In response to Duane

Submitted by Arif (United Kingdom), Mar 9, 2007 at 10:40

Thank you Duane for such an illuminating reply, however there are a few things i think you need to get right before you reply to my comment.

First of all "the Muslims started the crusades if you actually go back to the beginning of them".

You can't say muslims started it, one man did in the name of religion (not Prophet Mohammed either, it was one of his followers AFTER his death!). Pope Urban actually sanctioned the crusades back in 1091 in response to the fall of the Byzantine Empire because he feared that islam could take over the Christian west. So does this mean that Christianity is to blame for the Christian lives lost in the crusades? or just Pope Urban? I think its Pope.

Second of all you said i should listen to the teachings of Jesus, well i have news for you, as a muslim, we believe in Jesus and his teachings also. Unlike Christians however, we believe he was a prophet of God, not the son. Im not going to debate the in's and out's of whether he was the son of God or not, just that we value his teachings and we also believe in them.

Thirdly, America is a peaceful nation??? This is the same country that has on numerious occasions not only has waged illegal wars and covert wars, but also harmed its own citizens! For example, Vietnam, talk about a waste of time, money and most importantly people! How many soldiers died for a war which was utterly pointless? America helped fund and arm the Taliban during the Afganistan war with the former USSR (this is conveniently not mentioned in the states, especially since it was the CIA who did it!) and help make them the madmen that they are. They also have helped supply arms and miltary expertise to just about every dictatorship in the middle east (incidently, Saddam Hussein only had any weapons because the USA and UK provided him with them!)

You also make this point "However, we can know this: America has freed more millions of people from tyranny and slavery, fed and clothed more millions of people around the world, and restrained ourselves from the use of our overwhelming force in terms of conquering other countries far better than any other powerful nation in the history of the world."

Well I have news for you buddy, the reason America is so hated by its enemies is because its foreign policies cause so much hardship, pain, suffering and opperession that makes potential friends into enemies. I've been to at least 4 muslim countries and the most of the people used to love America and its culture, as well as the idea of democracy. Unfortunately everytime any type of democracy has sprung up, they are always the first country to help in quelling any resistance to the existing governments because of the guaranteed supply of Oil from those countries (for example read up about Indonesia!)

It took nearly 400 years for America to become the nation that it is today, in that time it had 1 international war (incidently without the french, you would still be English subjects answering to the Queen!), you have one Civil War (which practically divided your nation) and also had at least 1/3 of the population in slavery at one point and a whole load of other nonsense in between. By contrast, after Mohammed came along, he discouraged slavery and paved the way for emancipation long before any Christian nation did (slavery was actually santioned by the pope at one time or another!).

Finally i'd like to say a few points about other things. Firstly Israel; your government annually GIVES Israel about $6billion annually for it to spend on military arms (which the majority get used on supressing the Palestinian population). All the surrounding countries know this and hence why they are pissed at America. Also look at what happened during Hurricane Katerina! It took over a week for the government to action something, it got to the point where individuals were doing more for the city than the federal government (John Travolta the actor personally flew a Boeing 707 with supplies to New Orleans). Funny how most of the population there is Black and poor...

I'd just like to finish up and say that Christianity is just as guilty as Islam when it comes to being War like and violent, its only recently there has been a change for the better (last hundred years and only in Europe). America on the other hand has some of the most violent and extreme Christian groups I have ever seen (just look at the republicans!). America COULD be the greatest nation on the planet but it needs to do four things before it does:

a) stop funding Israel's oppression of the Palestinians
b) stop bullying (forcing) smaller nations to open up their markets to American enterprises and getting them into debts that they cannot repay.
c) reduce its reliance on foreign oil and then it doesnt need to help these Dictators in Muslim countries
d) when a people democratically elect someone, don't turn around and say you don't recognise them as the official goverment just because they dont agree with your views and opinions (look at the Hamas elections)

As for Christianity: I think that every religion at some point has been used to justify some form of violence at one point or another (except maybe Buddhists). Its not the religion that is violent, its just people. If Islam didnt exist, im sure there would be something else to fill the void and be the same as it is now. Man is just stupid, violent and greedy, not religion!

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