None of that makes the religious heritage of Europe sound very appealing. But it is essential to remember that in Europe, with the Reformation, Enlightenment, Emancipation, we\u2019ve moved on. Those of us who still practise a faith \u201d\u201c Catholic, Protestant, Muslim or Jew \u201d\u201c preserve a sense of sanctity without killing each other over it. Crucially, we\u2019re no longer theocrats: the C of E may tell me adultery is sinful, but the state won\u2019t stone me to death over it. But in moving on too fast, we\u2019ve also lost the religious literacy that tells us why people look to priests and saints for guidance in the first place. There will always be those for whom the post-modern world just seems a bit too fractured, a bit too liberal, frankly, in all its dazzling, confusing choices, a bit too frightening. If we want to keep young Muslims from religious violence, the answer is not secularism, but religious alternatives. The violent history of Christianity shouldn\u2019t be a reason to discredit our religious impulse, but to demonstrate the impossibility of repressing it completely.<\/p>\n
And to despite the State Department\u2019s best efforts, we can\u2019t build the moral case against Isil simply by pointing out the cruelties it inflicts upon its enemies<\/b>. As Professor Ian Robertson points out, that\u2019s not how out-group\/in-group dynamics work. Religious fanatics have always slaughtered their enemies \u201d\u201c and for radical Sunnis, that includes the Shia. Instead, it is the mundane misery of Isil\u2019s ideal state that should horrify the world. Amira Karroum isn\u2019t scared of being beheaded, because she doesn\u2019t think of herself as an infidel. But once the glamour of war is gone, does she really want to live in an eternal shroud, forbidden from leaving the house, denied an education? Do young British men \u201d\u201c one of whom notoriously asked \u201cDo the mujahideen play footy and that?\u201d\u009d \u201d\u201c understand that a state ruled by blasphemy laws is a state where a wise crack at the local cleric could cost you your life? Many states are forged in war \u201d\u201c not all of them then ban music, art and history in peace time.<\/p>\n