Paul really went off in the comments on my Kerry's Position on Iraq post. I will admit he went over the edge, but he did raise some salient points in a debate with our left leaning libertarian (That means liberal) Robin. I guess it's time once again for me to talk about Islam.
Islam literally means submission. It means that a Muslim must totally submit to Allah. There are five pillars of Islam:
1. Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad.
2. Establishment of the daily prayers. Five times a day.
3. Concern for and almsgiving to the needy.
4. Self-purification through fasting during the month of Ramadan.
5. The pilgrimage to Mecca (the Haj) for those who are able.
Nowhere in there is the killing of Jews and infidels.
Here in Georgia there is a candlelight vigil going on tonight in Marietta by the Muslim community to mourn the death of Jack Hensley who was brutally murdered by some sub-human savages in Irag. I will be curious to see how many Muslims actually attend. We have had demonstrations like this by the Muslim community before, but they have never drawn very many Muslims.
Do I think we should exterminate all one billion plus Muslims on this planet? Do I think we should round up all the Muslims in America and ship them out of the country? Well, no. I do think that Muslims world wide need to take a good look at their religion and fix it before we have to do something drastic.
Ponder this. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Most terrorists are Muslims. Look at all the wars going on in the world today and almost all of them involve Muslims. Genocide? Look at the Sudan where we are seeing Arabs trying to exterminate blacks. Where is Flipper's precious UN? Howza 'bout what the Muslims in Nigeria are doing to the Christians? Where is the outrage from Lurch's UN?
Muslims think that we should tolerate their religion, but countries that are ruled by Muslims, such as Saudi Arabia, do not tolerate other religions.
We owe a lot to Islamic culture. During the Dark Ages in Europe they were the ones who saved much of the classic Greco-Roman culture. Our numbers are Arabic. We got Algebra from them. Unfortunately, all they have contributed lately is airplane hijackings and suicide bombings. Now they seem to want to party like it's 699 AD!
Judaism started out as a bloodthirsty religion. Read the Old Testament. Christianity had its bad times with the Inquisition and forced conversions in the 15th through 17th Century. Someone needs to step up and reform Islam.
What pisses people like Paul (and me ) off is the silence of Islamic leaders about the atrocities in Irag, the Sudan, and Nigeria. Usually we hear bullshit like, "Yes this is bad, but Israel..."
Yep! It's always Israel. All we have to do is let them exterminate the Jews and everything will be just hunky dory. That's the ticket. All that's wrong with Islam is those pesky Jews.
There's just one thing wrong. That's bullshit. Do you really think that the rest of the Arab world gives a shit about the Palestinians? If they did, the Palestinians wouldn't be living in squalor. If all the Jews were eradicated from the face of the earth tomorrow, nothing would be fixed. The Muslims would still hate us.
The problem is the current state of Islam. What Paul realizes and Robin doesn't is that we have another world war on our hands. The Cold War was World War III and Robin's buddies, the Dimocrats were on the wrong side of history in that war. Most notable was John Fonda Kerry who slandered many brave soldiers with testimony about false atrocities. I will never, ever forgive him for that.
We now have leaders of Islam, an intolerant religion that is not and has never been a religion of peace preaching holy jihad. During Islam's beginnings it spread from the Arab peninsula and created an Islamic empire by conquest and forcible conversion. They have reverted back to those beliefs. Radical Islam, which is what we are fighting, wants the entire world to be Islamic. Robin and his buddies don't seem to realize that even though the jihadists have made it perfectly clear.
Listen to the hate that is being preached from mosques in the Middle East in the Friday sermons. It is disgusting.
We are fighting World War IV and the sooner we realize that the better. No, I do not think that we should exterminate all the Muslims on this planet. What I do think is that the leaders of Islam need to take a good long look at their religion and decide if they want to coexist with the rest of the people on this planet.
It is in our power to exterminate them. I only hope that they can reform their religion so we do not have to resort to sumpin' like that.
It would only take one nuke to take out Mecca.
If the Palestinians were to lay their arms down tomorrow there would be peace in the Middle East.
