[veronica]

Schlessinger is Dr. Laura's maiden name. It is also the name of her son. Dr. Laura has said that a woman should take her husband's name, as should the children. But she made an exception in her case. Her reason is that her husband has nephews, so his family name will live on. But unless Dr. Laura's son took her name, her name would die out.

She does that alot, doesn't she - "do as I say not what I do."

As far as Islam is concerned, I never gave it much thought until 9-11, and the recent intifada.

Truth be told Islam seems more like a cult than a religion to me, and what cannot be disputed is that it has been hijacked by radicals, and not just a few radicals - LOTS of them. And they kill people. Sure you have the odd Christian or Jew who goes wiggy, and turns violent or fanatical, but not to the degree Islamists have. So the question arises, what is it about Islam that has spawned so many violent fanatics??

[Commie Basher]

I don't think Islam has spawned so many violent fanatics, proportionately speaking. There are a billion Muslims in the world. How many turn to terrorism? Thousands? Even 10,000 would be .01% of a billion.

At the risk of sounding like a liberal, the Third World's violence may be seen as growing pains as it industrializes and modernizes. The West suffered severe growing pains on the path to modernization (Europe's Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protestants, English and American Civil Wars, French and Russian Revolutions, bloody labor strikes, two World Wars).

The Third World, much of which is Muslim, is simply catching up. But if you look at the numbers, only a small % of them are violent. And the West still has plenty of violence in its inner cities and such, it's just a different kind of violence than terrorism. But I see nothing inherent in Islam that necessarily makes it more violent, or that would prevent it from modernizing over time. For instance, Iran had a modern middle class under the Shah, and many middle class Iranians still exist, in the US and in Iran. I've met Westernized Muslims from Iran, as well as Burma.

[exodus]

To: Commie Basher
Truth be told Islam seems more like a cult than a religion to me, and what cannot be disputed is that it has been hijacked by radicals, and not just a few radicals - LOTS of them. And they kill people. Sure you have the odd Christian or Jew who goes wiggy, and turns violent or fanatical, but not to the degree Islamists have. So the question arises, what is it about Islam that has spawned so many violent fanatics??
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The Jews themselves have been guilty of fanaticism, for example when they killed every man, woman, and child in God's name, and even all the domestic animals, when entering Caanan.

The Spanish Inquisition wasn't an "odd" institution, it had the support of the Spanish people and government. They considered Judism a "cult," and happily murdered anyone who wouldn't "voluntarily" convert to Christianity.

The same thing happened with the Christian Crusades, hundreds of thousands of Christian fanatics killing heathen Moslems and Jews by God's holy name.

You would do better to ask "what is it about peace-loving religions that has spawned so many violent fanatics?"

The answer is that religions are not composed of saints, they're made up of ordinary people who sometimes get carried away by their beliefs, or get deceived by corrupt leaders.