posted
I am struggling to answer this question. Islam may be peaceful, however, the religion is obscured by 1400 years of jihads, hatred of Judaism, and fanatacism for me to see clearly how they can be peaceful. Additionally, how do we as a people set the standards for what is a peaceful or not peaceful religon?
Registered: Sep 1999
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posted
Course, there are plenty of non-Christians who might say "Christianity is obscured by 2000 years of crusades, inquisitions, hatred of Judaism, and fanatacism for me to see clearly how it can be peaceful." The usual answer Christians give is "yeah, but that's different." How, they're never clear.
posted
All religions have a history of war to them (well maybe not Buddhism). In some cases Islam is MORE tolerant than Christianity. Non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire had to pay a tax. Non-Christians in some European nations were burned or kicked out. Or another example, a couple hundred Spanish Catholics wiped out several American empires. Doesn't mean ALL catholics are bad or blood thirsty. Same with Islam. A couple of wackjobs does not a religion make. Try to avoid making such broad generalizations
[ October 13, 2001: Message edited by: USS Vanguard ]
-------------------- "Tragedy is when I cut my finger, Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."-Mel Brooks
Registered: May 1999
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posted
Muslims may currently be violent, but that does not mean that Islam supports violence. Imperfect followers do not define the religion.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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A means of brainwashing that would be outlawed were it not for stupid taboos against iconoclasticism? Certainly. Along with Christianity, Judaism, and the rest.
posted
Some does not equal all. If it did, we could gang up on Omega for the Witchhunts and on Snay for the Stalinist Era.
On the other hand, I haven't seen 'peaceful' Muslims everywhere condemning these acts as strongly as they should be. Rather, our attempting to punish the guilty 'offends' them... despite their demonstrated lack of ability (or is it lack of desire?) to do it themselves.
quote:Originally posted by First of Two: On the other hand, I haven't seen 'peaceful' Muslims everywhere condemning these acts as strongly as they should be. Rather, our attempting to punish the guilty 'offends' them... despite their demonstrated lack of ability (or is it lack of desire?) to do it themselves.
Well the main reason they don't do it themselves is that in each Islamic nation, there is often a small but vocal fundamentalist group. The last thing any one of those governments want is that group rising up because they attacked the taliban. Nations like Uzbekistan and even Pakistan are taking a big risk helping us. If things go wrong, those little fundie groups could become BIG fundie groups. Then you've got a problem.
Secondly, about muslims feeling offended, you only think that because of what you see on CNN. It is a well documented statistic that when you are against something, you will be quite a bit more vocal about it. So in essence, we are seeing only a small proportion of the population. A friend of mine from Pakistan told me that more often than not, its the same three nutjobs from his old apartment building who go out protesting just about everything. Others who feel offended might be because of the news about attacks on Muslim Americans in America. I mean, its the same thing, a couple of wack jobs affecting the image of the entire nation.
And just how far do you want these people to condemn the attacks. Not as much as they "Should be"? i mean what the hell does that mean. There are two continents and two oceans between us and them. Its a bit hard to feel sympathy for people so far away. I'm not saying that they SHOULDN'T feel sympathy, just don't expect so much. I still have trouble imagining the suicide bombings in Israel or death in Serbia. I don't consider myself a bad person, I just have trouble relating to it as I'm sure many people are.
[ October 13, 2001: Message edited by: USS Vanguard ]
-------------------- "Tragedy is when I cut my finger, Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."-Mel Brooks
Registered: May 1999
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"On the other hand, I haven't seen 'peaceful' Muslims everywhere condemning these acts as strongly as they should be. Rather, our attempting to punish the guilty 'offends' them..."
Well, I'm not Muslim, but the way we're handling this offends me...
posted
Islam is no more or less peaceful than any other major religion, and I suspect if we could get our hands on exact death tolls the numbers would be depressingly similar across the board.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Even though most Muslims are not violent, but their defiance towards helping out or handing over those responsible make them just as guility.
I say give them benefit of the doubt first, wait until another "serious" case of terrorism happens, then bomb every single living things in Afganistan into outer space.
-------------------- "George Washington said, 'I cannot tell a lie.' Richard Nixon said, 'I cannot tell the truth.' Bill Clinton said, 'I cannot tell the difference.'"
-- comedian TOM SMOTHERS, from his latest stage act with brother DICK SMOTHERS.
posted
Little fundie groups should be fragged BEFORE they become big fundie groups, just like you have a better chance of survival if you attack cancer before it spreads.
What I mean by 'not enough' is that if _I_ were a part of a 'peaceful' religion, and some guy started fragging children in the name of MY God, I'd be so goddamned pissed off that I'd rush out and waste the bastard. I'd consider it my utmost moral responsibility as a TRUE follower of that God, to put a stop to any evil acts committed in Its name, no matter the cost to me.
Snay: You're a Socialist (or at least, you seem to speak like one). Stalin was a Socialist (or claimed to be). Of course, other than that, you have nothing whatsoever in common to my knowledge. It's probably a bad analogy, but it's as close as I could get.
TSN, don't you grasp the difference between accidental killing and deliberate planned killing? Pity. Must be hard to go through life thinking that everybody who's been involved in a fatal accident is a murderer.
[ October 14, 2001: Message edited by: First of Two ]
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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