When I went to Malaysia I went to see Putrajaya, and visited the Putra mosque:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Masjid_Putra.jpgThroughout my travels I have seen such extravagant mosques, made of marbles and granites, gold embroidery and such, but firstly, is this Islamic?? What a waste of money and resources… why do they spend so much money on a building that is not even required, when there are so many other worth causes !!
Because religion is about institutionalising itself, and Islam is particularly imperialistic and concerned with asserting itself, because like Christianity, it is a prosletysing belief system, in which the ends of expansion justifies the means. All else is secondary to that.
Christianity has been blunted and castrated and forced to behave itself for the last couple of hundred years by secularism, liberalism, democracy and the aftermath of the enlightenment. However, broadly speaking, Islam has not encountered that yet, and so it is still in heat and hungry.
"we can smell traitors and country haters"
God is Love.
Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.