If Israel were to lay her arms down tomorrow there would soon be no Israel.
Posted by: Ralph Gizzip on September 23, 2004 10:43 PMthis debate is unsolvable. there are nuts on both sides. there are nuts like paul, who seems to want to stir up a religious war, and equal nuts like bin laden. christianity, islam, jewdaism, I find them all sickning, and i find those who openly preach such religion to be fools.
it all comes down to faith. hitler killed jews because of their faith, jews wanted israel because it was written in the bible. bush, the most powerful man on earth, prays openly to god, rejecting the logic of science. all these things are idiotic. it's just a stupid book.
now your arguing over which religion is more peaceful. eh? they're all basically the same - forms of mind control for the weak, reasons to destroy eachother for the crazy.
you're all either mad, or stupid!
Posted by: matthew g on September 24, 2004 10:15 AMMatt, you are a moron. Hitler did not kill the Jews because of their faith. He did not have anything against Moses. He killed them because he was able to turn them into scapegoats. While there have been religious wars in the past, WWII was most definetly not an example.
As far as the mind control comment...that is only for those who allow their minds to be controlled. I am a religious person who can lean on his faith to get me through tough times. God has never spoken to me to try to get me to kill anyone, or beat up anyone, or otherwise act untowardly. I am neither crazy nor weak, and most religous people I know share those traits with me. I am firmly in control of my own brain, thank you very much. Yes, at face value the Bible is just a book. But it is the meaning within and behind the book that makes it so powerful. If you could see past the nose on your face, maybe you would realize that as well.
Posted by: Alan on September 24, 2004 10:26 AMI stand by my previous comments, but I admit that I went over the edge with the hate speech. The Armstrong video, however, is very disturbing, and I just cannot fathom the reality that human beings can be so cruel and hateful to others. This is why I now strongly believe that only hate can effectively fight hate. Again, I stand by my strategy. Muslims should be treated just like we treated the Japanese in World War II. Is it fair? Is it decent? Hell no, but we have to do whatever it takes to exterminate this Muslim problem.
Robin takes specific issue with my supposed hints of genocide, and he also failed to answer my question concerning the justification of Hiroshima and Navasaki. Robin, dropping a nuclear device on Fallujah is hardly genocide. Fallujah is presently a hot bed of insurgent activity, and is, unfortunately, out of control. What better message to send to the insurgents than a nice little radioactive present to the kind folks in Fallujah? Remember the public burning of Americans and Britains in the streets of Fallujah? You actually believe we are handling that city properly? Thank goodness you are not behind the wheel of our Defense Dept. I also stand behind my comment that we should threaten Iran and Syria with a nuclear attack, and I need to add to that comment. DO WHAT WE SAY WE WILL DO, and use Fallujah as our example. Robin apparantly has nothing to fight for. BUT I DO, AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANYMORE ISLAMIC JIHAD IN MY COUNTRY.
FUCK ISLAM
Posted by: Paul on September 24, 2004 10:55 AMRalph, the reason that statement is so, is because Isreal already has what it wants, a state... Palestine does not.
I would say Hitler's killing of Jews was partly faith and partly scapegoatism. There was a prevalent religous bias against Jews that Hitler merely played upon.
What's unfortunate is that Muslims used to be the MOST tolerant of other religions of any civilization in history. From the founding of the empire until the 20th century, practically, Muslims were told to respect the "people of the book" i.e. Christians and Jews. Hindus however, were converted by sword (hence the tension today). All christians or jews had to do in the Islamic empires is pay a speical tax (however, they were also exempt from military service and had their own special courts, so they got benefits).
The current religous strife is unfortunate and I don't know what to make of it.
Islam does need to change with the times, just like all religions do... But since Islam is taken directly from Mohammad's mouth, and translations aren't percieved as legitimate, there is substantially less wiggle room for interpretation or translation in Islam.
Unfortunately, Flippers "precious" UN is fairly powerless without the support of its founding member, security council veto, host country, and prime financier: the United States. That's what really bothers me about the UN.... the country that it needs the most, doesn't nessesarily need it.
