The point is that if there were no religion they'd be fighting over ethic reasons.
Northern Ireland...
EDIT:
Thing is, all this barbarism displayed in the middle east and northern Africa is quite depressing and painful, however what really worries me is the slow building up of the cold war between Israel and Iran. I can somewhat trust the Israelites with their bombs since they have (1) proven till today that they aren't lunatics out to destroy their enemies with nukes without concern with their own (that is, they behave rationally), and (2) they seem a very civilized people. To a point, that is. The extremists are rising in their influence in Israel, and otoh, Iran's leaders do not shed any glimmer of hope regarding their own
sanity and
rationality whatsoever.
IOW, Iran is leaded by
crazy theological fundies, which are about to build their first atom bombs. These people actually believe that if they destroy Israel, they will fasten the arrival of the twelve Imann and this has alledgedly some amazing metaphysical consequences, etc. The question running through my mind is, "how" insane are these people? Are they sufficiently insane to press the buttons because they really believe this ****? Or do they still have the minimum of fear engraved in their hearts with doubts?
And the point is, I shouldn't be having these doubts. When Sting sang "I hope the russians love their children too" it was true and enough. However with musllims it is not enough. A crazy who believes that a nuclear armaggedon won't bring death and destruction, tears and suffering, but joy and heaven for all their dead children is the most terrifying nightmare for all rational and common sense people (and of course I'm including the majority of religious people).