The strange thing about the people who are being called Islamic State, and all similar Christian, Jewish, Hindu or whatever fanatics is their lack of faith in their god. Clearly Allah could, if it existed as they imagine it, wipe Paris from the face of the Earth before breakfast, and certainly wouldn't have to wait 2000 years to knock down an old deserted temple somewhere.
Fanatics are just a type of theology student gone bad (or at least, worse): they know what their god wants done but they just can't quite trust "god" to get the job done in its own; they have to hurry the plan up. Which is fair enough in some ways, since no god has done in fact ever done anything anywhere in the whole of history or beyond. The reality is that gods are just puppets being moved by the strings of their worshippers.
God didn't knock that glass of water over, you did.
So don't pray for Paris. Never pray. Never grovel in the dirt to some misbegotten fantasy character in some crummy old book that promises justice or revenge or peace. Paris will do just fine without the paper help of paper gods.
