We know they would not be acting in violence without "permission" from Mohammed and his war-god...

Submitted by Scot Parrish (United States), Feb 25, 2006 at 02:58

We know they would not be acting in violence without "permission" from Mohammed and his war-god. The single unifying principle of Islam is intolerance. That is a powerful seduction to those who feel they are under the heal of "The West."

But the history of Euro-American colonialism shows it mainly went forth to trade and develop economies around the world. From 500 million, 500 years ago, we now number 6-7 billion, largely the result of "Western imperialism" around the world. No sane person would want to forgo all the generations of man who have truly benefitted, literally with their lives, and go back to a population of half a billion that would never have "suffered" colonialism and technology like steam locomotives, internal combustion engines, electricity, jets, and cell phones.

Conversion to Christianity, in net emphasis, was usually secondary for our European ancestors, lip-service not counting as loudly as actions.

The Spanish conquest of the Americas, conversion at the point of a sword, was the most jihad-like. But even there, the European lust for silver and gold was the primary motivator. They had just repelled Islam from Iberia in 1492, which largely explains their heartless resolve to conquer. The side-effect of Mohamedism. Now black gold is the object of lust by the West. Oil-rich Moslem ruling elites have been tolerated by the West since WWII. They were easier to deal with and were the price, we accepted, of fighting Stalinist expansion. Our Western hard-learned notions of religious tolerance made patience with Islam's ways "over there" seem the only reasonable course during the cold war. It was not our business and not our concern.

The problem now is that the Cold War is over, the Jet Age is bigger than ever, and the instant internet world is here to stay.
How rapidly can a generation of the brotherhood of man adjust to this brave new world? We may aspire higher spiritually, and speak lofty words in the name of Allah, Buddha, Moses, Confusius, Zoraster, or Jesus or other reassuring father or mother figures. We want security, certainty, peace, and the knowledge that our path leads to life after the grave. It is so easy to let mommy and daddy do the thinking for us.

We are still children, fighting at playground Earth because we have learned to listen to lying bullies instead of our consciences. We have abandoned our better natures, seduced by false teachings and desires. Through applied reason we can recognize that without tolerance for diversity of thought and learned values (culture), we collectively have no future. Our sticks and stones have just become way to lethal to all of us.

We must recognize the precious value of each individual as God's creation, or, for the atheist, at least benign indifference. Islam, as written in part in the Quran, and in particular, as its ruling elites have historically chosen to apply it to the masses, is unique in teaching institutional intolerance across its repressive, sexist, blood-drenched centuries. This is not meant as an insult, but as a statement of historical fact.

For some, whom from childhood have been taught repression and intolerance are good, these words must enrage you. You have lost yourself to the world. But that is only my perception, so feel free to discount my thoughts and curse me to your heart's content. Praise the A-word. All I know is that notions of religious intolerance today, whether practiced by right-wing American or European "Christians" or blindly accepted as the only permittable course by other right-winger minds operating under the banner of Islam, are still the vast minority in a world brimming with more mature, life-loving people. Yet these lying bullies have now made it our business, our concern, and our responsiblity to somehow stop them.

Can we, soon enough? As a Christian who believes it is wrong to sit back and wait for Armegeddon to be created by the determined efforts of delusional fools, I hope we can. Men like W-for-Wanton-Wrong-Wasteful-Wicked-Wily Bush and his spiritual brother, USAma bin Luni, the fellow son of wealth who must also rebel against his father, are LETHAL for this planet. ...

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