Do you guys realize why the Shi'a and Sunnis are blowing each other up in Iraq? Options

[Aaron]

It all begins with who Muhammad tapped as his successor. After his death in 632, one group (Sunns) backed this cat named Abu Bakr (Muhammad's friend) and another (Shi'a) backed Ali ibn Abi Talib (Muhammad's son-in-law).

And so thirty years after the death of Muhammad, be prepared to gasp in astonishment, the two factions fought a war about it. About two decades after that, they fought ANOTHER war about it.

No kidding, their internal shit is just as retarded as the spat between the United Atheist Alliance, Allied Atheist Allegiance and Unified Atheist League in that Southpark episode.

[impala454]

again though... it's not religion that spurs the war. it's the raw hatred these people have for each other. i bet a lot of them don't even know the story behind what they're fighting for. if religion was the cause of wars like this, the US would have gone up in 30 more civil wars by now.

[Aaron]

again though... it's not religion that spurs the war. it's the raw hatred these people have for each other. i bet a lot of them don't even know the story behind what they're fighting for. if religion was the cause of wars like this, the US would have gone up in 30 more civil wars by now.

I disagree in this case. The Sunnis and Shi'a wouldn't be killing each other in Iraq right now if they hadn't found a couple of wars against each other in the past over which group follows the right "path" of Islam. Obviously their initial disagreement is not the root cause for this present conflict - that can likely be attributed as Sunni retribution/resentment for the way the minority Shi'a acted during Saddam's rule - but it certainly has something to do with it.