It's religion gone mad

Toronto Sun ^ | 04/16/04 | MICHAEL COREN

[Pikamax]

Sat, April 17, 2004

It's religion gone mad

By MICHAEL COREN -- For the Toronto Sun

HOW DOES one discuss the state of the Islamic faith, the Middle East, terrorism and the world without upsetting people? Frankly, it's almost impossible.

I'm not talking here of a fear of abuse and attack or of being accused of political incorrectness. I couldn't give a fig about that. No, I mean the need to hold on to common courtesy and avoiding making generalizations that could hurt good people.

Here are some recent examples, in that I have so little room to discuss this issue in full.

We used to be told by pop stars and other philosophers that "the Russians love their children too." It was self-evident then that all people loved their young. Now I'm not so sure. Do the Palestinians, for example, love their children too?

I should think most of them do.

But I have to be candid: many of them don't. We can't just rely on tired old relativism when we look at all this. Nobody who loves his or her child will send that little being out as a suicide bomber. Nobody who loves their children will line them up in front of tanks.

The natural instinct of a loving parent is to hide the children. Armed struggle and resistance I can understand, even if I do not approve. This, though, is something different. I've seen it myself. Mothers screaming for their tiny offspring to come out of the house, stand in front of Israeli patrols and throw stones at soldiers.

I take here no position on the causes of Israelis or Palestinians, but I do on the moral substance of a parent who would send children to fight the battles of adults.

Do not, please, tell me they have no option. There are legions of young Palestinian men willing to kill Israelis. It's just that children can sometimes be undetected. And are easily convinced of the delights of paradise in the world to come when, I quote, "Zionist skulls, blood and limbs fly against the walls."

British Muslim fundamentalists planned terror attacks and arrests were made in Ilford, England, my hometown. Boring Ilford may be, but nobody is oppressed there! Muslims who grew up with British democracy, free British health care, free British education and British tolerance have no reason to kill anyone, let alone those who gave them such privilege.

Remember, these people came to Britain, as they did to Canada, the United States and the rest of the free, Christian-based world to escape Islamic states and their harshness.

It is the pluralistic openness and decency of Europe and North America that has allowed so many Muslim immigrants. How ironic that a minority of those people hate that very pluralism and decency and want to slaughter women and children in the name of their god and their cause.

I opposed the war in Iraq, but I cannot remain silent when people kill contract workers, then disembowel and hang them from wires in the street. While children dance.

And, no, these murderers are not refugees from pain but the favoured sons of Saddam. Their fight is to restore fascism, not liberate their nation. Even if it was, nothing justifies such sadism.

German bomber pilots, their planes shot down, would parachute into London after destroying entire towns and killing thousands of people. Almost without exception they were treated properly, as prisoners of war.

It's not about colonization, globalization, Zionism, American dominance or any other cliches. The Muslims themselves are colonizers, having pushed most Christians out of the Middle and near East, once the cradle of the Christian world.

The Ottoman Turks, Muslims all, colonized the region for centuries. Arabs colonized Persians, Assyrians, Kurds and others. The Saudis, sponsors of so much terror, are nobody's victims. They are wealthy beyond belief, and deprive women and minorities of most basic civil rights.

This is something deeper, darker, than an imagined fight against a foreign foe. There is a virus at work. For the sake of the good, law-abiding Muslims of the world -- the majority -- we cannot pretend any longer it's about anything other than what it is: a religion gone mad and gone bad.

Stop the lies, they only make it worse.

[prion]

Woah.

[Travis McGee]

We're going to find out, sooner or later,

If Abdul will pray, to a glowing crater.

[mean lunch lady]

You have a good point (about people lining their children up in front of tanks). I don't see how the parents sent their children out to carry grenades during Viet Nam or how the people sent out their little ones during the Crusades, for that matter. I keep hoping we have evolved enough to fight our own battles and leave the children out of it. This also applies to parents in a bad marriage who are torturing their kids by the way they behave. Obviously, it's not as bad as putting them in front of tanks,but it's the same kind of disregard for those who are supposed to be most important to you.

[IronJack]

The way I see it, either we wipe out the bad Muslims, with help from the good Muslims (their assistance being part of what makes them "good"). Or we simply wipe out the Muslims. Period.

Look at it from a purely logical calculus: If we wipe out all the Muslims, we kill some "good" ones as well as the bad. That causes no harm except to the dead Muslims. But for our purposes, we can be assured we got the bad ones too.

