Blog Entry 1

On August 28, 2012 David M. Herszenhorn published an article titled “More Than a Dozen Die in 2 Attacks In a Russian Republic.” In the Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus seven people were killed in a suicide bombing. According to President Vladimir V. Putin, they have been fighting off violent Islamic separatist for a long time. Putin believes that they will eventually succeed in getting rid of the separatist. Although the people in Dagestan are used to the violence that is always present, not many people saw that day coming. In Chirkey, a woman wore a hidden belt of explosives and detonated it at the house of Sheik Said Afandi. The leader and five of his followers were killed. In the village of Belidzhi, an officer open fired on his fellow soldiers. The law enforcement officials think that the Wahhabi extremist recruited him to attack the other soldiers. Although the region Tatarstan has peaceful coexisted between Muslims and Christians for hundreds of years, they experienced multiple attacks. In July the top Muslim official in charge of education in Kazan, was shot to death outside his apartment and the same day the chief mufti survived a car bombing. The widow of the official that was killed was given the award the Order of Courage and the chief mufti was given the Order of Friendship.

I believe this goes to show that even though time has passed and we find ways to dwindle the differences between religious groups, we never really get rid of it completely. Dagestan has been living in peace for hundreds of years but the new generations of followers “stir the pot.” I would label this as a pubic issue because the threats and bombing affect the lives of many people individually. Would I consider it a social problem? That I’m not sure of because there is nothing the citizens can do as a collective to sole this problem. The different religious groups could work together but it would only make the groups stronger but separate from each other. I don’t believe that would solve anything. I also believe that it could be seen as a value conflict because there is a disagreement between groups over different values. The groups have different thoughts on which religious groups ideas and beliefs are better. Altogether I think it’s ridiculous that groups still fight over religions. I don’t understand why the two groups couldn’t live in separate regions and just follow their own beliefs. I think religion is an issue that could never be solved because there are too many religious groups and every group has their own belief in how something or someone should be worshipped. I believe our best bet in solving an issue like this is to ignore other religious groups we don’t agree with and to not try to force our own beliefs upon a different religious group. I think it is okay to have a discussion about it but, I think we should let others decide for themselves.

11:37 PM 08/30/12

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/world/europe/more-than-a-dozen-die-in-attacks-in-a-russian-republic.html?_r=1&ref=religionandbelief