our most cherished ideals have contributed to the death and destruction around us.

A friend from Gaza posted the following apocryphal story on facebook as news broke of the Paris attacks:
"An ISIL member stopped the car of a Christian couple.
ISIL member: Are you Muslim?
Christian man: Yes, I'm Muslim.
ISIL Member: If you are a Muslim, recite a verse of Quran.
Christian Man recites a verse from the Bible.
ISIL member: Okay, you can go.
Later his wife tells him: Why did u tell him you are a Muslim? If he knew you were lying he'd have killed us both!
'Do not worry!' answered the husband. 'If they knew the Quran they wouldn't kill people"


It's a nice story, but it's also entirely besides the point. To be sure, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant doesn't equal "Islam", a reality demonstrated by its daily brutality against fellow Muslims. And yes, Muslims are the biggest victims of Muslim terror (and most everyone else's terrorism too, it's worth noting).
Fundamentally wrong
But that doesn't mean that there's not something fundamentally wrong with beliefs and practices drawn from its most fundamental texts, tenets and doctrines.
Even US President Barack Obama has resorted to quoting the Quran, specifically 5:32 - "Whosoever slays a soul it shall be as if he had slain all mankind; and whoso saves one life it shall be as if he has saved all mankind" - to demonstrate Islam's peaceful essence.


Indeed, the problem with critics of Islam like Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins is not so much that they are wrong about Islam as much as that they assume Islam and Muslims are somehow unique in their prejudices, chauvinism and violence. If only that were true.
If we turn to the original "People of the Book", Jews, the situation is little better. American Jews might be the country's most reliably liberal demographic; but for half-a-century the community has, almost whole cloth, actively enabled and supported one of the world's most brutal and longest occupations, which has been carried out and deepened year after year in their name and in the name of their religion.
But why stop with Jews? By many measures, the worst country on earth to be a woman is not Muslim, it's Hindu India , where Muslims have also been subject to horrific massacres and systematic discrimination. If we move a bit farther east, even Buddhism's reputation as a religion of peace falls apart the moment we cross into Myanmar and observe the near
genocidal treatment of the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.
If I have saved Christianity for last it's only because the crimes committed in the name of Jesus are so vast and heinous that it would take volumes just to highlight them.

Yes, the problem is religion, which as believed, practiced and otherwise lived by billions of people across the world remains bad for humanity, and even worse for the planet. As a newly published study of the effects of religiosity on children makes clear, the more religious their upbringing, the more selfish and mean they are. Of course, it only gets worse as they grow older and have the power to affect the world around them.

But religion is only the beginning, not the end of the problem. How many hundreds of millions of people have been sacrificed and slaughtered in the name of "the fatherland" or the "nation"? No one really knows, because the number is just too big to calculate.

The United States' record in this regard is nothing to be proud of, as in the name of US "exceptionalism" and "values" - read untrammeled capitalism - untold millions have been killed and entire countries laid waste with the full support, it must be noted, of the majority of US citizens. France, the UK, Japan, Russia; who can boast a better record during the heyday of their power?
And these sins are in fact dwarfed by the roughly 150 million people murdered or starved to death thanks to the nationalist and economic fantasies of just three men - Hitler, Stalin, and Mao

As ISIL wages its war against the "the grey zones " where peoples of all faiths interact, coexist and even shape each, its worth noting that its strategy was inspired not by the Quran but instead by George W Bush, whose "you're either with us or against us" threat after 9/11 it directly and approvingly quotes.

So by all means, let us blame Islam for the carnage done in its name. But let's be honest about how much all of our most cherished ideals, identities and ideologies have contributed to the death and destruction piling up around us.

And then, let's figure out how to recapture the sense of justice, mercy and compassion that have always existed - too often in the shadows - at the core of Islam, Judaism, Christianity and many of the world's other great belief systems, before there's nothing left to fight over.

Mark LeVine is a professor of Middle Eastern History at University of California, Irvine, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Lund University.

I can't imagine reading the whole thing... first two paragraphs and I knew where you we're headed with this..


I won't type much.. but the only thing that makes sense here is your Topic!

Don't fvcking quote me!!

Ok

munex007:
our most cherished ideals have contributed to the death and destruction around us.

A friend from Gaza posted the following apocryphal story on facebook as news broke of the Paris attacks:
"An ISIL member stopped the car of a Christian couple.
ISIL member: Are you Muslim?
Christian man: Yes, I'm Muslim.
ISIL Member: If you are a Muslim, recite a verse of Quran.
Christian Man recites a verse from the Bible.
ISIL member: Okay, you can go.
Later his wife tells him: Why did u tell him you are a Muslim? If he knew you were lying he'd have killed us both!
'Do not worry!' answered the husband. 'If they knew the Quran they wouldn't kill people"


It's a nice story, but it's also entirely besides the point. To be sure, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant doesn't equal "Islam", a reality demonstrated by its daily brutality against fellow Muslims. And yes, Muslims are the biggest victims of Muslim terror (and most everyone else's terrorism too, it's worth noting).
Fundamentally wrong
But that doesn't mean that there's not something fundamentally wrong with beliefs and practices drawn from its most fundamental texts, tenets and doctrines.
Even US President Barack Obama has resorted to quoting the Quran, specifically 5:32 - "Whosoever slays a soul it shall be as if he had slain all mankind; and whoso saves one life it shall be as if he has saved all mankind" - to demonstrate Islam's peaceful essence.


