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Flame » in reply to re: "These people really do hate us"

Ah Steve
azstrummer — (archived)

You've managed to take my post about how categorizing an entire religion as a threat can lead to horrendous outcomes and somehow deduced that I am more put off by Christian extremism than I am by Muslim extremism. That's the furthest thing from the truth. I completely agree that right now at the time indicated on wrist watch there are more acts of violence from Muslim whackos than there are from wackos of any other religious philosophy.

My target though is not Muslim whackos. It's simply whackos of any philosophy. My disdain for the Bible is no more or no less than my disdain for the Koran. In spite of both texts having wonderful passages that promote peace and harmony in the world, they also both contain parts that can be manipulated and twisted for unbelievable evil and oppression. That Christianity seems to be at a low level of activity right now in terms of violence committed in its name, in no way diminishes the potential for it to become a huge threat life and liberty. History is absolutely clear in this and overall, if one were to graph the number of people murdered or oppressed over the centuries in the name the various religions, I'm not sure Islam would top the list.

What makes the Muslims so prone right for many of their followers to become extremists really has little to do with the basic philosophy. It's more about the huge economic divide in the countries they come from and we're heading towards that same dynamic. My fear is that the rift between the haves and the have nots here will cause the same type of behavior among the followers of the predominant religion as it has in the Mideast. Even though we're in a lull right now in the violence that inevitably ensues, you can see the seeds being sown as the fundamentalists build their flocks and influence and their rhetoric becomes more exclusive and hateful.

So Steve, please don't presume to minimize my outrage at Islamic extremists just because I have worries over people of other faiths. Murder and mayhem done in the name of whatever God you ascribe to is a huge threat to mankind. However, so is overreaction because it inflames rathers than solves the situation. People that are slitting the throats of innocents should be dealt with in the harshest manner prescribed by law no matter what their faith but tarnishing an entire culture with the sins of a few leads only to future horrors.

Art

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