This is not the "Clash of Civilizations" that everyones pointing to. For someone to truly beleive that is what's going on... then that is to believe I won't live out my natural life. I'm only 23. I really don't want to be that pessimistic. I hope it doesn't come to that Denny.
Posted by: Robin Palm on September 24, 2004 11:07 AMI'm going to respond to Paul's last post here.
"Jimmy, I'm just trying to communicate that we Americans have fallen asleep. Islam is a very real threat to our ways of life. History has proven that extreme acts of violence conquer extremely brutal enemies, and Muslims are extremely brutal enemies. Robin calls me genocidal. I call myself a survivor. Robin doesn't realize it, but he probably wouldn't be alive had we not dropped the atomic bomb. You know why? Because we would have lost a million men marching on Tokyo.
If we don't solve this Muslim problem, we will be forced to bow down to Allah or be beheaded. FUCK ISLAM."
Unfortunately, the atomic bombs did little damage in the grand scheme of things in the war on Japan. Our constant firebombing and Napalming from low flying SuperFortresses completely razed almost every other city EXCEPT Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tokyo was completely destroyed by fire bombs. Curtis Lemay said "If we had lost the war, I would have been tried as a War Criminal" Think about that. I give total credit to avoiding a land invastion of Japan, and that was nessesary to save lives, however, the emphasis on the Atomic Bombs is out of proportion. The rest of Japan already laid in ruins.
Y'know, I don't see anything wrong with watching the beheading videos. I kinda wish they were higher quality. Don't get me wrong, beheading someone isn't a nice thing to do. It's just video of these people fighting their war. They see video of our tanks surrounding their towns and villages, we see beheading videos. Seems like a fair trade-off. No?
Posted by: Jimmy on September 24, 2004 11:31 AMRobin said:
"Unfortunately, the atomic bombs did little damage in the grand scheme of things in the war on Japan. Our constant firebombing and Napalming from low flying SuperFortresses completely razed almost every other city EXCEPT Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tokyo was completely destroyed by fire bombs. Curtis Lemay said "If we had lost the war, I would have been tried as a War Criminal" Think about that. I give total credit to avoiding a land invastion of Japan, and that was nessesary to save lives, however, the emphasis on the Atomic Bombs is out of proportion. The rest of Japan already laid in ruins."
It is not correct to say that the atomic bombs had no impact on the ending of the war. In fact, they are almost solely responsible for ending it.
Japanese imperial politics were largely run by what was left of the hawks, who had in effect dictated a massive home defence scheme involving every man woman and child on the island. The degree of zenophobia ingrained in Japanese culture and encouraged by the hawks is easily seen in the mass suicides on Okinawa...it is certain that the US would have paid a staggering price for an invasion.
What is also true is that this home defence strategy was in full swing, despite the massive bombing campaign. Had the US conventionally bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with far more kilotonnage of conventional bombs, it would have had little effect on the home defence effort...as Robin said, everything else had already been laid waste anyway. It was not a measure of damage that made the difference...hell...Hamburg and Dresden suffered a higher body count I believe than the two nuclear targets in Japan.
What made the difference was the shock and horror of the use of a secret weapon, which directly stirred the Emperor to intervene. Had he not intervened as a result of the second attack, Japan would have continued to resist until it was overrun.
Yo Jimmy, what're you waitin' for? Go get yourself a uniform and join up in the fight against the Iraqis. They need your anger to fuel attacks. You're a killer! Go kill!
Posted by: Jimmy on September 24, 2004 03:51 PMThat was supposed to be addressed to Paul, no myself.
Me
Matthew - You are really showing your bitterness about your condition and your hatred of the God you don't believe in. People who are religious are not nuts or morons. Was Michaelangelo a nut and a moron? How about Raphael? All their works were inspired by their belief in God. I have stood in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and St. Peter's in Rome. Both are incredible beuatiful buildings built to honor a God. I am an atheist but I envy the faith of those who believe in a higher being. You are as intolerant in your atheism as fundamentalist Muslims and Christians are in their fanatical beliefs.
