While Muslim apologists like yourself and Menj assert that real Islam is peaceful, elsewhere your fellow religionists are killing innocent people all around the world on a daily basis, from New York to Spain, from Thailand to London, from Bali to Beslan etc. Ultimately, Islam is judged by the actions of its adherents, not the words of its apologists.

Sure, atrocities are not committed by Muslims alone. Christians are known to commit atrocities, so also Catholics, Hindus, Sikhs and Atheists etc. However, what is noteworthy is that followers of these other religions commit the atrocities against the teachings of their respective religions, while Muslims commit the atrocities in the name of Allah.

Claiming that these Islamic militants are ignorant of “true” Islam will not solve the problem. ‘Moderate’ Muslims like yourself need to ask, why is only Islam susceptible to this phenomenon? Why do we not find any “misguided” Buddhists waving the Heart Sutra while sawing off the head of an innocent man? Why do we not find any “misguided” Christians shouting hallelujah while spraying women and children with machine gun fire? Why do we not find misguided Catholics shouting “Hail Mary” before detonating the TNT strapped to their body in crowded train stations?

Muslims need to take a long and hard look at itself, its teachings, its prophet and its holy book in order to find the root cause of the problem. What Muslims cannot afford to do is adopt the ostrich “head in the ground” approach.

it is not a religion of terrorism, rape, etc. the oxford dictionary defines terrorism as ‘use of violence and intimidation.’ do you know that in a battle field, if a muslim were to be faced with women, children, elderly or the infirmed of the enemy, he is not allowed to kill them?
anyone, regardless of race, creed or status; if he or she uses violence and intimidation, he or she is terrorising. think about it. it is only in our time and age, after the 9/11 tragedy, that the world has defined terrorism that must include islam in it.

the problem here is many do not know the essence of islam. rightly-guided muslims do not kill whoever, or whenever they like. if those involved in the 9/11 and london bombings claim to be muslims, they will have gotten their understanding and belief of islam wrong.

culture seeps into most religions, and islam is not spared, especially in our country. buddhism, hinduism, taoism, christianity, islam… all these religions teach goodness. as a muslim, i do not have a right to condemn another religion or another race for that matter. it is about tolerance, and about agreeing to disagree.

I am not sure if you are aware of this, but unfortunately, according to the monotheistic faiths of the Islamic-Christianity model, its not good enough simply being moral. What is more important than morality is your acceptance and submission to god. God can accept immoral persons so long as they accept and sing praises of god, but god will not hesitate to banish a moral person to hello for the sole reason that he is an unbeliever.

Well, all streams and rivers flow out to sea, some say. What matters not is the religion one proudly claims to believe in or proudly claims to be THE true one. What should matter is the way of life one chooses. One’s actions and thoughts ultimately, IMHO, will differentiate the good and the not good.

I think religions are to make humans be good people. Be good, and more than half the battle is won.

Good one, good one!

“Atheists do not worship God but created things so Atheists are indeed polytheists.”
Did you write your own dictionary too? (check a real one for the words theist, atheist, monotheist, polytheist and pantheist before you open your mouth)

“Very nicely said.”
What was said had no connection with what you said whatsoever. You shouldn’t participate in conversations until you learn how.

“Atheists do not care for real justice but vote based on their emotions”
As you can see in the news, there are theists who care for their own twisted justice and not of others. Fanatics (like you for example) who get high on religion are the ones who act on their emotions.

“An Atheist is allowed to lie—its no crime as he does not worship God.”
There are many moral atheists and immoral theists, like it or not. Unfortunately theists believe that morality comes exclusively from religion. Do you know how lie detectors work? You see, the body itself discourages a person to lie. (Because trust is a basic currency and indirectly a biological imperative among social creatures — it’s true for gorillas, chimps, dolphins, etc.)

And don’t you dare claim that as a staunch
Christian, George W. Bush doesn’t lie. Well a lot of what you’ve been saying isn’t true so technically you’re a liar. (using your logic, that’s makes you an atheist, yes?)

You cannot be taken seriously. You must stop talking. (it’s not like you’re gonna listen to me, though..)

this was very, very insightful… would you mind if i quote you in an essay, as material for college, with reference to you of course?