Evil is Real and Manifested in ISIS

When ISIS performed a beheading, not against a military foe (though that would have been just as despicable) but a helpless captive whose presence among them was totally benign (other than disseminating truth, which they would rightfully see as a threat) they made manifest their evil existence and intent.  This is certainly not the first time ISIS has been shown to be cruel--basely cruel--inhumanly cruel—unnaturally cruel.  The followers of ISIS are, in truth, not humans, so much as apostles of evil.  

There is a force for evil which is universal, just as there is a force for good.  You can call evil Satan if you want, though it hasn't a physical form any more than God has a physical form.  But evil, as an entity, is most certainly real.  Just as I know that there is a perfection of love, mercy, strength and goodness which, by its very existence, draws us to it (Aristotle’s, “Unmoved Mover” if you will) likewise there is an opposite force for anger, hate and chaos. 

Evil can be distilled to the sum total of that which hinders us from good (Spinoza), but that does not come close to encompassing the pain—the crushing pain—inflicted by those who choose to live a life of evil.  And make no mistake, this is a choice. 

The choice to be a good person is not like breathing, it doesn’t happen whether we think about it or not.  In Immanuel Kant’s book, Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, he talks about, “radical evil.”  If you boil this rather heavy bit of beef down to its broth you get this message.  Human beings have an innate evil capacity, resident in our reptilian brain that knows only immediate gratification and survival of the fittest.  We are constrained in this evil by higher thinking that allows us to orient our behavior toward the goodness manifest in God.  To Kant, the difference between a good and evil person is the corruption of one’s moral orientation.  Kant may be a bitch to read but he cuts to the bone on truth. 

There are humans who give themselves over to evil with all of the zeal of apostles.  They sell their souls to evil.  Their reasons are all the basest of motives.  They want power, or the trappings of power:  money, immunity from law, and obsequious obedience unrelated to merit.  There is no redemption for these people.  Their moral orientation has been turned on its head.  Good has been rejected.  No!  Good has become the enemy and is to be attacked, lest is becomes accepted and destroys the evil which they have come to love.  There is no danger like the danger of evil, freely entered into by conscious decisions on the part of rational humans.  This is the definition of ISIS.

When you accept the reality of evil instead of liberalisms concept of transient morality you know what is afoot.  You also then know that this evil must be attacked with moral outrage coupled with commensurate weapons. 

Kant’s categorical imperative says that we should act only in according to the maxim that every act we perform should become a universal law.  If we allow evil to rule in some part of the world it means we would allow evil everywhere.  If, on the other hand, we say that there are absolutes of moral behavior to which all humans must adhere, then we mean that we want good everywhere. 

ISIS is evil, therefore it must be destroyed. 

Examine your moral orientation and keep the faith.