Robin - As usual you are wrong. This time it's about Palestine. It's not that the Palestinians do not have a state it's that the Jews do. Over the past 60 years they have turned down every chance they have had to have their own state if it involved the existence of Israel. The latest was four years ago when Arafat walked away from achieving 95% of what he wanted and started the current intafada. They want one thing and one thing only: the total destruction of Israel. They have made no secret of that fact. Arafat has always said one thing in English and another thing in Arabic.
It must be nice to be 23 and know everything, especially the revisionist history of the end of World War II. Japan would have fought to the last man if not for us dropping the bombs. Even then, it took two bombs to do the trick.
Islam indeed was once a tolerant religion that did allow Christians and Jews in their empire but that was a long time ago. Can any other religion be practised in Saudi Arabia? If there is a Palestinian state do not be surprised if they drive out all the Christians. It is ironic that the Arabs with the greatest freedom are those living in Israel. With the decline of the Islamic civilization and the rise of the West with its infidels and Jews many believe Allah has forsaken them because they have not been religious enough. Hence the rise of fundamentalism which is what we are fighting today.
Let me restate my point. Look at all the conflicts throughout the world today. Most of them involve Muslims. Why is that? We are indeed facing a clash of civilizations that your 23 your old mind cannot seem to comprehend. My 58 year old mind does. But from your comments, you were probably on the wrong side in the Cold War. That was a clash of civilizations also.
Islam needs to reform itself and learn how to exist with the rest of us in the world today. If Israel were to cease to exist there would still be genocide in the Sudan. If Israel ceased to exist there would still be strife in Nigeria. If all the Jews on the planet were to suddenly die
we would still see Muslims and Hindus fighting in India.
I am waiting to hear a major Muslim religious leader step up and condemn all the violence and genocide being practiced by Muslims. I am waiting for a major Muslim leader say that we need to put a stop to the hatred spewing out of the mosques and the madrassas. The silence is deafening.
Suicide is against the Muslim religion, but the current state of Islam is making an exception by somehow rationalizing that blowing up innocent people makes one a martyr. This is a sick perversion of what was once a great religion.
Latest numbers Bush 311 Kerry 217. Kerry's pulled ads in four states, conceding them to Bush.
Posted by: Denny Wilson on September 24, 2004 05:46 PMI left out the United Nations. You are right. It is powerless without the United States, but it has totally lost its moral authority. When you put nations that have atrocious records on human rights on the Human Rights Committee, something is wrong. The United Nations has become little more than an organization that exists to bash the United States while being supported by the United States. It is no longer useful and we are wasting money supporting it.
Posted by: Denny Wilson on September 24, 2004 05:56 PMYup, Robin, they respected the peoples of the book right up to the gates of Vienna. Which are traditional muslim lands, BTW, along w/America and Australia. Well, that's what's in some of their schoolbooks.
--Judaism started out as a bloodthirsty religion. Read the Old Testament. Christianity had its bad times with the Inquisition and forced conversions in the 15th through 17th Century. Someone needs to step up and reform Islam.---
14th to 16th century, we converted people. Let's see, tossed out of Spain (again?) at the end of the 14th century, tossed out of Europe for centuries around 1653 or 1683. And of course there was Martin Luther in the mix. But still....
Oh, goody, all we have to do is pay is protection money. However, as I understand it, if I had a sibling and that sibiling converted to Islam and I stayed a Christian, even if I received an inheritance in the parents' will, I would get squat because I'm not muslim.
You might want to be a 2nd class citizen, Robin, but not me.
We have been at war w/them for over 1000 years, Robin.
With dirty bombs and whatever else available, they must reform.
-----------
And aren't there a few Japanese military historians who think it was good that we dropped the bombs because we saved their culture?
----
You're 23, welcome to our world. Wall fell when I was 29. Pay attention to the 1st 5 minutes of Miracle on Ice, that was my world ages 5-to 8 thru 19. You are lucky, you had peace and prosperity in your youth.
We're not looking forward to the possibility that this is going to last thru the end of our lives, but it must be done. It's up to you millenials and my daughter's generation. And unlike the Greatest Generation, we were not forged by the Depression. The only real experience we have is a war we lost which has cast a pall over most of my life, our country, and Denny was there.
