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July 25th, 2011
01:53 PM ET
My Take: Norway attacks show why you can't #blamethemuslims
By Khalid Latif, Special to CNN In the immediate aftermath of 1995’s Oklahoma City bombing, much of the news media rushed to suggest that a Muslim, or at least a Middle Eastern connection, was behind the attack. News reports on television and in print featured Middle East terrorism experts claiming the Oklahoma City attack echoed a World Trade Center bombing two years earlier and that it contained parallels to recent Mideast attacks. The FBI picked up Ibrahim Ahmad, a Jordanian American, for questioning in an initial dragnet. Does 'Christian fundamentalist' label fit Norway terror suspect? Of course, it turned out that the attacker was homegrown and named Timothy McVeigh, not a Muslim. Sixteen years later, not much has changed. The tragic events that took place in Norway on Friday provoked initial accusations against Muslims worldwide. Of course, that proved to be the farthest thing from the truth. Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed bomber and shooter in this horrendous act, was not motivated by the teachings of Islam, but by the teachings of those who oppose Islam. A 1,500-page manifesto that appears to be written by Breivik is an anti-Islamic tirade. Who is Anders Behring Breivik? “Since the creation of Islam in the 7th century and to up to this day, the Islamic Jihad has systematically killed more than 300 million non Muslims and tortured and enslaved more than 500 million individuals,” it says. “Since 9/11 2001, more than 12, 000 Jihadi terrorist attacks have occurred,” it continues. “… This trend will continue as long as there are non-Muslim targets available and as long as Islam continues to exist.” An inappropriate response to Norway’s acts of violence would be the condemnation of Christianity, or a claim that religion itself breeds violence and hatred, though the manifesto repeatedly invokes the defense of Christianity as a primary reason for violently defeating multiculturalism and combating the “Islamic colonization” of Europe. The expectation shouldn't be that white Christian males should now be scrutinized at airports or profiled by TSA workers. It's wrong when it happens to Muslims and it would be just as wrong if it happened to anyone else. A more appropriate response would be to expand the conversation around terrorism and violent extremism beyond Islam and the Muslim community. The Norway attacks highlight why congressional hearings should not be held on solely on radicalization in the Muslim community, but should focus on radicalization more broadly. Far right makes comeback in Europe It's also imperative that training for law enforcement and other governmental offices on Islamic doctrine and law not to be conducted by those who present the normative understanding of Islam to be something that is radical. Our focus should be the safety of all citizens in any country from every act of violence or terrorism. By cultivating a narrative that says Islam is the problem, we keep ourselves from maintaining that focus. All terrorist acts stem from an idea that it's OK to resort to violence in order to get what you want; that it's OK to kill to get the kind of world that you would like; that if we disagree, we cannot co-exist peacefully. Over the weekend, #blamethemuslims became a trending topic on Twitter. The purpose of the hashtag was not to blame Muslims for the Norway attack, but show how Muslims are unfairly blamed and singled out regularly these days. The tragic events in Norway remind us that not all terrorists are Muslim and there is no reason that all Muslims should be treated like they are. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Norway. May God make things easy for them and grant us all the strength and courage to stand up against those who preach intolerance and hatred, even if they look like us, align politically with us, or practice the same religion we practice. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Khalid Latif. |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor's Note: Imam Khalid Latif is a chaplain for New York University and Executive Director of the school's 
I almost want to vomit when I watch TV and see broadcaster call this barbarian "MADMAN" instead of terrorist. If he was a Muslim, ohh my God, he would be called all names -TERRORIST, MUJAHEDDIN, ALQAIDA, IMMIGRANT, REFUGEE and mention his background", but because he is white I HAVE NEVER SEEN/READ in western media calling this killer TERRORIST, they call him "MADMAN" ,ha ha ha ha its so funny!!!!!!! Is the definition of Terrorist means only "Muslim" Can any one answer this question please ?
Your meds, Joelli – remember to take them.
Just because she shouted a few things doesn't make her any less right.
It's called the truth.
Sure. Terrorist = Muslim.
Problem solved. The Norwegian man – madman!
Terrorism is not wanton destruction for the sake of destruction, rather, it refers only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear, and is perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal while deliberately targeting non-combatants.
This idiot attacked his own people and achieved no real "ideological" goal except for people to think he's completely off his rocker. He is a rambling madman, and people like yourself who claim everything to be, "terrorism" annoy me, greatly.
It's because he's not a terrorist, he's a slightly misguided patriot.
