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Old 11-15-2005, 10:55 AM   #13 (permalink)
Swift Sword
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: 10-23-05
Location: Carl Perkins' Cadillac
Posts: 779
Quote:
(1) Why are you so quiet?
Pious Muslims beleive that men are individually accountable to God; rebuke by mortals would amount to nothing more than a profession of faithlessness.

Too, it is a grave matter for a pious Muslim to accuse another Muslim of being a heretic or apostate as it goes against the whole concept of the Umma and the dictates of the Prophet himself.

Quote:
(2) Why are none of the Palestinian terrorists Christian?
Careful what you wish for; the Lord acts in mysterious ways

Since the issue of Palestinian independence is a political rather than religious issue, the religion of the bombers probably is not that important in the scheme of things. Too, given the demography of the region, it is statistically most probably that you are going to get a Muslim bomber and a young male at that.

Quote:
(3) Why is only one of the 47 Muslim-majority countries a free country?
Muslims have a long standing tradtion (I forget the exact name and origin OTTOMH) of valuing social order over disorder. The general gist of it is that bad government is better than no government at all.

As an aside on this issue, Western powers have traditionally worked very hard to keep dictators in power in many Muslim countries; I wonder if this has anything to do with it?

Quote:
(4) Why are so many atrocities committed and threatened by Muslims in the name of Islam?
This is kind of a strawman; when we look at the actors perpetrating the violence, much of it is good old fashioned factional or nationalist violence and is political in motivation and execution.

Claiming responsibility in the name of Islam is part of the terrorists propaganda effort. If Mr. Praeger or anybody else chooses to be swayed by terrorist propaganda, that is his problem.

Quote:
(5) Why do countries governed by religious Muslims persecute other religions?
They might be considered to be apostate regimes.

By Koran and Hadith, Muslims have very specific guidelines regarding the treatment of other religions. Dhimmi, in theorey, should not have it too bad under a Muslim regime (but woe be unto the idolaters!). In practice, however, when less than pious Muslims gain power, they tend not follow the dictates of Islam too closely, just as when those who claim to be devout Christians have a tendancy to forget Christian teachings when they gain power.

When looking into claims of religious persecution, we often find that there are other social, political and economic reasons for persecution. This is not to say that religious persecution is not happening in some places in the Muslim world, just do not dismiss the relevant facts in your quest for a conclusion.

Quote:
Sudan's Islamic regime has murdered great numbers of Christians.
Some relevant facts have been discarded in the quest for this conclusion.
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