OLLI Class posits solution to ISIS Problem!

I am a member of OLLI at the University of California-Davis; and I'm taking a class entitled "The Atlantic at the Pacific."  It's structured around current topics taken up in The Atlantic magazine.  And, OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) is a membership organization for seniors offering courses on a variety of activities at university centers across America.  In this particular course Brenda Turner and Robert Bakke are our discussion leaders.  The city of Davis, where the University is located, has been described by one of our elderly classmates as "an intellectual safe-haven" (or, words to that effect).

The general topic for discussion yesterday (class meets on Tuesday afternoons) was "Islam in the Middle-East." Though the class is only in its third session, I've noticed that the participants are really sharp and knowledgeable, perhaps egregiously so among OLLI participants nationwide.
Posing a solution to the ISIS situation in the Middle-East is not beyond this class's ken.

Briefly, participants likened the ISIS phenomenon akin to the Christian Crusade movement of the Middle Ages.  As "Marvin" pointed out, what ended that fiasco-disaster, lasting for decades, was simply a lack of continued interest and support from the countries in Europe who had initially shown great enthusiasm. That is to say, the Europeans back home became more interested and more involved in their own activities!

You can imagine what these activities might be in the Middle-East: re-building the countries ravaged by war and economic decay; developing a sound import-export network for the region; creating financial wealth for generations to come; re-shaping cities around educational meccas and artisan colonies--places to plan for carrying out the implied values in a new world order.  The vision is fraught with possibilities for growth and intellectual exuberance exploding in tangible reconstruction of an infrastructure to last for millennia.  That vision must be implanted in the minds and hearts of those already living in the area.  It is the dream of a new and long-lasting direction thereby the local inhabitants should go, based on a dedication towards unity of purpose.


They've got the oil and other natural resources to carry out the project, even as Afghanistan has proved so resource abundant to China.


Other Points made during class session (a session lasts two hours!):
1.  A Religion is a pathway to God and His creative world.
Religious persons may make claims for the pathway he endorses, such as it's the only way to God or those who do not use the pathway he uses will go to hell!  That is to say, he believes his way is the only way.  Exclusivism is simply a belief about his religion and ought not to be regarded as part of the pathway itself.
2.  Science is an invaluable means to bring people of different cultures together.  Therefore, there should be scientific evidence in support of any belief about people, e.g.. whether those of one race or gender are equal to those of the other.   For instance, women were not thought equal to men in intelligence.  Women should be subjected to men, e.g., their husbands; their brothers.  Not until the  possible deleterious effects of childbirth as well as the monthly smells of women's periods could be overcome was it likely that society would deem  men and women equals in ability to do equal work.
Similarly, not until the intelligence studies of blacks from the 1950s on, could it be proven that blacks and whites have equal thinking powers and could thus be truly considered equal in ability.
Note that the Second World War could be construed as founded on faulty science--the belief that Jews were inferior human beings, biologically, and thus ought not to be mixed with the Aryan Race of Nordics.