First and foremost the recent attacks in Norway were horrific, and my heart goes out to the people of Norway and especially to the victim’s survivors. They will be second guessing this for many years to come. I strongly disagree with the author, that in itself – big deal! But, the amount of Islamic terrorist attacks by far out number that of non-Islamic. Only a few non-Islamic attacks versus thousands upon thousands of terrorist attacks in the name of Islam, and that’s just recent history. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist! I’m puzzled as to why it was published under this pretence. I have been and will remain wary of all Muslims I come in contact with, it only makes sense!
then i feel sad for you...
instead of actually realizing that 99% of the 1billion+ muslims in this world are peace loving and go about their daily lives with the same concerns as you (love for their family, concern for their kids, their community, their neighbors and their country), u will keep looking over your shoulder and seeing the wost in people.
look back on p6 of these comments, and see Reality's list of the worst massacres in history and see how untrue your statement of islamic terrorism outnumbering other terrorism is. here's a quick post of the top5 from Reality:
1. 63 million Second World War 20C (Christians et al and Communists/atheists vs. Christians et al, Nazi-Pagan and "Shintoists")
2. 40 million Mao Zedong (mostly famine) 20C (Communism)
3. 40 million Genghis Khan 13C (Shamanism or Tengriism)
4. 27 million British India (mostly famine) 19C (Anglican)
5. 25 million Fall of the Ming Dynasty 17C (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion)
no muslim attacks there...
all i'm saying is don't assume the worst in people, and rather open your eyes and see that for every hateful act muslims have done (and they've done then, i will freely admit that it seems overwhelming these days), but look around and see those living peacefully around you.
assuming the worst is not becoming of you...
That's too bad for you. As a Muslim, I will remain wary of all bigoted persons such as yourself I come into contact with. It only makes sense, you know. Actually, I hope for the sake of all Muslims, they don't have to deal with your kind.
stick to the drinking cosmochick , you are an idiot.
You are simply an ignorant moron. You discriminate against Muslims because you are ignorant. Maybe you should go watch some ignorant television (foxnews). I would insult you more, but I'm afraid you wouldn't understand.
Forget about recent history and look at the entire history of all 3 christianjudeao beliefs. Let's see, the Christians were fed to lions. Jews had to deal with ancient Egypt, the spanish inquizition, and the Nazis. I'm not saying radical Muslims aren't dangerous. I'm saying that radical religious are very dangerous. With your theory, you should see a white guy with a cross around his neck and think "he's gonna shoot up an abortion center". That us unless your.... Just a plain ol racist. Then your words mean nothing to me.
Kudos! I'm getting mighty sick of hearing Islam is a peaceful religion! Bah and BS!
You speak the truth my friend....islamic terrorism is a worldwide problem supported by hundreds of millions of mulims....on the other side, their are many good muslims that are fighting against the terrorists also....let us support the latter...
@dan: well, i might be an idiot, but at least i'm not hateful or ignorant.... and, um, remind me again, how am i an idiot?
stop pulling fake facts out of your backside. Recent report from interpol showed that out of 200+ terrorist attacks in europe in '08 or '09, only 3 were islamic, the rest were political just like this one.
o The Muslim Conquest of India
"The likely death toll is somewhere between 2 million and 80 million. The geometric mean of those two limits is 12.7 million"
Said atrocity was in the top 20 as was the 19 million killed in Muslim slave trade.
People killing people in the name of religion is wrong.in genesies gog created man in his image,so we christains condems sheding of innocent blood,that means this guy is not a christian.
And you, I assume, have sinned at some point, so you aren't Christian either, right?
My God can beat the crap out of your God.
And therein lies the biggest problem with humanity since Ong first bashed Ang on the head with his club a million years ago because Ang had the audacity to disagree with Ong's belief that the big orange thing in the sky was God.
It's more of a "You are silly for believing in an imaginary diety you call Allah, haha ha, morons! You should believe in our God cause he exists and we can prove it, well sort of, with a book that says he does, much like your book that says your God exists, but your's isn't real, but ours is, and it just makes so much more sense and doesn't advocate violence against unbelievers, well, at least not the parts we read, and it never contradicts itself and our God never changes, except those few times he did and it does, but hardly ever, which is why you can put your trust (and wallet) in our capable hands."
The author's quote: All terrorist acts stem from an idea that it's OK to resort to violence in order to get what you want; that it's OK to kill to get the kind of world that you would like.
