'kin ell - there really are some seriously, seriously stupid people on this forum.

the first thing we lawyers are taught is that the exceptions are always, and I do mean always, more important than the rule. the piece you linked to is, at best, analytically handicapped and/or lazy and, at worst, intellectually dishonest and an outright misrepresentation of the plain effect of the words it purports to analyze.

I say the same thing, by the way, to fundamentalist Christians who try to explain various provisions of the Bible to me. although, in fairness to those fundamentalists, 95% of the offending provisions they are trying to explain actually come from the Old Testament.

The largest demo ever done in the Arab World took place after 11thSep01 in Casablanca. Here in Switzerland NOW, Hisham Maizar, the president of the Föderation Islamischer Dachorganisationen Schweiz has very clearly condemned what has happêned and has asked Muslims in Switzerland to participate in the demo tonight. Muslims by the thousands the world over participated in anti terror demos for decades, so that your wish has been fulfilled long ago. "Until they do" means that you apparently live in the 1980ies


Two Arab Muslims, a policeman and a Cartoonist, are among those killed yesterday in Paris. Simply ignoring them is not fair. You should leave such to terrorists-in-Spirit


************************************************** ***************************************



This is rubbish. It is known in the meantime that the families often know less than others, because such chaps Keep the truth away from their families. By your logic we have to deport or kill all those who recently travelled on the same bus or Train, as they must have known ...............


************************************************** *******************************



Negative. One Arab Muslim who was a Cartoonist was among those killed yesterday, I do not accept that he and the Arab-Muslim policeman are declared NOT to have been Arabs and NOT to have been Muslims. Most likely they were better Arabs and better Muslims than the criminals

the new testament isnt better... googled "new testament and killing"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bib..._of_violence_2

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/cruelty/nt_list.html

http://www.answering-christianity.com/killer.htm

(ps I have not confirmed checking the bible)

It's amazing how we still until this day is taking advice and letting us be guided by 1000s years old books which has been written and been re-written again and again and again by fanatics back then...

so maybe it's time to scrap all these books and just be nice to each other

Well, some sentimental concepts expounded by a Juan Cole, not noting historical context, nor how it is abrogated by following verses on slaying the unbelievers, very sugary. But quite hard to reconcile with actions demonstrated multiple times a day by Muslims in the cause of Islam. Anyone bother to send those guys Juan Cole's memo?

I would have said Turkey 10-years ago but now I agree with you!

The first is accurate. The second is an atheistic interpretation, the third is a Muslim's interpretation.

Yeah - the injunction to love your neighbour is really shitty. And as for 1 Corinthians 13 - that must be banned immediately.

Of course there is violence in the Bible. Many violent passages when seen in context, are reports of what happened, or of humans response to events - not condoning them. Some are indeed more problematic (i.e. God does seem to be advocating violence and cruelty). Certainly it seems, in recent years, to not really have provoked as similar a level of violence as Islam. Christiandom had its spasms of violence during the crusades, the inquisition and the domination of South America, but has settled down now. I don't think they're really directly comparable nowadays.

Hitchens seems to suggest that there is a civil war going on with Islam between the moderates who have a peaceful interpretation and the fundamentalists. Since the fundamentalists are more prepared to die for their beliefs than the moderates, it looks like they'll win. Mind you, the forces of moderation and toleration seem to have overcome in the West, so maybe there is hope!

__________________
Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

I suppose that the Maktoums have some free places in one of their prisons

While the fundamentalists are losing, the longer the more

I wish it were that simple! But I guess that's the conundrum... if we want to support and allow the freedom of speech, then it seems logical that we should also support the freedom of belief.

After all, burning books that we personally don't believe in is a bit similar to what happened during the Inquisition, no?

But I certainly do agree that we ought to be nicer to one another... and one step toward that direction might be tolerance (not toward violence of course, but toward the diversity of belief).

Marine LePen and the NF are of course lapping it up- a gift from the 'Gods' for them. Already given her the excuse of promising to bring back the death penalty- and to win quite a few more votes

Europeans are (still) treated (fairly) well in oil-rich Dubai.

Let's see how you fare there with an Indian passport.

We are tolerant to the diversity of belief - the west provides freedom of worship unparalleled to any past example. That is one reason for the huge immigration wave from (failed) Muslim countries.

Turkey let recently to build (and not just restore) a christian church. A first since a hundred years. 'Tis is infinitely more tolerant than any of the Emirates.

How about Oman?

http://inspiration.allwomenstalk.com...-give-yourself

No, no, no. I think she means especially tolerant to Muslims and Islam. Question, insult, ridicule and denigrate all other beliefs by all means, but just don't raise an inkling of a doubt about Islam. It apparently causes a morality system crash with its adherents, and they lose their peace.

And by the way, don't even ask about tolerance in any Muslim country for non-Believers. Peace and tolerance is only for other Muslims, maybe; unless others convert or pay a special tax that will allow them to be considered somewhat human.

Just follow, obey and don't question, because it is a religion of peace.

I think you'll find its economic opportunities rather than anything else driving immigration from North Africa.. and besides Algeria and Morocco aren't exactly paragons of religious oppression. There are more synagogues in Casablanca than the entire French part of Switzerland.

You ought to try to say you're a non-believer in the U.S.