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User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-24 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Definately, there are a lot of changes in Islam today then there were when it was founded. The population is huge now, and I don’t think ANY Muslim understands the true meaning. It has been lost.

User	mae | 2006-08-24 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I watched a very interesting show on the History channel the other day about the Koran and the changes in Islam. We all know that Christianity has suffered at the hands of some of its more overzealous practitioners (think Crusades), but, it appears, so has Islam. Probably the other great world religions have as well. As far as religion improving the world - can you honestly, thinking it through, say that it has not? On a global scale, while religion appears to be the cause of much of the world’s strife, the real culprit is more likely power and the desire for it. On a more personal level, in our day to day lives, without religion’s ’civilizing influence’, so to speak, our lives would be harsher and much less controlled. We may not reach the point of total tolerance of others’ religions, but I personally hold out much more hope for the world. I don’t think we are doomed - at least not until God thinks it’s time, and then it won’t matter one whit how tolerant we are. mae

User	Chell | 2006-08-24 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Sad.... Is this really what any benevolent God would want for his children? I thought religion was supposed to improve the human condition, not bring it to an end. Well, I guess, after the dust and radioactic particles settle, that the question of the second coming will be answered. If someone’s Messiah, Imam, Savior, Lord, or God doesn’t show up to bring everyone back from the dead, humans will look like extremely intelligent, stupid creatures in the eyes of whatever future sentient beings end up in charge of the planet.

User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-24 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Can religious tolerance be an attainable goal? The outlook doesn’t seem too good.

User	Chell | 2006-08-24 |
Subject	untitled
Message	So, the big question is how do we get people to stop using religion as a shield, and get people to really understand and embrace the concepts of love and tolerance that most religions teach? Can religious tolerance be an attainable goal? Or have we all become too entrenched in the "One and only way to God" mentality and really are doomed as ghostknight stated?

User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-24 |
Subject	untitled
Message	People just use religon as a sheild for everything they are doing. First, that has to end. Then they should understand the teachings of their religon, and we have ourself a safe world.

User	ghostknight | 2006-08-23 |
Subject	untitled
Message	it has to be self fulfilling. i’m absolutely convinced that there would be no apocalypse if we hadn’t been expecting one. though i suppose preaching good will and love isn’t working either. wow, we’re totally doomed. calvin and hobbes. oh, they were better days.

User	Chell | 2006-08-23 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I think the group of humans being overlooked, in all the issues we discuss on a daily basis, is the children. We are going through the natural resources we have at a rate that will ensure (according to most scientists) the end of human life before my great-grandkids would die of old age. Scientists predict that a third of all plant species on the planet will be extinct within the next 50-80 years. We are losing animal species at a similarly alarming rate. We are doing little to get off oil products. We are not doing anything to secure jobs for our children. And to top it off, we are waging wars over political and religious BELIEFS. We are willing to kill over concepts! My son, who is only 11 years old, asked me if the world was as scary when I was a kid as it is now. I had a hard time answering that. So I looked up some of the going on’s from when I was 11 years old. In 1985 some of the biggest stories around the globe included: Reagan being sworn into his second term, Isreal beginning to withdraw troops from Lebanon (history repeating itself?), a blood test for AIDS was approved, Windows 1.0 hit the market, South Africa ended its ban on interracial marriages, Live Aid raised over 50 million pounds in funds for fighting Ethiopian famine, Calvin and Hobbs find themselves printed for the first time, Orson Welles passed away, and Back to the Future hit the big screen . Some of the scariest stories included the U.S.S.R. performing it’s first nuclear test, two explosive devices were sent out by the unabomber, an 8.1 earthquake striking Mexico City, and "New York, New York" becoming the official city anthem of New York City. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.) So, I guess the answer is no. The world wasn’t as scary. Now whether that’s because the media didn’t cover issues like it does now, or because I was a little girl and my family preferred to hide their heads in the sand, or because it’s truly a small world now, I can’t say. I can tell you that almost everyone- including the children on this planet- are sure that ’something’ big is going to happen. The muslims are awaiting the 12th Imam, the Christians are expecting Jesus, I’m expecting civilization to be destroyed by religious and governmental conflicts and my kids, or grandkids, will be left behind to rebuild and start over. (If anyone actually survives this dead end road we’re travelling.) I’m glad some people don’t care about what happens to this world because they are secure in their belief that their different saviors will come to fix everything, but there are those who pose the question...what if these saviors aren’t planning on coming back for another 2,000 years? Who will be here if we devolve into global fighting and kill everyone off? Who will be here to be translated, raptured, freed from the yokes of oppression? Most religions teach tolerance, sharing, co-operation, and love. Maybe it would be a good idea to start practicing what we preach... I wonder if armageddon is going to be a case of self-fulfilling prophecy?