Very smart words spoken. A terrorist is one who seeks to inflict terror, and Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph were terrorists. Bad people come in all faiths and colors.
But American's have a caricature of what a terrorist is supposed to look like and it's the guy running the convenience store not the guy running Wallstreet.
To bad you can't arrest a caricature...though many American's have tried.
And those of no faith. The prisons are filled with them.
Saying "it was the muslims" is all a numbers game–since, as one poster here put it so we'll use his numbers, 1 in 5 people is a muslim, you have a 20% chance of being right. Any random person could be a Muslim, that doesn't say anything about terrorist tendencies. It's like someone saying "it was a woman!": half the population is women, you don't have to know anything about the criminal to play the odds.
Christianity says..love thy neighbor, as thyself. Thos shalt not murder.. It's not complicated.
Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you
THOSE WHO MURDER
ARE NOT CHRISTIANS
"It's not complicated."
Really? What exactly is murder?
The bible says to kill those who are witches, are fortune tellers, hit their parents, commit adultery, commit fornication, etc.
So is killing these people considered murder? Is defending one's faith to the point of someone's death murder? Is defending another person murder? ....
2 Non muslim terrorists attacks out of 1000's of muslim terrorists attacks. Hmmmm can your really lump these all togetther. Man that is stretiching the dot connection...........
The vast majority of terroristic events in the west are not Islam related. The bombing of abortion clinics, the IRA, the Olympics in Atlanta (which people seemingly forget), the Basques in Spain, Oklahoma City, and many many more – none of these have anything to do with Muslims. We do ourselves a huge disservice by immediately assuming an action was caused by a specific group. Europe has a history of xenophobia and right-wing extremism (anyone remember the Nazis?). If people had a better grasp of both current events and history, the fact that this terrorist was native-born would not be so surprising. It's already happened here (Tim McVeigh is merely the most well known nativist), and it will again.
I know some very kind Muslims, and I don't blame them for anything whatsoever. I blame the extremists who think its fine to DEFY their own religious laws by committing murder, stealing, destroying, and everything that is stated as sins.
As the human race evolves religion will go the way of the dinosaurs (our ancient pets, lol) and reason will light the way, if the Religious crazies don't kill us all first. Maybe Religious people could go meet their god and get back to us:)
OMG. The muslims have been waging WAR on the western world for ten years (at least in media terms) many more hijackings, explosions, Olympic kidnappings,etc before it was ever in vogue. And then comes along a white guy or two and the media asks the question, "Can we blame the Muslims????" I don't even know what to say. Classic BS. The nut is a Christian, the media doesn't like Christians so let's paint them as the threat to the world and not the Muslims. That's logic for you. Who the &*%^ is coming up with this stuff?
Sane people
I didn't realize kidnappings and Olympic bombings were "in vogue." And btw, I don't recall reading that Eric Rudolph (the only Olympic bomber in the US) was Muslim.
We all are going to die one day,so let us do what seems right in the eye of the almighty god.terrorism should stop,but muslim &christain should stop this act is not of god let god fight his fight.
There were far more Christians killed in Egypt by Muslim terrorists on Christmas Day then people killed in this tragedy. Why when Muslims committ hate crimes it does nothing to stop the anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-western hate speech that continues on recklessly regardless of how many hate crimes it inspires?
Muslims continue to blame the Zionists for everything. How is this worse then what this author is complaining about? A recent poll showed most Muslims still don't believe it was Arabs and/or Muslims who comitted 911. How it this any less bigoted?
Well, if everyone is going to be stupid and say that those are the only 2 examples of non-muslim terrorists, then you might want to stop talking before you hurt yourself. There are the people that bomb abortion clinics, the people that shoot abortion doctors, the people that bomb animal testing facilities, the Unabomber, the shoe-bomber, school shootings done in the US, and all sorts of terrorist activities that have no ties to the Muslim religion. There's also the reluctance of the media to call anyone that isn't Muslim a 'terrorist'. And, as a bit of an aside, I dare anyone to name two American serial killers that were Muslim.
Point being, just as there are many forms of Christianity, there are many forms of the Islamic religion. In addition, a surprising number of them revere Jesus as a great prophet and an amazing leader.
Some elements of our War on Terror and Aggression:
-Operation Iraqi Freedom- The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops killed in action, 3,481 and 924 died in non-combat, 99,901 – 109,143 Iraqi civilians killed as of 3/3/2011/, mostly due to suicide bombers, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
– Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan: US troops 1,141 killed in action, 242 killed in non-combat situations as of 03/03/2011. Over 40,000 Afghan civilians killed due to the dark-age, koranic-driven Taliban acts of horror,
– Sa-dd-am, his sons and major he-nchmen have been deleted. Sa-dd-am's bravado about WMD was one of his major mistakes. Kuwait was saved.