You might not realize it, but you're being Vietnam'd. Kerry hasn't changed, and the MSM is doing the same thing it did then. The difference is, we can't afford to lose this one. We shouldn't have stopped in 1991, but for the sake of "stability" and "multilateralism," we listened to our "allies" and the thuggocracy of the UN. America does best when we're more unilateral(anglospheric) and stick to the basics. In the end it does work out to everyone's benefit. It is a curse and a blessing, it's up to you to decide which one rules your head and heart. We are the original rogue nation, revel in it.
Posted by: Sandy P on September 24, 2004 09:34 PM--Islam indeed was once a tolerant religion that did allow Christians and Jews in their empire but that was a long time ago.--
But it was our empire before theirs. Egypt was Christian and so were other areas.
Posted by: Sandy P on September 24, 2004 09:37 PMRobin,
One culture's dark age is another's golden age. The Abbasid caliphate may have preserved classical Greek teachings for the Renasaince, but it was hardly a peaceful time.
Islam the most tolerant religion in the ancient world?
Tell that to the ghosts of what once was Hindu Afghanistan. The region is still called Hindu Kush(Hindu Slaughter).
Tell that to the Armenian Christians of Turkey and Syria.
Tell that to the Coptic communities of the ancient world.
"Hindus however, were converted by sword (hence the tension today). All christians or jews had to do in the Islamic empires is pay a speical tax (however, they were also exempt from military service and had their own special courts, so they got benefits)."
Good Lord. I guess you're trying to combat the extremism of Paul's statements by sugarcoating Islam's influence in history, but I have to argue Jews and Christians were converted by the sword along with the Hindus. What the heck were the Janisseries? Children stolen to become islamic soldiers. Hardly tolerant. That special 'tax' you refer to was just one of MANY means of persuasion to convert the few remaining Jews and Christians to Islam. Dig a little deeper and learn what these special 'rights' were. Just an islamic form of apartheid.
Yes, we can all point to each religion and note the barbarities conducted in the name of one's God. Islam is not alone in this. It's the movement today by muslims to recreate their dar-al-islam which I believe is the most pressing issue faced by the western world. Islam needs to change. Perhaps a renaisance? Maybe reforms such as the protestant movement did for christians.
I always thought it interesting how, before Christianity became romanized(recognized by Constantine) it spread peacefully throughout the Roman empire. There was no Christian expansion by arms until it was taken over by the state.
Posted by: crash on September 24, 2004 10:26 PMI dont understand those who continue to insist that Islam is a 'great' religion, or that it was formerly peaceful and tolerant. Islam was NEVER peaceful and tolerant.
Christians aspire to follow the example of Jesus, Buddhists aspire to follow the example of the Buddha - and Muslims follow the example of their prophet Mohammed, who was a violent, bigoted, treacherous, individual.
Do either Jesus or the Buddha encourage their followers to murder those who dont - or won't - share their beliefs? No, of course they dont.
Unlike the religion of beheadings, which has brought nothing good to the world.
Posted by: dee on September 24, 2004 11:49 PMHey Jimmy, I think you're an absolute asshole. Fuck you, too.
I have a big problem with something you said in a previous thread.
"Y'know, those beheaded in Iraq are reconstructionists (a.k.a. profiteers). If some army surrounded your town and took your job, and pointed a gun at your head sayin', "What're you gonna do about it?", what would you do? You wouldn't be pissed?"
First off, fuck you for insulting him like that. Why don't you email his family, and let them know how you feel. Idiot. Secondly, he was not there to TAKE THEIR JOBS. HE WAS THERE TO CREATE JOBS YOU DIPSHIT. Halliburton and other contractors are there rebuilding and updating their infrastructure (energy, telecom, water, sewer, roads, IT) so that they have the tools to run an open market and a sanitary civilization, WHICH CREATES JOBS. He was there to help them, and you suggest that he deserved what he received. A reconstructionist by definition reconstructs for the benefit of the people and the marketplace; not to tear down, not to take away. Man, what are you, 14 years old or something? How dare you justify his beheading like that. How mother fucking dare you.
