Extreme right wing "Christian" fundamentalists do constitute a real terror threat in the United States as this morning's shooting in Kansas shows once again. Perhaps it's time that we treat Christian fundamentalists with the same suspicion that we have been treating Muslim fundamentalists with?
Kind of like the quote I saw in someone's signature... Science lets you fly, religion flies you into buildings. Forget who's it was or the exact phrasing, but it was good nonetheless.
it was stox. and religion does not do shit. it is people that do the deed and use religion as an excuse. stop patronizing the MFers and hold them responsible for their own action
Exactly. Religion has been used as a tool for centuries to commit genocide in the name of peace. It is nothing more then man making excuses to justify their actions from what is holy. Christ teaching about peace, loving your enemies, and praising your Creator has nothing to do with the actions of those who use it as a tool for exploitation. And this is exactly how tyranny starts, by slowly stating that all races, religions, and people must be treated as terrorists. Do you not see the implications of starting this snowball?
I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy. If Muslim fundamentalism is dangerous then so is Christian fundamentalism. There have been more terrorist acts inside the US by right wing Christian fundamentalists than by Muslim terrorist groups.
although i understand what you are trying to say. i do not see either muslem or christian fundamentalism as a dangerous thing. the real danger is use of violence . we can all agree that violence is bad and we should all unite in standing against violence no mater by whom or why. once we isolate violence as the cause of concern we can eliminate it easier.
Regardless if of "who is more dangerous than who," we should not be treating Christians, Muslims, etc., as terrorists based soley on their particular religious affiliation. They should be judged by their actions, not by their faith
I'll agree with that. I don't think profiling is a good idea regardless of who it is. My point is if we're going to profile Muslims or people of middle eastern descent (which I don't think we should) then we should also profile right wing Christian fundamentalists born right here in the US. Those folks on the right have never had a problem with profiling before. Maybe now they'll care about it? I notice I hear a lot about the folks on the right talking about freedom of speech and civil liberties now. I find it quite curious that they only care about these things when there's a Democratic President. I care about freedom of speech and civil liberties no matter who is President.
Although that sounds good as a sound bite for religious sympathizers it's not necessarily the case. You think terrorists who blow themselves up and kill thousands in the process do it because they want to and just use religion as an excuse? They kill themselves in the most horrific way possible and you think they want to do that? Of course they don't. The only people using religion as a tool are the people at the top. The religious "leaders". The rest are just pawns. Believers they can use to do their bidding. Whether that be the simple act of conning people out of their hard earned money and telling them God will bless them for it. Or something more devious like using religious followers who have been sufficiently brainwashed enough to give their lives in order to vanquish the people they've been told are the enemy. Or "evil". So I disagree entirely. People who commit atrocities like this are being used by religion. It's not the other way around. When it comes down to it... no one thinks religion would be a good "excuse" to do things like this. They know they will goto jail if they do it or worse. So the idea that people think they can use religion as an excuse to do things like this doesn't hold water. These people would not be doing this if it weren't for religion. Bottom line.
they do decide that in order to achieve their goals they must sacrifice themselves. you can see example of this behavior before in history. kamikaze pilots of japan comes to my mind. they used honor as an excuse. nevertheless if we want to fight terrorism and or other form of violence we must isolate the guilty party and attacking the religious belief of millions of people has the opposite effect. you might believe that the real guilt reside with their leaders and i agree that they are just if not more to blame. but that does not alter the approach that i suggest just expands the net of the guilty.
pizzaman - you make a good point when you say it's a good idea to isolate the guilty party rather than attacking an entire religious belief. that was the problem post 9/11 - i believe those who attacked the US wanted a "holy war" and the Bush admin gave them exactly what they wanted.
If we are going to profile anyone in this country it should be Republicans. They are a dangerous group with a track record of treachery. I would agree to keeping Gitmo open if we could replace it's current residents with the leaders of the Republican party.
I think some of us Libertarians would agree with that. Replacing the leadership with Ron Paul would be the only logical conclusion.