– Iran is being been contained. (beside containing the Sunni-Shiite civil war in Baghdad, that is the main reason we are in Iraq. And yes, essential oil continues to flow from the region.)
– North Korea is still u-ncivil but is contained.
– Northern Ireland is finally at peace.
– The Jews and Palestinians are being separated by walls. Hopefully the walls will follow the 1948 UN accords. Unfortunately the Annapolis Peace Conference was not successful. And unfortunately the recent events in Gaza has put this situation back to “squ-are one”. And this significant stupidity is driven by the mythical foundations of both religions!!!
– – Fa-na–tical Islam has basically been contained to the Middle East but a wall between India and Pakistan would be a plus for world peace. Ditto for a wall between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
– Timothy McVeigh was exe-cuted. Terry Nichols will follow soon.
– Eric Ru-dolph is spending three life terms in pri-son with no par-ole.
– Jim Jones, David Koresh, Kaczynski, the "nuns" from Rwanda, and the KKK were all dealt with and either eliminated themselves or are being punished.
– Islamic Sudan, Dar-fur and So-malia are still terror hot spots.
– The terror and tor-ture of Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait were ended by the proper application of the military forces of the USA and her freedom-loving friends. Ra-dovan Karadzic was finally captured on 7/23/08 and is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the law of war – charges related to the 1992-1995 civil war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina's secession from Yugoslavia.
The capture of Ratko Mladić: (Serbian Cyrillic: Ратко Младић, pronounced [râtkɔ mlǎːditɕ], born 12 March 1943[1][2]) is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).[3] His trial began on 3 June 2011.
– the bloody terror brought about by the Ja-panese, Na-zis and Co-mmunists was with great difficulty eliminated by the good guys.
– Bin Laden was executed for crimes against humanity on May 1, 2011
You are seriously a moron! and FYI: the Shoebomber was Muslim!
Reality, from what source did you cut and paste your so-called facts? Oh, and, FYI, Terry Nichols will not "soon follow". He is serving life. He did not receive the death penalty. Many of the rest of your "facts" were equally correct.
Some elements of our War on Terror and Aggression: (as reported by CNN and other news organizations unless otherwise noted)
-Operation Iraqi Freedom- The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops killed in action, 3,481 and 924 died in non-combat, 99,901 – 109,143 Iraqi civilians killed as of 3/3/2011/, mostly due to suicide bombers, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
– Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan: US troops 1,141 killed in action, 242 killed in non-combat situations as of 03/03/2011. Over 40,000 Afghan civilians killed due to the dark-age, koranic-driven Taliban acts of horror,
– Sa-dd-am, his sons and major he-nchmen have been deleted. Sa-dd-am's bravado about WMD was one of his major mistakes. Kuwait was saved.
– Iran is being been contained. (beside containing the Sunni-Shiite civil war in Baghdad, that is the main reason we are in Iraq. And yes, essential oil continues to flow from the region.)
– North Korea is still u-ncivil but is contained.
– Northern Ireland is finally at peace.
– The Jews and Palestinians are being separated by walls. Hopefully the walls will follow the 1948 UN accords. Unfortunately the Annapolis Peace Conference was not successful. And unfortunately the recent events in Gaza has put this situation back to “squ-are one”. And this significant stupidity is driven by the mythical foundations of both religions!!!
– – Fa-na–tical Islam has basically been contained to the Middle East but a wall between India and Pakistan would be a plus for world peace. Ditto for a wall between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
– Timothy McVeigh was exe-cuted. Terry Nichols escaped the death penalty twice because of deadlocked juries. He was sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole,[3][7] and is incarcerated in ADX Florence, a super maximum security prison near Florence, Colorado. He shares a cellblock that is commonly referred to as "Bombers Row" with Ramzi Yousef and Ted Kaczynski.
– Eric Ru-dolph is spending three life terms in pri-son with no par-ole.
– Jim Jones, David Koresh, Kaczynski, the "nuns" from Rwanda, and the KKK were all dealt with and either eliminated themselves or are being punished.
– Islamic Sudan, Dar-fur and So-malia are still terror hot spots.