Posted by: Paul on September 25, 2004 12:55 AMOK, I think I've fallen off the cliff over here. Jimmy, I disagree with you 100%, but I apologize for calling you names. That was wrong, and I won't do that anymore to anybody here. I am, however, full of rage. All history aside. We've got a big problem on our hands today, and if any of you think that the terrorists aren't already here planning another attack on our soil, you are wrong. I just hope the Bush Administration knows what they are doing. I will remain vigilant. I WILL FIGHT THEM HERE IN AMERICA WHEN IT COMES TO THAT, and I know that I am not alone.
Posted by: Paul on September 25, 2004 01:14 AMFor one, I never said dropped the bomb was a BAD thing and that americans shouldn't have done it. I stated clearly that it saved american lives and forced surrender. I meant to state that Japan was mostly destroyed by relentless firebombing, not atomic weapons. That was replying to Paul asking if I thought the atomic bombs were terrorist acts.
(Btw, revisionist WWII history would be the Japanese take that American economic policies forced Japan to attack, so the Japanese are not at fault... I do not agree with this statement)
Several people now used my age against me in comments since I said how old I was. Please stop. You're aware that I'm a perfectly fine, thinking adult, with a valid opinion and a vote. Being older means exactly that, being older, unless you have the wits about you to learn from what's going on. It would behoove to listen and take note of the youth of today, for they will be the leaders of tomorrow.
Crash: I know all about the Janisseries. Children stolen from Christian families, converted to Islam, educated, and placed into the elite of the Ottoman military and official classes. Jannisseries, and palace officials that came from their ranks, weld tremendous power in the Ottoman empire. So much so that they stopped most of Selim III's reforms of the military. Mahmud II finally disbanded them, for the institution had grown corrupt and was no longer an able fighting force. My modern middle east professor has stated that sometimes children were given willingly to the Janissaries in hopes that they could have a sucessful life and perhaps remember their family. I'd have to look that up though.
No, Christians and Jews wern't seen as equal to Muslims, but they enjoyed relative autonomy under the Millet system in the old days.
The Armenian Genocide occurred during WWI, well beyond the period of time we have been discussing. The massacres during Abdul Hamid's reign were supposedly against Armenian separists in Anatolia. Those were in the 1890's. Of course these are heinous acts. These atrocities were a part of the total unraveling of the Ottoman empire.
Denny: as usual, I am not wrong. You just disagree with me. If the Cold War was a clash of civilizations, then you're saying that this clash of civilizations can be won or lost without major conflict and global genocide. Thanks. I'm gonna take a stand and say without Liberal influence, the hard line military conservatives would have fought the Soviets as early as 52. They certainly were clamoring for an invasion of Cuba in 62. I'm not saying liberals are amazing people, they have faults too... but it is the BALANCE of the two forces that make america great. Japan was controlled by its hard line military right. That's how it got where it did in WWII.
If this does end up as the Clash of Civilizations, with total war, I feel that this world would be doomed. War as an option gets increasingly worse as time goes by. What if Iran gets Nuclear Weapons? What do we do then? We surely wouldn't invade their "axis of evil" anymore than we couldn't invade Soviet Russia.
I also did not say I agreed with the Palestinians. I just simply said that Isreal had a state, whereas Palestine did not, thus affected each others aims (if the other were to disappear). I think the ultimate goal would be to have one secular government, and not split countries with a huge wall in between them. I criticize Isreal's government as practically a theocracy, with the subtext being that most Islamic governments are far worse (Egypt, Turkey, and the former Iraq had close to secular government). I object to state rule by religion in all cases. Moreso when the case happens in heterogenous populations. The Palestinians have made some dumb mistakes as far as trying to negotiate, but they have a claim to be upset in the first place. Isreal needs to commended for not killing the lot of them. I guess you can go ahead and blame the UN.
