War and it would be much better if we returned to Aristotle’s earlier concept of Just War. If we could manage such a move it would be a big step on the way to the ultimate humanitarian goal … of no wars at all!

Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)
No-one is in a better position to facilitate this than the current pope. Imagine if he undid the work of his predecessor, Urban II, and preached not that “God wants war” but that “God wants peace”. What a contribution Rome could make! He already seems to be changing the position of the church from the ‘ownership of TRUTH’ to the ‘search for TRUTH’ and from ‘God is Vengeful’ to ‘God is Love’. This is indeed revolutionary stuff for a pope. Maybe he can go one more step and discredit the whole concept of ‘Holy War’ once and for all. Watch this pope, he is a quiet revolutionary.

Sir Steven Runciman in his modern epic, History of the Crusades, closes with, “Holy War itself was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God.”