Murdering madness of ISIS must be stopped for humanity’s sake

I agree with John Bellew ( Letters, February 5) that the actions of ISIS by their “vile and brutal murder of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh … have nothing to do with religion, but, rather, are about power, control and egotism”.

No cause justifies the burning alive of any human being, or indeed any of God’s creatures. It is important however to try and understand how such atrocities can occur.

Flawed fundamentalist beliefs and irresponsible decisions taken by governments in unjust and unjustifiable wars lead to such atrocities.

Let’s not forget that our own fundamentalist so-called Christian leaders burned people alive during the Inquisition, and for allegedly being witches. Joan of Arc was just one of many such victims.

The unfortunate Jordanian pilot had been bombing ISIS positions in Syria when his fighter jet crashed. Some people may well have been burned alive by the bombs that he dropped.

In World War II, Dresden, Tokyo and many other cities were deliberately fire-bombed causing hundreds of thousands of people, mainly innocent civilians, to be burned alive.

The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were burned alive in what was arguably a war crime by a democratic state.

Closer to home, we had fire-bombings of innocent civilians by various paramilitaries in the North. For humanity’s sake we must find ways to stop such madness.

Edward Horgan

Newtown

Castletroy

Limerick