> And ignoring the moderate Muslims who could provide another path to peace is not a good thing in my opinion.
Yeah sure. You appear to believe there are millions of "C&E" Moslems who just want to live their lives in peace. Maybe even they'd convert to the Christian culture of their adopted country...but apostasy has its risks. In a place like Iran the "moderates" don't dare oppose the theocracy. Here they work beside us while the militants snap up more recruits. Who are you...Grover Norquist? Get real. The "moderates" won't do a thing to oppose the radicals. I don't hate Arabs or Persians, etc., but their so-called religion draws followers toward extremism, and their sixth century barbarity deserves no place in the 21st century.
Sure. It does in many Christian and Jewish sects, too. Ask some Jews for Jesus how they are treated by other Jews. Or perhaps I should point out that my mother was unable to take communion in the Catholic Church because I wasn't raised Catholic or that my great grandparents were burried in seperate cemetaries despite being married for over 50 years because one was Catholic and the other was Protestant. Sure, apostasy has a price in almost any religion. Yes, I realize that militant Muslims will murder apostates in the Islamic world. There was a time when militant Christians murdered each other over apostasy, too. We got over it. Muslims could, too.
In a place like Iran the "moderates" don't dare oppose the theocracy.
Some have, and have died for their trouble. It's rarely easy to oppose militant fanatics, whether they are mullahs, bishops, Communist party officials, or brownshirts. There is nothing unique about the Muslim situation here. It's simply distince in this particular slice of history because Europe and Christianity got over it already.
Here they work beside us while the militants snap up more recruits. Who are you...Grover Norquist? Get real. The "moderates" won't do a thing to oppose the radicals.
Nor will many Christians, Jews, or others. We have papers shivering in their boots over publishing some cartoons because they are afraid of death threats. Sure, people should be brave and oppose the fanatics but lets not sweep innocent Muslims in with the fanatics unless we want to become what we are fighting. As far as being reasonable goes, a certain level of profiling and being vigilant is one thing. If a black friend and I stand outside in a white neighborhood at 2AM, the police will ask us what we are doing because we fit the profile of a drug deal or other illegal activity. That's fine. But the sort of "kill 'em all" attitude that's all too common here on Free Republic is more akin to shooting any black person you find in a white neighborhood, guilty or innocent, because it fits the profile of criminal activity. That's not warranted.
I don't hate Arabs or Persians, etc., but their so-called religion draws followers toward extremism, and their sixth century barbarity deserves no place in the 21st century.
While I agree that there is no room for sixth century barbarity in the 21st Century, Christianity, Judaism, Shinto, and recently even Hinduism have been used to fuel extremism and violence, too. I think that's more a function of fanaticism and demagoguery than any particular religion, since almost any religion I can name has had fanatics at one point or another -- there are even militant atheist fanatics and atheism doesn't come with any particular theology or morality.