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Yea...but...Reader comment on item: How the West Could Lose Submitted by Don (Pakistan), Jan 8, 2007 at 06:10 Christianity was in the dark for a long time - a time when worlds and cultures did not come in contact with each other so instantaniously and frequently as today. But Christianity has matured - "evolved," may be another word - into a basically good, peaceful, non-threatening religion. Yes, we do certainly have some bones in our closet, but I'm talking about today; what's happening now. (And though the Old testament does have some brutality, I'd argue that the New Testament - the Book for Christians - is a benevolent book and preaches peace to all and hatred toward none. Our Book does not terrorists make.) Sure, we have a few fanatics, but they're basically harmless and written off by Christians like you and me and 95% of the rest of us; and they are simply using guilt and fear to get to people, not terrorism and mass murder. Islam, on the other hand, has not matured or evolved (into anything benevolent, anyway), and I believe because of the nature of the religion and its followers it won't. It is today, yesterday, and I think well into the future, a very dangerous religion that generally sees us as the enemy (because we have rejected their prophet, which is more than offensive to them). In fact, Mohammed himself directed the ummah to consider us, the infidels, as the enemy. They do this very well. You say it's only about 15%, but I think 15% is only the pro-active Muslims who are already engaged one way or another in the demise of the West - either by terrorism itself, supporting it financially, preaching it to others, recruiting, planning, or otherwise. I would make a good guess that besides that 15% or so, there are another 50% at least who want to see these fellow Muslims succeed in this mission and will never do a thing to discourage it or stop it. I mean look...in the West we have protests of the war, make movies about Bush being a criminal and a liar, Noam Chomsky and his ilk get rich writing about how horrible America is (and lives here peacefully making a good living teaching our youth), Emenem makes millions singing songs dissing our president, and on and on. Can you imagine a Muslim (or a group of them) doing that about Hezbollah, Hamas, OBL, or Islamic terrorists? They be dead from a fatwa in no time. They brag about their " civilization" and " culture." You know, they are not an inquiring, open-minded, look-at-the-other-side kind of people. In the last 500 years what have they contributed to the world? Technology? Discoveries? Science? Inventions? Progress? Nope. They contributed oil, and think about it: They didn't acheive a damn thing to have the British discover it under their lands, and to have the British and Americans and Germans bring over our technology to get it out in mass quantities (and we still do). If it wasn't for the West they'd still be roaming the desert as Beduins; they'd be sitting over a gold mine and would never even know it. They can't even take responsibility for their own f-ups; they always have to put the blame elsewhere. How can they improve if they never make a mistake and everything that goes wrong is somebody elses fault? (America's and Israel's, usually). Where are their leaders educated? Britain and the United States. Why? Can't they find any decent Islamic schools or universities in the Islamic world? No, they can't. Only a Western education can prepare them for succeess in the real world. Why is this? Because of their religion and culture does not allow for questions, inquiring, discovery, analysis, thinking out of the box; it's the one commonality, and it is, by their own admission, the focal point of every Muslim's life. Why have women not risen up in the Muslim world? Because the Qur'an has placed them in this spot and they simply accept and don't question it. I mean, you have Islamic states! Can you imagine a Christian state? You'd never see it. Jesus said, "Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar's, and to God what is God's." That, in a nutshell, is " separation of church and state." And look what that has done for our goverments, besides democracy. Look at our progress when unshackled by religous dogma. And take a look at Islamic states like Pakistan. What a fricken mess. And look what evil foments in these Islamic states. Not just where terrorism breeds, but, for example, Haddod Laws. In Pakistan a woman can't go in public with a man not directly related to her. To do so could get her arrested, which would bring double shame upon the family, which could bring about her killing for " honor." (For dishonering the family name.) In Hadood (Islamic Sharia laws pertaining to their women-folk), a woman has to have for male Muslim witness of her rape top press charge. First of all, any of those would be complicit in the crime, so they never come forward, secondly, the word of Christians or " infidels" don't carry any weight. If four Christians witnessed the rape, their word counts for nothing in court. Of course a woman marries who her father wants her to, no matter that she may be repulsed by the guy. Saudi women can't even leave their home without permission from a husband or father, and then they can't drive, and they must cover themselves head to toe to even fingers, wearing gloves. (I mean, doesn't it just drive you crazy with rage when another man looks at your wife's hand?) And these Hadood laws go on and on, and they aren't just laws on the books that are never enforced - they are. Why do the tens of millions of women living in these conditions not stand up for change? Think about that. There are some good Muslims. But as a group (ummah) - pardon my lack of political correctness - they're dangerous, backward, brutal, oppressive, violent, and too narrow minded and brainwashed to ever reason with. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (2112) on this item
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