I'm not sure but isn't "oil" a big part of all this?
Quite frankly, I see it as one of the major reasons why there is such a large component of Islam followers that warrant scrutiny and concern.
Such incredibly large chunk$ of money$ pumped into their economy, and they don't really "have to do" anything for it.
They don't have to create new computers. Don't have to create faster engines. It's all under the sand in their land.


cnredd had some great posts on percentages. Really eye-openers, IMO.
They showed an obvious contigent of Islam that support some of the most vile actions.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen any U.S. statistics on that. These were in foreign countries.

While I have no doubt that "hate" is taught in the U.S ., I have yet to see any real data on it being supported by a majority or even a large percentage of the American Muslims.


"4 years"???
Not even Christianity, with all its benefits of explicit Jesus saying "Love thy neighbor", evolved that fast.


I think I just mentioned some.
The Nazis utilized Christianity in their condemnation and extermination of the Jews.
Even in the U.S., how many died because of an ideal of "Manifest Destiny" whereby "Americans" took over the land forcibly from the Native Americans...

But the point is not the comparison, but rather the development.


Pointing out that Christianity has evolved is "anti-Christian"?
Pointing out where Christianity has faltered in the past is "anti-Christian"?
I think the real problem is that you're inherently anti-Islam, and you don't like Christianity compared at all.


The way I look at it is this.
You have two brothers. Mark is twenty-five, engaged, has a steady job, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Paul is 14. He's skipping classes. Hanging out with his crowd that has alcohol. yadda, yadda, yadda.

Mark did the same thing 11 years ago.
Would it make sense to come along and unilaterally condemn Paul? Claiming that he'll never amount to anything?
Why can't he be more like his brother? etc, etc, etc...

No. Cause obviously OVER TIME, there is the possibility for Paul to change.
When people pop on here identifying the RELIGION as bad, I see that as saying Paul is bad. Claiming the RELIGION, instead of the actual extremist adherents ignoring Paul's other positive attributes, is bad is a sweeping generalization.
And for Mark to condemn Paul, ignoring the fact that he used to behave the same way, is pompous.

Over and over again my message gets distorted.
And quite frankly, I don't see ANYBODY really talking about what I am talking about.
There ARE Muslims who condemn the violence. They condemn the "flying imams" crap.
They DO exist. THEY are Paul's potential.
Unilaterally condemning Paul will most likely lead to Paul living up to negative expectations. We SEE that over and over again.
Correcting Paul's ACTIONS, and acknowledging the GOOD where it exists, is more sensible.

I have YET to see anybody explain why acknowledging the GOOD that exists in Islam is such a bad thing.
Acknowledge the bad? YES. Ignoring it will only exacerbate the problem.
But writing it off entirely as bad? That's counter-productive.

You're analogy is flawed. The truth is that Mark was being told repeatedly by his parents (God, by way of the Bible) and chose to ignore them. He also had numerous friends who were telling him to stop what he was doing and chose again to ignore them. Paul, OTH, has been trained by his parents to act this way and is encouraged by them when he does it. He also has friends who are eggind him on, providing him with assistance in what he's doing and almost none who were telling him it was wrong.

You want to try to equate Medieval Christianity with modern day Islam, yet, even in Medieval times, there was a strong voice among Christianity calling for peace (primarily the Fransiscans and Hospitalers). Today, the only voices we hear demanding peace are few and well removed from the centers of power among Islam.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Giving a liberal facts is like throwing bacon at a vegetarian. All it does it piss off the vegetarian and waste good bacon.