As far as the UN goes, this is my thinking. The current nation state system is fairly hurtful to this world. It's like the whole world is those 13 original colonies under the Articles, or the many different Clans during Feudal Japan. Can't really work together, and no sense of common law and order. I believe that superstates, as in what the EU is doing slowly, is the way to go for more people to prosper in this world. Nationalism, with it's increasing Balkanization of the world, is dangerous, and counter productive to the economic well being of the future country (at least in the current nation state environment). Of course, many, many, many, problems have to be solved in the meantime, and I won't probably live to see it happen, but I'm sure it'll somehow end up that way.
Eh...I rambled, babbled, and all of the above. It's 4am. Be kind, I probably said something dumb in there due to me being half asleep. Have a good night guys. Make friends with a couple of Muslims, they're good people here at VCU.
No no, *I* apologize, Paul. Halliburton is a really great buncha folks. And, after all, by Iraq having a lousy infrastructure, they're pretty much *begging* for us to come over there and make one for them.
And what's with all the name calling? Golly.
Posted by: Jimmy on September 25, 2004 04:19 AM"Matthew - You are really showing your bitterness about your condition and your hatred of the God you don't believe in. People who are religious are not nuts or morons. Was Michaelangelo a nut and a moron? How about Raphael? All their works were inspired by their belief in God. I have stood in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and St. Peter's in Rome. Both are incredible beuatiful buildings built to honor a God. I am an atheist but I envy the faith of those who believe in a higher being. You are as intolerant in your atheism as fundamentalist Muslims and Christians are in their fanatical beliefs."
I just dont see the point. It was mankind who built those mosques and cathedrals, and could have done so without his bbelief in godd. religion devides us, makes us hate eachother. I also think it is the easy way out - if we believe god will sort things out, wwe stop trying to do so ourselves. So we listen, like sheep, to the pastors and imams, unquestioningly. We dismiss what science and logic tells us, and we continue to persue his enless, idiotic war because we believe that the muslims are out to get us. You all may try to rationalise it, with scientology, and hazy links between iraq and al qa'ida, but in the end, it all comes to your hatred and xenophobia. its childish: you talk of history, and forget to learn from it - history teaches us that war is terible, that the bombing of hiroshima, although prrobably necessarry, had consequences so terible that they should never be repeated.
Posted by: matthew g on September 25, 2004 06:29 AM--Btw, revisionist WWII history would be the Japanese take that American economic policies forced Japan to attack, so the Japanese are not at fault... I do not agree with this statement--
Would be?? I thought it is???? I thought they're playing the victim now? Just like the Germans????
Oh, brother, Robin's a one-worlder, a tranzi. You're 23, you need seasoning.
Start reading EURSOC and EU Referendum. Looks like no supra-state for them! And they're going commie-lite. Now there's a recipe for success.
Posted by: Sandy P on September 25, 2004 11:42 PMMatthew you missed the point. Of course man could have built buildings without belief in God, but these buildings were built to honor and worship God. You have St. Paul's in London. I've been inside it. I've been to Rome many times and I'm always awed at the beautiful churches and the art. They were all inspired by someone's belief in God. Much of the music of Bach was religious. Religion has been a force for evil but it has also been a force of good.
Robin - Thye reason I chided you about being only 23 is that you do not have as much experience and the acquired wisdom that goes with an older person. For example, I lived through the Viet Nam War. You only know it through books. Winston Churchill said "If You're not a liberal in your twenties you have no heart. If you're not a conservative in your thirties you have no brain."
It is not revisionist history that Japan attacked us for our economic policies. That is one of the reasons they did attack. The hardliners thought war with the United States was inevitable. Yamamoto did not want war because he was afraid of our industrial might but when he was overruled he hoped a crushing attack on Pearl Harbor would give them a tactical advantage.
A single secular state as the solution to the Israel/Palestinian conflict? Can I have some of that shit you're smoking? Do you know how long the Jews would last?
Posted by: Denny Wilson on September 26, 2004 06:54 PMYeah, it was all about O...I....L... after all.
Posted by: Sandy P on September 27, 2004 12:01 PMFirstly, a pet hate:
The 10 symbols we use to represent numbers originated in India.
They are wrongly called Arabic numerals but are actually Hindu.
