Is Islam A Death Cult?

[Ferrocyanide]

BrianSoddingBoru4 explained it well.

I would only add that the word martyr is seldom used in the western world when describing fallen soldiers.
They just call them heroes but they also call soldiers that have returned heroes.

So, dying is not the highest honor.

I did some spiritual research on that. I think it’s as simple as this: If everyone in a marching military unit starts thinking “I would like to sea the sea before I die”, “I would like to unite with my lover and see if my children will be male or female”, “I could help my father work the land more efficiently” etc, that army will start moving backward instead of moving forward.
 
After the Battle of Thermopilae (Movie= 300 Spartans) the Spartans erected a monument there with this inscription:

Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.
 
“O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians (Spartans) that
we lie here, obedient to their words.[144]

Thermopylae
 
 
Meaning: “O passenger, know that we died here as soldier (we died well) because we chose to obey to the order that were given to us”
 
- So this is a cultural phenomenon. People are said to have died well when they do it to defend other lives and the Quran is backing this approach. (that’s how I see it)

Remembering the soldiers that have died is a sign of respect. Like I said, the united statian culture, they call them heroes just like they call the surving soldiers heroes.
They don’t elevate the dead to a special status, they don’t use religion to promise to them a special heroes place in heaven.

Usually. the USA sends soldiers to defend itself from enemies who attacks one of their military installations, or an embassy, or building in New York and elsewhere.
The USA invests heavily into its spy network to gather intelligence on its enemies and to stop them from bombing some location on their soil.
It is better to take the intelligence approach since it saves lives and avoids sending a portion of their army to a foreign soil and spending big money on bombs.

The Islamic way is different. The dead are given a special status: the martyrs. Sometimes, the islamic leader (which has a telephone with the jewish god) promises a special place in heaven or 72 virgins.

I had a quick look at wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad

The Messenger of Allah was asked about the best jihad. He said: "The best jihad is the one in which your horse is slain and your blood is spilled."

 — cited by Ibn Nuhaas and narrated by Ibn Habbaan[45]

So, there are different levels of jihad. The above is the best jihad.

Now, some would say that I am misinterpreting the above line and that it means self defense.
I disagree. The islamic world goes nuts when some guy burns a Koran or insults the creator of the Islamic religion.
They are ready for war for basically a few insults.
The USA and similar countries don’t give a damn if you insult them or burn their flag.
Recently, a muslim used that argument. He said “How would you like it if we burned your flag”.
I told him, go for it as long as you buy it with your own money.

We burn the flag too when we protest our government. The flag is not sacred.

So, for the USA and similar countries, they are not interested in sending their soldiers to their death unless there is a physical threat. Gathering intelligence helps to stop the evildoers.
The evildoers are muslims who don’t want a foreign army on their soil or they want Israel to belong to them.
The USA doesn’t promise its soldiers a piece of heaven if they sacrifice their lives.
We don’t need to tell them that.

I think the reason for that is that the soldiers in USA are people who want to be soldiers. In the muslim world, they want to conduct a jihad and they need to force all their people, all their farmers, all their programmers, doctors, veterinarians, cupcake makers and all to go to holy war.