Indeed, the problem with critics of Islam like Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins is not so much that they are wrong about Islam as much as that they assume Islam and Muslims are somehow unique in their prejudices, chauvinism and violence. If only that were true.
If we turn to the original "People of the Book", Jews, the situation is little better. American Jews might be the country's most reliably liberal demographic; but for half-a-century the community has, almost whole cloth, actively enabled and supported one of the world's most brutal and longest occupations, which has been carried out and deepened year after year in their name and in the name of their religion.
But why stop with Jews? By many measures, the worst country on earth to be a woman is not Muslim, it's Hindu India , where Muslims have also been subject to horrific massacres and systematic discrimination. If we move a bit farther east, even Buddhism's reputation as a religion of peace falls apart the moment we cross into Myanmar and observe the near
genocidal treatment of the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.
If I have saved Christianity for last it's only because the crimes committed in the name of Jesus are so vast and heinous that it would take volumes just to highlight them.

Yes, the problem is religion, which as believed, practiced and otherwise lived by billions of people across the world remains bad for humanity, and even worse for the planet. As a newly published study of the effects of religiosity on children makes clear, the more religious their upbringing, the more selfish and mean they are. Of course, it only gets worse as they grow older and have the power to affect the world around them.

But religion is only the beginning, not the end of the problem. How many hundreds of millions of people have been sacrificed and slaughtered in the name of "the fatherland" or the "nation"? No one really knows, because the number is just too big to calculate.

The United States' record in this regard is nothing to be proud of, as in the name of US "exceptionalism" and "values" - read untrammeled capitalism - untold millions have been killed and entire countries laid waste with the full support, it must be noted, of the majority of US citizens. France, the UK, Japan, Russia; who can boast a better record during the heyday of their power?
And these sins are in fact dwarfed by the roughly 150 million people murdered or starved to death thanks to the nationalist and economic fantasies of just three men - Hitler, Stalin, and Mao

As ISIL wages its war against the "the grey zones " where peoples of all faiths interact, coexist and even shape each, its worth noting that its strategy was inspired not by the Quran but instead by George W Bush, whose "you're either with us or against us" threat after 9/11 it directly and approvingly quotes.

So by all means, let us blame Islam for the carnage done in its name. But let's be honest about how much all of our most cherished ideals, identities and ideologies have contributed to the death and destruction piling up around us.

And then, let's figure out how to recapture the sense of justice, mercy and compassion that have always existed - too often in the shadows - at the core of Islam, Judaism, Christianity and many of the world's other great belief systems, before there's nothing left to fight over.

Mark LeVine is a professor of Middle Eastern History at University of California, Irvine, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Lund University.

After reading ur made up story at the beginning i knew u were using the muslim art of al taqiyyah and deciet


"Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not"Quran tells Muslims to:- kill unbelievers wherever they find them(Q. 2:191 ),- murder them and treat them harshly(Q. 9:123 ),- fight them, (Q. 8:65 ), until no otherreligion than Islam is left (Q. 2:193 )- humiliate them and impose on them apenalty tax if they are Christians or Jews,(Q. 9:29 )- slay them if they are Pagans (Q. 9:5 ),crucify, or cut off their hands and feet,- expel them from the land in disgrace.And as if this were not enough, “they shallhave a great punishment in worldhereafter” (Q. 5:34 ),- not befriend their own fathers orbrothers if they are not believers(Q. 9:23 ), (Q. 3:28 ),- kill their own family in the battles ofBadr and Uhud and asks Muslims to“strive against the unbelievers with greatendeavor” (Q. 25:52 ),- be stern with them because they belongto hell (Q. 66:9 ).How can any sensible person remainunmoved when he or she finds the Quransaying: “strike off the heads of theunbelievers” then after a “wide slaughteramong them, carefully tie up theremaining captives” (Q. 47:4 ).

Islam itself denote as a 'religion of peace' is al taqiyyah! Is like saying am a rapist but I don't rape...Lol! Don't be deceived, the only thing an average muslim understand about other faiths is jihad(kill and dominate). Even the prophet(S.A.W) is known for that, so tell me why will the followers of the prophet have different ideology.

Why are Muslims always making reference to Isreal n Palestinians when there are reports of terrorism?

How those the feud between Isreal and Palestine justify the bombings n killings in France?

Islam first n last name is violence.
why r some Muslims called moderate n others called extremist? It shows that Islam condones violence n encourages it.