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As this is not a "live" chat format, I am not always around to immediately answer the questions. I, like most of you, have a job and a life that often requires me to leave FR for extended periods of time.

First of all, let me just say that I am a Christian (not a moral relativist as is later charged in this thread) and as such am not in the habit of attempting to find a reading of my holy text that would justify the slaughter of innocent people over questions of faith.

However, I also firmly believe that the Bible supports the institution of the Catholic Church as well as free will, the Trinity, the intercession of the saints, the perpetual virginity of Mary, and an anti-millennialist perspective on the end times. I highly doubt that such views would be considered a valid reading of Scripture by numerous people on this forum, perhaps yourself included. Without sidetracking this discussion into whether or not the Bible supports the Catholic position, I simply brought it up to illustrate the point that there are not monolithic and unquestioning interpretations of any given holy text.

I believe that the same is generally true when it comes to Islam. Muslims disagree about the meaning of the Qur'an on numerous topics, including those cited calling for the extermination of infidels. I notice that one of the suras that most Freepers seem particularly adverse to citing are such passages as the following:

"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And God heareth and knoweth all things."

- Sura 2:56

"Say, 'The truth is from your Lord': Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it): …"

- Sura 18:29

Just a thought on that one. So are the people who care to regard these verses as being more pertinent to their religion than those oh-so-frequently cited here somehow "lukewarm" or "lazy" as some have suggested. Based on what I've seen from our Turkish posters, I don't think so. They simply don't interpret the Qur'an as calling for them to go kill infidels anymore than a Protestant sees Jesus's injunction to Peter as proof of the papacy. I'm not claiming that all of these different opinions are equal, but to pretend that they don't exist strikes me as exceedingly foolish.

I saw the story from the Netherlands suicide squad the other day. They also fought for the Taliban which leads me to conclude that they're Wahhabi. And Wahhabism is a global scourge that needs to be defeated, as even Muslims like King Abdullah II, Sheikh Kabbani, Stephen Schwartz, Sheikh Palazzi, and Sheikh al-Ansari acknowledge.