Nothing like proving the point-

[€uroMeinke]

Didn't we already establish in another thread that all religions - even those C'est la Vie Buhdists - were violent?

[scaeagles]

Kevy, I'm going to argue against you, an unusual thing for me indeed.

I liken the comparison of Christianity today to the the crusades as something like being critical of white southerners today because there was slavery in the south 150 years ago. The southerners today don't own slaves. Christians today didn't go on crusades. This is about what is happening now in the current world climate.

As far as ostracism....I'll just have to take your word for it, as I'm not a Pagan so I would not have experienced it. I don't doubt it. Church would be great if it weren't for the people.

Edited to add: Christians often ostracize there own. I, sadly, have been on both sides of that, to my embarrassment and shame.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Kevy, I'm going to argue against you, an unusual thing for me indeed.

You say that, yet I do not see one word about Ringo.

[lashbear]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Christians today didn't go on crusades. This is about what is happening now in the current world climate..

Sorry, but just to reiterate, aren't the KKK burning gay churches in the name of the Christian God ?

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by lashbear

Sorry, but just to reiterate, aren't the KKK burning gay churches in the name of the Christian God ?

Yes there are. Every movement has gross extremes, as has been mentioned. What the test is is what the mainstream does. You don't see partying on the campi of Christian Universities when there is a burning cross placed on the lawn of a home of an African American.

[€uroMeinke]

What's that "Harvest Crusade" thing - surely some infidels must be slayed?

[€uroMeinke]

And that's why genocide will always be an option, it's the only sure way to wipe out a contrary belief/cultural claim. The trouble is having the stomach to complete the chore.

[innerSpaceman]

Someone check the temperature in hell, because I'm now going to agree with scaeagles, a mere handful of posts after I agreed with Nephythys.


All this talk about the crusades, the holocaust, KKK lynchings and the like is red herringism. Radical Islamic Fundamentalism is a growing force, a violent force, and a very real danger to us, you and me, in the here and now of the year 2006. My apologies to innocent Muslims around the world, but I interpret their faith as a dangerous threat. And I'm hardly alone in that. Muslims have a bad rep, and I can't say as its undeserved.

Perhaps use Japanese internment camps as a warning not to go too far off the deep end. But try to understand why this is pushing the Deep End button for a lot of people.


I don't think Muslims in general are doing enough to counter the poor p.r. they are being saddled with. I don't fault any of them for that. Frankly, I don't think I personally am doing enough to counter my country's image as a warmongering death bully, and I am not surprised in the least that many in the world consider us a loathsome enemy.


So whining about poor, poor Muslims being tarred unfairly with the terrorist brush just strikes me as a bit disingenuous. This is their problem now. All of them. They've inherited it just as surely as I've inherited the "American" problem.

[Alex]

This states things pretty well, in my opinion.

[innerSpaceman]

Hmm, this quote from that Slate article sums it up pretty nicely for me:

Originally Posted by Anne Applebaum, as published by Slate

True, these principles sound pretty elementary—"we're pro-free speech and anti-gratuitous violence"—but in the days since the pope's sermon, I don't feel that I've heard them defended in anything like a unanimous chorus. A lot more time has been spent analyzing what the pontiff meant to say, or should have said, or ought to have said if he had been given better advice.

All of which is simply beside the point, since nothing the pope has ever said comes even close to matching the vitriol, extremism, and hatred that pours out of the mouths of radical imams and fanatical clerics every day of the week all across Europe and the Muslim world, almost none of which ever provokes any Western response at all. And maybe it's time that it should.