User	joeyalphabet | 2006-08-23 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Just wrote a piece about that very topic on my blog...it’s blanking scary, especially when you have kids like I do.

User	Chell | 2006-08-23 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Everyone’s playing a dangerous game right now. We have Western Christians saying they need to spread Christianity to the corners of the Earth and kill the Muslims because Muslims hate Christians for being unbelievers. We have Eastern Muslims saying they need to spread Islam to the corners of the Earth and kill the Christians because Christians hate Muslims for being unbelievers. I’m growing tired of the whole "My God is bigger than your God" argument. (And the irony here is that the same God rules Judaism, Christianity, and Islam...) It’s going to be sad when civilization falls apart (WWIII) because of religion...

User	cabbalistic | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	"I hope I’m getting this right, if not I’d appreciate clarification" Er...you seem to know a bit more than even I do! Pretty impressive. Historical dates were never good to me:). I’ll see if my parents have any books on this issue and try to get some information for you.

User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	"The article can’t even find more than 5 cases of clear cut christian terrorism in the past 10 years. Get real. " - Lib You’re right, but some thought that it never existed. I just wanted to prove that Islam isn’t the only religon which has it’s extremists [even though we have MANY more than any other religon on this planet].

User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	"When your leader is told what your country should do by Allah himself, wouldn’t you want the right person in office? " I personally believe that this is nonsense.

User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Islam actually has more than 2 sects. I am from a vast minority, and our beliefs are slightly different. "And since a theocracy isn’t a democracy, how do you, as a layman, make sure the right person is in control?" We have a "Democracy" in Pakistan, which is actually a military dictatorship, tho it’s a good one compared to what we had before. We don’t have an "Islamic Leader" who has much power, tho there are people who like to think of themselves as one.

User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Mae, I have never considered those people who sit and blow up innocent people [whatever their religous background] Muslims. One of the most important belief in Islam is PEACE. The meaning of Jihad has been changed. "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not trangress limits. For Allah loveth not the trangressors" "And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah; but if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression"

User	Chell | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I hope I’m getting this right, if not I’d appreciate clarification: The Islam religion was founded by Mohammed in the seventh century. In 622 he founded the first Islamic state, a theocracy in Medina, a city in western Saudi Arabia located north of Mecca. There are two branches of the religion he founded. The Sunni branch believes that the first four caliphs--Mohammed’s successors--rightfully took his place as the leaders of Muslims. They recognize the heirs of the four caliphs as legitimate religious leaders. These heirs ruled continuously in the Arab world until the break-up of the Ottoman Empire following the end of the First World War. Shiites, in contrast, believe that only the heirs of the fourth caliph, Ali, are the legitimate successors of Mohammed. In 931 the Twelfth Imam disappeared. This was a seminal event in the history of Shiite Muslims. According to R. Scott Appleby, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, "Shiite Muslims, who are concentrated in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, [believe they] had suffered the loss of divinely guided political leadership" at the time of the Imam’s disappearance. Not "until the ascendancy of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1978" did they believe that they had once again begun to live under the authority of a legitimate religious figure. When your leader is told what your country should do by Allah himself, wouldn’t you want the right person in office? It sounds like they’re fighting over who is acceptable to speak for God- a good fight- escpecially if you live in a Muslim theocracy. And since a theocracy isn’t a democracy, how do you, as a layman, make sure the right person is in control?

User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	This wikipedia article shows some examples of CHRISTIAN extremism causing terrorism to many. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism I’d advise those of you who think that the only religon that has extremists is Islam to read this.

User	mae | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	buzz, respectfully (truly), we hear from Muslims in the U.S. who are peacable, law-abiding people, who love their families and are good neighbors. They denounce what we see on television. On television, we see countries full of Muslims who are sacrificing themselves and their children (in some cases) to blow up other Muslims, Jews, Americans, anybody it seems. Their communities do not denounce such actions. Instead, they hail these human bombs as heroes. I know it’s an unbalanced view, but it’s an unbalanced action. If you were not a peace-loving Muslim and you were watching those things on television, would you not naturally connect Islam with extremism? While I’m sure that does not seem fair from where you sit, it is a logical conclusion. mae

User	mae | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	If there was a war between America and a technologically, militarily, and financially superior Muslim nation that seemed hell bent on taking out democracy- and after that the right to worship as a Christian, would we call those who fought against them extremists, or would we call them martyrs? That’s a fine argument, Chell, but it doesn’t hold up when they’re not fighting a technologically superior country, but EACH OTHER. The Shi’ites, the Sunis, the Kurds, they’re blowing each other up and themselves all at the same time. And who is taking away anyone’s right to worship as they wish? mae

User	abuzzbuzz92 | 2006-08-19 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Fine, there are a considerable amount of extremists in Islam and they don’t understand the true ideology of the religon. But is that what this debate is about? It seems that all such topics quickly end up linking to Islam and extremism.