Think about it, who are better at maths? Arabs or Indians? (Check to see which country has the highest rate of degrees held to find out)
The reason they are called Arabic is because Arabia is between India and Europe. The Europeans simply assumed that the numbers came from Arabia not even further afield.
Secondly, every single Muslim, should learn that one line:
"All it takes is one nuke and Mecca is gone."
I think if this were posted over the entrance to every mosque the world would be a more peaceful place.
Lastly, please get rid of that f*cktard "jimmy". Trolls like these suck ass so bad it's just sad.
Cheers.
Posted by: Rob on September 28, 2004 03:03 AMHas anyone gone to freemuslims.org?
The time has come for every good Muslim to speak out or be enslaved by the Islamo fascists.
My observations:
I suspect Jimmy has mutilated a few animals in his basement and Mat is pissed because he feels unloved. I love you Matt even if you write goofy stuff!
I have some information for Paul. The Armstrong video was gruesome and dispicable. What you have to understand is, those people killing are saying "in the name of Islam," but it doesn't mean thats true. In this country, people blow up abortion clinics because of their Christian belief, but they are not labeled as christian fundamentalists. There are 1 billion Moslems in the world, if the religion is so crazy, we would have a billion more problems than we do today. Even the u.s. estimates al-quada at 18,000 people. You do not know anything about the Koran to say it promotes killing of "jews and Christians." Pick one up at Barnes and NOble and read it, if you can even read. Passages say Christians and Jews are people of the book (scriptures) and Moslems are entitled to intermarry with them.
As far as beheadings go, how about this quote from the Koran 'If anyone slays a human being…it shall be as though he had slain all mankind, and if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind.'
(5:32)
Why don't you look that one up? because like everything else people only use what supports their propaganda and listen on un-credible alleged experts on Islam Steve Emerson, who is known to be a bigot. GO TO THE ISLAMIC CENTER AND LEARN SOMETHING, LIKE WE HAD TO DO IN OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOL AS PART OF OUR CURRICULUM. You people preach war and hatred. You are no better than Bin Laden
Rob, wow, bravo to you for using the slogan "Nuke em." The idiot's guide to solving all the worlds problems. THATS WHY WE ARE IN THIS MESS. I see Jesus preaches to NUKE PEOPLE. This is the reason Iran should build Nuclear weapons because when we American feel any resistance we say "NUKE MECCA, NUKE NORTH KOREA, NUKE SADDAM (yeah that would have been great, kill a million innocent iraqis for weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist), NUKE JAPAN, NUKE AFGHANISTAN). We are scared because we know that our slogans of nuke this and nuke that, are not going to be taken for long, its only a matter of time before some other asshole yells NUKE AMERICA, FOR THEY WANT TO NUKE US. one word, IDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOT
Posted by: devils advoc8 on October 31, 2004 07:11 PMDear All,
Don't blame Islam for everything for what some stupid Muslims does. Some have understood Islam in a wrong way. Like sucide is not allowed in Islam but in Palestine people are blowing up in revenge... it is purly nothing to do with Islam it is a personal community revenge..but unfortunately the palestinians are Muslims. If someone or a group kills my loved ones definately I will revenge them at any cost. This is human nature. But what palestinians does is wrong they should give a change but the new generation born and broughtup in the state of War and hatred, so it is difficult for them to understand as there is no schools or anything to guide them. Please remember they are just fighting for their land nothing to do with Islam. Well, I have no much knowledge of Bin Landen, but 9/11 killing the innocent is totally not accepted and not accepted by ISLAM, and dont ever relate him to be the learder of ISLAM please. TO understand Islam you should have some deep understanding. If you really read Quran and the hadeeds with a proper guide you will be cleared of all. Well you and me just normal people, the world is ruled by group of politicians, they play a lots of games indirectly which we dont know and we stupids just fight without understanding anything....
Religion is a Must for every human but there are many religion please go ahead and search for the ture one religion. Because you should before it is too late. Why... because you like it or not everyone will die, so we should know why we are here. I am a born Muslim so, I am satisfied with Islam, but I dont recommend to read Quran first, try other religions first.
Take care
Peacemaker