– The terror and tor-ture of Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait were ended by the proper application of the military forces of the USA and her freedom-loving friends. Ra-dovan Karadzic was finally captured on 7/23/08 and is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the law of war – charges related to the 1992-1995 civil war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina's secession from Yugoslavia.
The capture of Ratko Mladić: (Serbian Cyrillic: Ратко Младић, pronounced [râtkɔ mlǎːditɕ], born 12 March 1943[1][2]) is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).[3] His trial began on 3 June 2011.
– the bloody terror brought about by the Ja-panese, Na-zis and Co-mmunists was with great difficulty eliminated by the good guys.
– Bin Laden was executed for crimes against humanity on May 1, 2011
Some history in the arena of body-counts:
•Exodus 32: 3,000 Israelites killed by Moses for worshipping the golden calf.
•Numbers 31: After killing all men, boys and married women among the Midianites, 32,000 virgins remain as booty for the Israelites. (If unmarried girls are a quarter of the population, then 96,000 people were killed.)
•Joshua: ◦Joshua 8: 12,000 men and women, all the people of Ai, killed.
◦Joshua 10: Joshua completely destroys Gibeon ("larger than Ai"), Makeddah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir. "He left no survivors."
◦Joshua 11: Hazor destroyed. [Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews (1987), estimates the population of Hazor at ?> 50,000]
◦TOTAL: if Ai is average, 12,000 x 9 = 108,000 killed.
•Judges 1: 10,000 Canaanites k. at Battle of Bezek. Jerusalem and Zephath destroyed.
•Judges 3: ca. 10,000 Moabites k. at Jordan River.
•Judges 8: 120,000 Midianite soldiers k. by Gideon
•Judges 20: Benjamin attacked by other tribes. 25,000 killed.
•1 Samuel 4: 4,000 Isrealites killed at 1st Battle of Ebenezer/Aphek. 30,000 Isr. k. at 2nd battle.
•David: ◦2 Samuel 8: 22,000 Arameans of Damascus and 18,000 Edomites killed in 2 battles.
◦2 Samuel 10: 40,000 Aramean footsoldiers and 7,000 charioteers killed at Helam.
◦2 Samuel 18: 20,000 Israelites under Absalom killed at Ephraim.
•1 Kings 20: 100,000 Arameans killed by Israelites at Battle of Aphek. Another 27,000 killed by collapsing wall.
•2 Chron 13: Judah beat Israel and inflicted 500,000 casualties.
•2 Chron 25: Amaziah, king of Judah, k. 10,000 from Seir in battle and executed 10,000 POWs. Discharged Judean soldiers pillaged and killed 3,000.
•2 Chron 28: Pekah, king of Israel, slew 120,000 Judeans
•TOTAL: That comes to about 1,283,000 mass killings specifically enumerated in the Old Testament/Torah.
The New Testament has only one major atrocity, that of god committing filicide assuming you believe in this Christian mumbo jumbo. Said atrocity should be enough to vitiate all of Christianity.
body-count history continued:
The Twenty (or so) Worst Things People Have Done to Each Other:
http://necrometrics.com/warstatz.htm#u
o The Muslim Conquest of India
"The likely death toll is somewhere between 2 million and 80 million. The geometric mean of those two limits is 12.7 million. "
Rank <<<Death Toll <Cause <<Centuries<<<Religions/Groups involved*
1. 63 million Second World War 20C (Christians et al and Communists/atheists vs. Christians et al, Nazi-Pagan and "Shintoists")
2. 40 million Mao Zedong (mostly famine) 20C (Communism)
3. 40 million Genghis Khan 13C (Shamanism or Tengriism)
4. 27 million British India (mostly famine) 19C (Anglican)
5. 25 million Fall of the Ming Dynasty 17C (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion)
6. 20 million Taiping Rebellion 19C ( Confucianism, Buddhism and Chinese folk religion vs. a form of Christianity)
7. 20 million Joseph Stalin 20C (Communism)
8. 19 million Mideast Slave Trade 7C-19C (Islam)
9. 17 million Timur Lenk 14C-15C
10. 16 million Atlantic Slave Trade 15C-19C (Christianity)
11. 15 million First World War 20C (Christians vs. Christians)
12. 15 million Conquest of the Americas 15C-19C (Christians vs. Pagans)
13. 13 million Muslim Conquest of India 11C-18C
14. 10 million An Lushan Revolt 8C
15. 10 million Xin Dynasty 1C
16. 9 million Russian Civil War 20C (Christians vs Communists)
17. 8 million Fall of Rome 5C (Pagans vs. Pagans)
18. 8 million Congo Free State 19C-20C (Christians)
19. 7½ million Thirty Years War 17C (Christians vs Christians)
20. 7½ million Fall of the Yuan Dynasty 14C
I think you make a good case for Jesus since he said all have sinned and you proved Him right. This was the case for Jesus we (mankind) need to be saved !
