WELL NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE......

Submitted by DANIEL REDMOND (United States), Mar 5, 2009 at 21:19

Hello again, Donvan, and thanks for the compliment regarding my ability to read minds, a trait I am especially proud of by the way. But I digress......

Believe it or not we are actually somewhat on the same page according to your most recent posting. You state that, ".....the composite belief system, refered to as I'slam presents a clear and present [danger] to civilization." [I inserted the word "danger" into the sentence, as I am 99% sure you meant to place it there but had an unfortunate omission of the word. ]

Anyway, guess what, so do I. In fact, in my opinion Islam is such a noxious belief system that, at least in its more extreme form, it may qualify as a type of mental disease. Think about it; stoning people to death for petty crimes, cutting off hands for petty theft, honor killings of female relatives, flying airplanes into tall buildings with the belief that 72 presumably very horny virgins are awaiting you after you're dead. This is all pretty crazy and, if taken outside the parameters of religious belief, such behavior could easily justify incarceration in a mental hospital under lock and key. Now of course not all Muslims do such nutty things but then again a whole lot of them actually do these nutty things and it's hard to explain it away as mere cultural diversity.

So personally the last thing I want to see in the White House is a hardcore Muslim, my belief in religious freedom notwithstanding. Where we differ is in your insistance that our newly elected president already is a Muslim ( or Mu'slam, as you say) or has Islamic leanings. I just don't buy it and you've failed to convince me of the veracity of your opinion that he is a Muslim with any concrete evidence. You tell me that Obama has said he would support Muslims "if things go bad politically." I've not heard him say that and I'd really like to see the entire quote and learn of what context in which it was spoken, rather then rely upon the sentence fragment you offered as proof of his Islamic leanings.

Let me make this clear.......I really think that Barack Obama is a Christian in his religious affilitation and that the recurring speculation that he is a Muslim is based upon unfounded assumptions stemming from the fact that his biological father, although absent from his life, had come from an Islamic nation. From what I've read of Obama's father, the man was highly educated, possessed a Ph.D and was not himself a practicing Muslim anyway.

You say that Obama has "expressed a willingness to negotiate and assuage and appease the Islamic countries." Well, I'm of the belief that negotiation is preferable to sabre-rattling and warfare, and that diplomacy, if done in a sophisticated way, may appear to be appeasement while actually leading to favorable resolutions of conflict. I read a wonderful quote once: "Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have things your way."

You offered the opinion that, "He has expressed a willingness to risk the prestige of the Presidency of the United States in order to placate the Muslams in Iran and other Muslam states." Again, although I'm sure you believe this, I just don't see it that way. I really don't. For one thing, after eight years of George W. Bush prestige for the office could hardly have gotten lower than it was already and it seems to be on the rise now that Obama has been put in office. And I think that you are incorrectly perceiving diplomatic efforts as 'placating' other nations.

I do not believe that Iran is anymore of a threat to the United States than Iraq was. Yes, we should monitor what they are doing and what weapons systems they are developing. But let's not forget that at last count the good old USA had approximately 22,000 nuclear warheads in her arsenal, enough to obliterate any enemy foolish enough to attack us. And they all know it.

Also, let's try to remember that if we believe that someone has to share our religious convictions in order to become president of the United States, then it is we who are attempting to abrogate the principles set forth by our Founding Fathers when they wrote the Constitution more than two hundred years ago. As you yourself said, we need to "respect a diversity of opinion."

In closing, let me just say that in the end we are both Americans who want the best for our country. I see Obama as a positive force at this time. Perhaps you don't. I think he'll do a lot of good things while in office and I don't think he'll be announcing a conversion to Islam any time soon.

- D. R.

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