US shooting at Mohahammed Cartoon conference

IrishTrajan wrote: »

Of course not. Bin Laden was playing a game of geopolitics.
I don't know, I don't have access to their bank account information.
An outlier. ISIS only had a few hundred fighters until they took Mosul and offered €200 a month to each fighter... After which their strength rose to 30,000 or so.

Yes, some of them are attracted by excitement, or fanaticism. They can be considered statistical outliers, the vast majority of people will respond to materialism with decreased religious devotion. The converse is also true: as people get poorer, they become more religious.

The scary thing about modern muslim fundamentalists is that they are not all poor uneducated jobdaws, but there are a sizable amount of western educated reasonably intelligent people.

It is a bit like how a fair few of the worst nazis were actually from well educated relatively well off backgrounds.

Einhard wrote: »

I actually agree with a fair bit of your post, but this comment gave me pause. Exactly what Muslim countries would you not feel comfortable as a practising Christian? Obviously there are a number where the situation isn't ideal (for everyone, from Christians to Sunnis to Shias- depending on how is in the ascendancy in a particular area)- but I doubt it's anywhere near a majority.

And, for balance, which is often an alien concept around here, one might point out that there are some countries where Muslims are increasingly persecuted- there have been mob attacks against, and murders of, Muslim minorities in Burma and Sri Lanka in the past year. By allegedly pacifist Buddhists. Of course, we rarely, if ever, here of those attacks. Funny that.

Actually I can't think of many muslim dominated countries where a christain can be gauranteed safety.
How many would allow open freedom of religion as we know it ?

We have now reached a situation where that have been attacks on non muslims in most muslim dominated countries.
All it takes is for another perceived slight against the prophet for some muslims to look for a westerner, non muslim (probably a christian) to attack.
Then add in the influence of radical organisations linked to ISIS or Al Qeada and it makes for safety concerns.

Out of the top 10 countries that are most likely to persecute christians only Burma and North Korea are non muslim.
More than 70 % of Christians have left Iraq since 2003 and over 700,000 Christians have fled Syria in the past four years.
You have persecution in Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Pakistan, Iran and Yemen.

In countries that underwent “Arab Spring” uprisings, increased persecution occurred after the regimes collapsed as in Egypt, Libya, Syria.
Radical Islamists have grown in number in sub-Saharan Africa and we have now serious issues in Nigeria, Central African Republic.

There was already issues on the other side of the continent in Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia.

Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have bad records on the treatment of christians.

Hell a muslim mob (including a police chiefs brother) attacked a protestant church in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last month for daring to have a cross on the roof.

As for that muslim country that sometimes sees itself as European and wants to join the EU, well 4 christian churches were attacked there in the past year.
Back in 2007 three Christians had their throats slit. Two of the victims had converted from islam to christianity.

About the only Muslim country that I can find that comes out anyway decent is Morocco.

And speaking of muslims being persecuted, in a lot of the above states muslim minorities who don't happen to practice the majority brand (usually sunni) are persecuted.

;)a

IrishTrajan wrote: »

Absolutely, it is rather peculiar. I believe there are quite a few psychologists studying the behaviour and trying to figure out why that is the case.

But my case will generally hold true. Economic circumstances, for the most part, dictate how secular a peoples are.

I'm not defending the religion, I find the religion deplorable and believe it is a contributing factor, but I just think that economic circumstances are more pressing than the religion in and of itself.

It is the lack of economic well-being that pushes most people into the arms of the religion (where then the text and preachings of the religion warp and twist them). I have a Syrian friend in the UAE who drinks alcohol, and isn't really mattered with the religion.

So your Syrian friend would be quite likely to become a extremist if he were a little poorer, would he??
Unlikely.

Now if you'd said education was the relevant factor, I'd have been more in agreement - but even then, the guys who drove a car bomb into Glasgow airport terminal were doctors, FFS.

How many genuinely poor and/or people without access to education have committed any of the terrorist acts in Europe? There were more engineers than illiterates among them.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a former college of Geert Wilders. Here are her comments on the incident, published in yesterday's TIME: http://time.com/3846824/garland-texas-muhammad-jihad/

[A] distinction must be made between acts of the imagination such as cartoons, movies, books, and acts of violence such as mass shootings. The group that organized the Muhammad cartoon event, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, is using acts of imagination. In response, two men sought to use violence to try and silence them. There is no “but” in the First Amendment.

I am no cartoonist. But I do believe the Prophet Muhammad must be exposed to the same scrutiny applied to any religious figure—whether it be Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Buddha, or Joseph Smith. Applying scrutiny to the Prophet Muhammad is not an act of “hurting” Muslims or causing them “humiliation.” Instead, it can actually lead Islam to a better place—one where the imagination of every writer, artist, and citizen can run free, without fear of violent retribution.

Streetwalker wrote: »

Laughable amount of Islamophobia in here.

What's laughable about being wary of people who will shoot you for drawing a cartoon?

IrishTrajan wrote: »

Jainism and Buddhism.

In regards to Jainism, you do appear to be correct, but non-violence is central to that faith from my understanding, so its actually unique in regards to most religions.

Buddhism on the other hand, well......

How an Extremist Buddhist Network Is Sowing Hatred Across Asia

and

Sri Lanka’s Violent Buddhists

They have there fair share of extremists nutjobs.

omnithanos wrote: »

I suspect she knew the jihadis were actors hired to fuel more hatred for Muslims and to spread the misconception that they are all terrorists. She knew there wasn't any real danger in this staged event which adds to the long list of deceptions carried out by the authorities.

So not only was the whole thing staged by the authorities, but Pamela Gellar was in on the conspiracy?

If only there was a forum for Conspiracy Theories ...

IrishTrajan wrote: »

Like I said, of course there are Buddhist extremists, but they are not turning to the scripture of their Faith to justify their actions. They quite simply, can't.

The movement is being led by a Monk..........

Led by a monk, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, BBS accuses Sri Lanka’s Muslims of threatening the nation’s Buddhist identity, and enjoys support at high levels.

Also, elements of nationalism and extremist Religous ideology are very often mixed together. See Saudis Arabia's racism against non gulf Arab Muslims for an example.

Is it just me or is the thread getting a teensy bit off topic?