Brandon9000 wrote:The above quoted question of mine neither sidesteps nor focuses on anything.
It sidesteps the issue of ethnic prejudice; it focuses on a contention--one not demonstrated--that Islam is the most murderous religion.
Quote:Setanta wrote:...Once again, it is a loaded question, and it is not germane.
I am not sure I see how the above question is loaded. The criteria I have given to define eligible religious violence seem nothing more nor less than appropriate.
This portion of the thread's opening post makes my discussion relevant:
ebrown_p wrote:First the debunking...
There are several reasons people have put forward to justify their hatred of Islam as a religion, and Muslims in general.
1) Muslims are involved in more wars than any other religion. This is easily shown to not be true. In the current active wars, There is a major Christian involvement in conflicts in Columbia, Uganda, Congo, Sengal, Ivory Coast, Afganistan, Iraq, and Chechnya. There is a major Muslim inolvement in Iraq, Afganistan, Israel, Aceh, Algeria, Somalia and Sudan. There are some wars (e.g. Nepal) that neither religion is involved in...
In the first place, it is more than a little disingenuous to characterize your question as a "discussion." This is how you introduced the question to the topic:
Quote:I certainly agree that no innocent person should be held responsible for the acts of other people of the same religion in any way, shape, or form.
However, having said that, I have a question for ebrown.
1. During the past 50 years, that is, modern times
2. Considering only acts of terrorism, that is, acts directed specifically against non-combatants on purpose
3. Considering only acts motivated by religion
4. Considering only acts where the intention is bodily harm
how does Islam stack up to other religions, e.g. Christianity? If you dare, give me a straight answer to this question without raising a thousand side issues. (underlined emphasis added)
This ignores the following portion of E_brown's post which you chose not to quote just now:
Quote:Of course one of the distortions used to support predjudice is to classify any war that contains a Muslim nation or interest as a "religious" war, and any war that waged by Christian nations as something else. This is obviously nonsense.
Muslims and Jews lived peacefully together for centuries before they started fighting over land. Yes... the conflict between Israel and Palestine is over land, even though religious rhetoric is being used by both sides.
In ignoring this portion of what E_brown wrote, you are attempting to characterize Islam as the most murderous religion, and to do exactly what is decribed above: ". . . any war that contains a Muslim nation or interest as a 'religious' war . . . " In the end, you are left to fall back upon the actions of al Qaeda or those claiming to be affiliated with Al Qaeda. It is not germane precisely because you attempt to frame the issue in terms of religiously motivated terrorism, while ignoring both those conflicts which involve Muslims in which the Muslims are victims of religious prejudice (as in the attacks on mosques in India, or the horrific muder of Muslims by Serbs), or in which the Muslim involvement is not a matter of religious war, and ignoring conflicts in which the Muslims are not involved (such as Rwanda and a host of others).
This is not germane because you attempt to limit what you are pleased to call "discussion" to what can only by your criteria be defined as religious conflicts. That also makes it a loaded question because you are attempting to ignore that portion of E_brown's statement which points out that Muslims become involved in conflicts as do any other category of people, for reasons which do not pertain to religion.
I also note, finally, that you continue to ignore the Serbs. In 1995, at Srebrenica, a city with a majority Bosniac population, the Serbs deported nearly the entire population, reserving a group of men and boys--conservative observers allege 7,800, and
Wikipedia article asserts more than 8,000--who were murdered in cold blood. That one incident, alone, exceeds all the killing so far attributed to al Qaeda. Were one to answer your disingenuous and tendentious question, the answer would be that Muslims motivated ostensibly by religion (
your criterion) are pikers compared to the Serbs.
All your question attempts to do is to push E_brown into a corner by casting the issue in strictly religious terms. As it clearly ignores the portion of his statement which you chose
not to quote, it is not germane.