If there is no God what happens to all the dead of the world (good and bad)
The dead?
I thought they decomposed eventually or am I missing something.
@fred: uumm... they just die / cease to exist / nothing happens to them?
Have you ever asked a question that was it's own answer? (Yes, yes you have.)
Also, your dog did not go to a farm upstate, I hate having to tell you this way, so here's a hug through the internet to see you through this difficult realization.
(In case you still don't get it, heaven and hell are the 'farm upstate')
Nonimus,
CosmoChick,
If you say nothing happens you have no more way of proving that then to say something happens. From a genetic point of view is it possible that kind of view verses one that "feels' heaven awaits is based on right / left brain connection? If so I was born that way should you be more accepting of life after death?
@fred,
Proofs are Mathematics.
However, what exactly do you propose continues on after death? Because, there is no evidence for anything other than the physical body remaining after death.
In addition, thought/motor/etc processes have been mapped to general areas of the brain by fMRI scans and show consistently that when thought/motor/etc processes are occurring they are associated with certain brain activity and when those thought/motor/etc processes are not occurring the associated brain activity also is not happening. In other studies, when certain areas of the brain are stimulated (look up brain stimulation research on epileptics, I think) a correlated thought/motor/etc. process occurs. (Obviously, with relatively crude stimulus equipment, ie electrodes, there aren't any complex thoughts/motion/senses yet) Hence, the cause and effect relationship is established that brain activity is the source of thought, motor control, emotion, senses, etc. and if the brain is inactive, as happens with death, then there is likely no thought/etc. i.e. no person.
Now if you want to speculate that something without thoughts, memories, or emotions continues on after we die, I don't know that I would have a counter-argument, but I would have to ask what that something was, since, to me, it wouldn't be a person any more.
It has nothign to do with Muslims. If the muslim faith accounted for only a smidgeon of the world population then yes... I would agree with you and say that accusers are profiling. But you need to realize the Muslim faith is just as large, if not larger than the Catholic Faith. Which brings me to my next point... Catholics and Muslims have a lot in common. Both religions possess the most extremists out of any religion out there. ALthought you practice your faith in a logical appropriate manner as do I.... that doesn't mean others do.
Muslims are the modern face of terrorism for a reason. Everyone knows there are other racial and religious radical groups but its only natural to round up the usual suspects. And who's the number one usual suspect? Muslim radicals.
Any argument that includes, "everyone knows..." or "its only natural to ..." should be viewed with skepticism.
The collective IQ of the right-wingers on this forum seems to be about 40. Good thing, they seem too stupid to be dangerous.
I can't say that I agree with you last sentence.
The truth is that many many more people die from drunk driving accidents annually in the US than Muslim terrorist attacks. Why aren't all of us furious about that? I am. We should be more fearful of being killed by a drunk but instead we are happy to go along living as a massive, poorly educated, hypocritical mob. Mobs have been responsible for numerous atrocities throughout the annals of time...
Before going completely off topic, this article is about extremism and a desperate Muslim man trying to save his religion. Terrorist attacks are terrorist attacks, drunk driving is drunk driving. Both are human tragedies that simply should not happen. But they do. Moving on
No – It is a matter of proportion and perspective. The media wants to inflame hatred of Islam and they have the power to do so, so terrorism stories are front page and mindless bloggers are allowed to share their stupidity. If you take the totality of violent crime committed on a daily basis in the US and drunk driving deaths and make that front page (i.e. "Americans Killed of Americans Today"), think about what a grim picture it would paint. Although we should take continual action to prevent terrorism in the world, this vilification of Islam just shows what a misguided society we really are.
No – It is a matter of proportion and perspective. The media wants to inflame hatred of Islam and they have the power to do so, so terrorism stories are front page and mindless bloggers are allowed to share their stupidity. If you take the totality of violent crime committed on a daily basis in the US and drunk driving deaths and make that front page (i.e. "Americans Killed (insert large number) of Americans Today"), think about what a grim picture it would paint. Although we should take continual action to prevent terrorism in the world, this vilification of Islam just shows what a misguided society we really are.