No. Not every Muslim went on a rampage. And not every non-Muslim in the world was killed.
Are you trying to make the point that 200 deaths as a result of people becoming offended over cartoons is a minor matter?
And back to the fundamental question, what was the source of their outrage?
Did I state it was a minor matter? No.
As to the cause, a specific interpretation of the Islam by a minority.
But the IRA did not actually do it. It takes a particular mindset to become a suicide bomber, or it takes extreme coercion. The people who were forced to carry out suicide attacks were perfectly inoffensive human beings until confronted with force.
The Muslim suicide bomber apparently looks forward to the planned attack with positive anticipation. One can not say the same for those who were used by the IRA.
And back to the fundamental question, what was the source of Muslims' desire to use their life in such a way?
Apparently being the operative word and its a moot point, the end rest is dead innocent people.
Oh, As to the cause, a specific interpretation of the Islam by a minority.
It does't take a majority, just a consistency.
And back to the fundamental question, what was the source of the Muslims' extremism?
So a small but consistent group of people practicing a fundamental form of religion is enough to condemn the whole.
Oh, As to the cause, a specific interpretation of the Islam by a minority.
I didn't say that atheism is a religion. Are you saying that one must be religious to consider violent action against laws proscribing thought?
And back to the fundamental question, what was the source of the Muslim countries' extreme laws?
No I'm saying atheism doesn't have a credo or code to form an ideology.
Oh, As to the cause, a specific interpretation of the Islam by a minority.
The point is not your individual survival, it is that those countries thought to create laws making atheism a "crime" worth a death penalty. You don't think that there is something wrong with people who would enact such laws?
And back to the fundamental question, what was the source of the Muslim countries' extreme attitudes?
I personally think that of any country that practices the death penalty for any crime.
Oh, As to the cause, a specific interpretation of the Islam by a minority.
I certainly do. And not just this bizarre and barbaric practice. I also resent the fact that my Christian parents chose to inflict circumcision on me, although I don't know if it was their Christianity which drove them to it.
That said, Female Genital Mutilation (or "FGM" as you so coyly put it), is another level of barbarousness beyond male circumcision.
Its a common abbreviation so the 'coy' dig is neither needed or warranted.
I also was not referring to the Christian side of it, as that pretty much doesn't exist, its an American cultural thing. Here in Europe its not practiced among Christianity at all.
I was (and specifically did) refer to the Jewish practice, including the sucking of blood from the child's penis by the Rabbi. A practice that kills and is 'weird' to say the least, yet oddly is a subject that Americans seem quite reluctant to discuss.
I don't understand why we see so much apologism for Islam. I also don't see why the magnitude of the Islam problem is so often dismissed as being equivalent in size and scope to the appalling behavior of other religions.
I do see that a big difference between, say, the Bible and the Quran is that the Bible has many contributing authors, all considered (but not claiming) to be recording the "Word of God", whereas the Quran has one author claiming to be presenting the word of God.
Another difference is that the Quran's exhortations to violence against the unbeliever are one-ended, and not just targeted on one tribe or group of people at a particular point in time.
I don't see why we see so much apologism for other religions and a focus on the violence and bigotry practiced by one religion? I gave you a rather large list of extremist groups and actions for non-Muslims faiths and the total response on them was silence? Have you investigated them all in detail already?
I don't know if it was growing up in a country that suffered a the hands of terrorism for decades that makes me a little less black and white about it; or living, working and travelling in the Gulf helped understand that te majority of Muslims are no different from the majority of the rest of the world.
I do also find it interesting the point you make about the Koran, as Dotini infers with his post the sole use of the Koran as a text is actually limited to a small fundamentalist sect within Islam (far less than the Sunni and Shiah - however Wahhabism is a sect if Sunni). Other Muslim sect have a number of Holy texts beyond the Koran, with a range of authors (not big surprise as they are effectively the Torah/OT and NT) oops abbreviations - sorry to be coy.
Wahhabism is arguably the sect of Islam that is the core root of all fundamentalism, and has only existed since the 18th Century (a far shorter period that Islam has been around), its this sect that considers all non-Wahhabism apostates, drove the Afghan conflict with the Russian, and through it the roots to OBL and AQ.
So I personally think that anyone who anyone who simply see's Islam when they see Islamic fundamentalism is either unaware or simply ignoring the rather complex root by which it came into being and just how small the fundamental sect behind it is in comparison to the whole religion.
Now as an Athiest I have issue with any religion being tied to the laws of a society (even the UK is far too close the CoE for my likening, and the US needs to re-establish the separation in a big way), but I'm not so naive as to not look behind the headlines at what might actually be the root of the issue in question, either that or it might be the lack of 'trying to kill me' that has occurred from the thousands of Muslims I have come across in my life.
