Except that outside of the U.S. many of these countries which are harboring or fostering Islamic militants are theocracies or Muslim nations where one cannot practice Judaism or Christianity or other religions openly for fear of bigotry and violence.

From my point of view, the problem is theocracy, not Islam.

I fear Christian theocracies about as much as I fear Islamic theocracies.

I love both Muslims and Christians who can live peacefully in a mostly secular society.

From my point of view, the problem is theocracy, not Islam.

I fear Christian theocracies about as much as I fear Islamic theocracies.

I love both Muslims and Christians who can live peacefully in a mostly secular society.

Well I am no fan of theocracies. But the problem at this point in history is specifically Islamic theocracies. No use putting our heads in the sand. There are no Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu theocracies which openly persecute others who observe different religions in their midst whereas all of the Islamic theocracies mentioned above openly discriminate against other religious beliefs. Read about the Islamic theocracies' attitudes toward conversion and intermarriage for instance. Not to mention killing people for allegations of proselytization etc. etc.

Don't get me wrong. I am not blaming Islam for these perversions. However, it is definitely a problem which is endemic in modern Islamic countries

and this unwarranted discrimination needs to be addressed and reformed.

fortunately no one blames all Muslims for the actions of the specific organized Islamic terrorists who are involved in a large number of war crimes killing innocent people in the name of Islam around the globe - since that would be idiotic.

Today a muslim woman sat next to me on the light-rail, with her head all wrapped up. As I spoke to her I was saddened that so many have hostility towards individual people simply because of their religious affiliation.

Yeah, it seems to me that the western/christian world has gone through a little bit of a maturation process in the last 400 years...but we've just started. We have a long way to go. We still have people in this country who think like christian theocrats would think, and some who think that a christian theocracy would be a good thing. And i do think the islamic world is 'behind the curve' - the evidence is in the treatment of homosexuals and FGM and the like.

But i also think that if christianity (which, as I understand it, once had quite a few churches that justified the burning of witches, the murder of homosexuals, the keeping of slaves) can mature as christianity has, then islam can also mature.




I agree.



Ultimately I agree, but there is an open question as to how much reform should can come from outside, and how much must come from within.




Well, it would be idiotic. We agree there. While I've never met anyone in person who actually is so idiotic, I've seen many comments online consistent with that level of idiocy.

Today a muslim woman sat next to me on the light-rail, with her head all wrapped up. As I spoke to her I was saddened that so many have hostility towards individual people simply because of their religious affiliation.

life is rough all over, huh...

Too bad you can't sit in a light rail full of dead bodies from the daily bombings and killing from Islam around the world.Too bad you can't talk to the family members of those killed for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Perhaps one day you will be sitting on a light rail when a bomb explodes in the name of Islam and you find your self deaf and blind.Wonder what you are going to say then.

maybe if she made some kind of effort to our way of life, instead of trying change it to their way of life...i'm glad france outlawed that sillyness, i hope we are next in line...

"If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives."
(Leviticus 20:13)


"You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their father's wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation" (Exodus 20:4-5)


"Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock." (Psalms 137:9)


"As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you. But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of nations nearby. "As for the towns of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing in them. You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you. This will keep the people of the land from teaching you their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 20:10-18)

So you assume that, since she is muslim, she has made no effort to our way of life?