Politics

[Quann]

The religion of peace strikes again. If anything is anti-liberal its this Stone Age war on women and homosexuals perpetrated by this ideology. It drives me nuts that the Democratic Party tiptoes around calling a spade a spade in fear of coming off as anti-Muslim. Islam is at the core of ISIS and radical Islamic terror.

[TheInsider]

^^^^^^ RACIST!!!!!!!!!! Absolute tragedy today. We need to remember there are millions of people out there that what to kill us all...

[UMass87]

The problem is that there are over a billion Muslims in the world. Christianity has a long history murdering and oppressing people yet we don't lump all Christians together and pretend there is a single ideology and culture that is Christian. Blaming the terrorists on Islam is silly. Islam is a tool used by terrorists just as Christianity has been used by countless people as a tool to convince people to oppress and murder others.

[Quann]

Your fellow liberals Bill Maher and Sam Harris would disagree with your logic. Keep denying the hateful teachings of this religion as a basis for these attacks and this ideology. I would say Christianity and Judaism have evolved, Islam is still stuck in the 600s. These attacks will keep happening unfortunately and its the reason why a bozo like Trump can rise to be one of the final two contenders for our presidency. At least he can speak honestly when it comes Islamic terror.

[UMass87]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s_Resistance_Army

History is rife with Christianity being used to murder and oppress people. It's still being used today in Africa. Islam isn't "still stuck in the 600's" and saying so simply broadcasts your ignorance. Islam isn't a monolithic religion in the same way Christianity isn't.

[UMass87]

If 99% of Muslims are opposed to terrorism in any form that would still leave more than 15 million islamic terrorists. The fact is Quann that you and TheInsider and lots of other Americans are just like those 99%+ of Muslims who are not terrorists. But the number of islamic terrorists is certainly lower than 1% if you define terrorist as someone who murders innocent civilians for political reasons. We tend to confuse terrorists, insurgents and guerillas as if they are all the same. So how do you end up tarring the 1.5 billion Muslims who are not terrorists? It is the definition of bigotry.

Consider that the estimate of ISIS fighters is estimated at 30,000. That is 0.002% of Muslims in the world and they've been working overtime to recruit.

There are over 3 million Muslims in the U.S. How many U.S. Muslims have perpetrated terrorist acts? If the shooter in FL turns out to have been an Islamic terrorist then finally homegrown Islamic terrorists will have killed more people in the U.S. than have right-wing kooks since 9/11.

[TheInsider]

It's not just terror acts. Take a look at Saudi public exicutions. . I know I know... public beheadings and stonings for non lethal crimes are so 21st century! I bet the majority of America has no idea what goes on over there. A coworker of mine was stationed over there in the late 90's and saw a husband bash his wife's head in with a rock and then they buried her with a dump truck full of rocks. They are 600 years behind everyone else.

[UMass87]

It's not just terror acts. Take a look at Saudi public exicutions. . I know I know... public beheadings and stonings for non lethal crimes are so 21st century! I bet the majority of America has no idea what goes on over there. A coworker of mine was stationed over there in the late 90's and saw a husband bash his wife's head in with a rock and then they buried her with a dump truck full of rocks. They are 600 years behind everyone else.

I don't disagree at all that there are some appalling aspects of their culture but you are mistaking Islam with their culture and with their government. Just because a government claims to be Islamic does not mean it represents Islam. Sure, their culture is informed by Islam just as U.S. culture is informed by Christianity. We have by far the worst murder and crime rates rates among the wealthiest countries. Is that because of Christianity? Fundamentalists of all religions have reprehensible practices - it's practically what makes them fundamentalists (they are fundamentalists precisely because they want their culture to be as it was hundreds (fundamentalist Mormons) or a thousand years ago (fundamentalist Jews and Christians and Muslims).

[TheInsider]

I agree with your point. It's just that there are Islamic fundamentalis running countries. The government and the religion are tied together.

[UMass87]

I agree with your point. It's just that there are Islamic fundamentalis running countries. The government and the religion are tied together.

And I agree that that is always a bad idea regardless of the religion. It's particularly bad when they are fundamentalists like the Wahabbis in Saudi Arabia.

[TheInsider]

Couldn't agree more more. Religion has caused more deaths than any other thought in history. Islam just happens to be leading the race right now.

[Berkman]

I have watched programs on the HISTORY CH about the Crusades and they did some brutal things.

Probably not the right place to put this but I guess it will do. Mike will move it if necessary. Won't miss all the political BS for the next two weeks. Flying out to London tomorrow night to spend a couple pre-cruise days touring in London then on Thursday picking up a Royal Caribbean ship at Southampton and heading to Oslo Norway, Copenhagen Denmark, Tallinn Estonia, two days in St. Petersburg Russia, Helsinki Finland, Brussels Belgium and returning to Southampton. Booked it about 8 months ago and it will be a nice diversion after going through all of the having a new house built in NC and moving.

[Quann]

Well Islam better go through a serious reformation and fast. I just don't see it happening within the next 50 years.

[njumass08]

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today... Aha-ah

- John Lennon

Everyone would be a lot happier if they stopped believing in imaginary people.

[MJatUM]

^^ Really a pathetic response ktabz, even by your standards. SO because Quann is (allegedly, not sure he's posted his views here although I suspect you are correct) a Christian Republican and some Christian Republicans say unconscionable things about the LGBT community, he is not allowed to be critical of Islam? I would say the overwhelming majority of people that identify as Christian don't agree with the examples you posted, similar to the way the overwhelming majority of Muslims don't condone this act in Orlando or support ISIS.

I don't for one second agree with the notion that all of Islam is bad and we should just nuke the middle east and other ignorant shit you see on the interwebs. What is UNBELIEVABLE to me is how the first thing you see out of many news outlets is when ANOTHER despicable act is committed in the name of ISIS, ON AMERICAN SOIL, they feel the need to remind everyone that not all Islamic people are violent.

Or in some other cases, specifically on this board, to remind people that in the FUCKING 900's Christianity killed people in the name of religion. THE 900's!! It's 2016 and we're reprimanding Christians for what zealots did in the name of that religion a thousand to several hundreds of years ago.

I've written and deleted this post about 5 times today because I just don't have the stamina to get into it on this board in this thread. Eventually it boiled over so here we are... Let's go.