If we err on the side of caution and DON'T kill them all, we take a chance on killing only the bad ones. If we make a mistake, we leave bad ones alive and they fly airplanes into buildings or set off suitcase nukes and blow half of America to hell.

In the long run, it's far safer for America's purposes to risk killing "good" Muslims than to risk NOT killing bad ones.

From a purely logical point of view, that is.

[Blue Screen of Death]

There are some interesting comments on this earlier post...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1119370/posts

[dennisw]

Posted here too____> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1119370/posts?page=75

[ml/nj]

The way I see it, either we wipe out the bad Muslims, with help from the good Muslims (their assistance being part of what makes them "good"). Or we simply wipe out the Muslims. Period.

Hear! Hear!

ML/NJ

[The_Media_never_lie]

For the sake of the good, law-abiding Muslims of the world -- the majority --

Ah, yes! The silent majority......???????

[Straight Vermonter]

Always remember and never forget: Allah hates Muslims.

[RonHolzwarth]

re: "people sent out their little ones during the Crusades."

I'm not so sure about that one! I think you are referring to the "Children's Crusade", in 1212. The parents did NOT send their children away!

Instead, they were convinced by a peasant boy named Stephen to leave. It is believed by many that from this actual historical event, we have the medieval tale: "The Pied Piper of Hamlin".

from: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1212pueri.html

The "Crusade" was preached in France by a peasant boy named Stephen from a village near Vendome. In Germany, a boy named Nicholas from Cologne started the movement. The sorry business was summarized by a chronicler in these terms:


In this year occurred an outstanding thing and one much to be marveled at, for it is unheard of throughout the ages. About the time of Easter and Pentecost,4 without anyone having preached or called for it and prompted by I know not what spirit, many thousands of boys, ranging in age from six years to full maturity, left the plows or carts which they were driving, the flocks which they were pasturing, and anything else which they were doing. This they did despite the wishes of their parents, relatives, and friends who sought to make them draw back. Suddenly one ran after another to take the cross. Thus, by groups of twenty, or fifty, or a hundred, they put up banners and began to journey to Jerusalem. They were asked by many people on whose advice or at whose urging they had set out upon this path. They were asked especially since only a few years ago many kings, a great many dukes, and innumerable people in powerful companies had gone there and had returned with the business unfinished. The present groups, morever, were stfll of tender years and were neither strong enough nor powerful enough to do anything. Everyone, therefore, accounted them foolish and imprudent for trying to do this. They briefly replied that they were equal to the Divine will in this matter and that, whatever God might wish to do with them, they would accept it willingly and with humble spirit. They thus made some little progress on their journey. Some were turned back at Metz, others at Piacenza, and others even at Rome. Still others got to Marseilles, but whether they crossed to the Holy Land or what their end was is uncertain. One thing is sure: that of the many thousands who rose up, only very few returned.

[dozer7]

"good Muslims"

please name three good muslims.

[broadsword]

It's religion gone mad? No.

It's one particular religion that we all know, has now shown its true satanic death-cult face.

[broadsword]

As long as there is a Koran to read, it will continue to spawn terror, misogyny, oppression, economic and social failure, ignorance, slavery, murder, jealousy and rape.

For human civilization to ever be safe, the vile, murderous death-cult must die and die completely.

[Hildy]

There are millions of good Muslims.

[broadsword]

If they are good by the standards of decent civilized human behavior, then they are NOT good Muslims. Read the Koran and see why.

When islam takes the last city, you will be given the choice of a prayer rug or a coffin.

[IronJack]

please name three good muslims.

Uday and Qusay Hussein, and Ayatollah Khomeini.

What trait do all three share?

[STD]

This author knows nothing of islam. It and the majority of submitted muslims are fanatics. No peace for these folks.

http://www.prophetofdoom.net/

[Defiant]

please name three good muslims.

My tagline a few months ago was "the only good Muslim is not a good Muslim".

[FITZ]

There are millions of good Muslims.

Where? Does a good Muslim say that the whole world does not have to be forced into submission? If they say that people can have a free choice they not by definition real Muslims who are following the Koran. Do good Muslims say some Jews can live or even have their own state? They'd be going against the most basic beliefs of Islam if they believe there can be a Jewish country --- even though they all believe the whole world must live under their own theocracy.