Muslim Cleric's remarks....

Hingehead I think you should keep your head closed, part of your brain seems to have fallen out.

At that time, the Arab prince Sheikh Osama told the Saudi govt., let me fight Saddam. Don't let the US in because they will never leave.

The official western response at that time was that they are only going to topple the dictator Saddam and don't intend to remain permanently. A decade later they were still there. Not even the 9/11 carnage was enough to make them acknowledge this issue, let alone leave. As far as Osama or other radical Arabs are concerned, they are fighting a much stronger enemy - fighting for their freedom and homeland...

In August 2003, following the U.S.-led war in Iraq in March and April 2003, the United States withdrew its troops stationed in Saudi Arabia.

Despite many obvious similarities, all the major faiths of the world have some unique characteristics or principles. Islam teaches us that all people are born muslim regardless of the faith of their parents.

The basic spirit behind this simple, innocent belief which you have decided to be indignant about is that we all are God's children and he created us equal.

I've never heard the expression "revert" before. Did Bush's spin doctors invent that too? Is that another cross we have to bear?

Im not the one 'Desperate' to disprove the faith of Islam

Im not trying my utmost to stem the flow of reverts who embrace Islam every single day....

Your futile attempts to slander Islam do you no benifit. Islam is the fastest growing religion as stated earlier. People from all backgraounds and ethnicities can be found coming back to their Lord all the time.

The sooner you accept that Islam is here to stay the better

I have not slandered Islam. I have merely pointed out some truths which you reject because your mind is befuddled with religious nonsense. Its not for me to disprove anything. Its for you to offer evidence to back up your assertions. You have produced none. All we ever hear is the circular and spurious argument that God dictated the Koran therefore the Koran is God's word. For too long rationalists (being on the whole thoroughly nice people) have refrained from criticising religion out of an excessive deference to religious sensibilities. But events in recent years have opened people's eyes to the existential harm religion can do. Therefore its time to challenge belief with reason. Its time to fight fundamentalist irrational religious extremism with factual intelligible rational explanation.

The Independent and the New Zealand Herald carry a report by Kim Sengupta. This describes the grisly fate which befell a 46-year old schoolteacher from Ghazni, Afghanistan, who disobeyed Taliban orders and educated girls.

Mohammed Halim was taken from his home at night by gunmen. His body was partially disemboweled, and then his limbs were tied to motorbikes. As the vehicles accelerated away, his body was ripped apart. What remained of the teacher was then put on display as a warning to other teachers who dared to educate girls. Mr Halim was the fourth teacher to be killed in Ghazni recently.

.....On July 23 this year Michael Frastacky, a 56-year old carpenter from Vancouver, was shot dead. For four summers, he had labored to build a school in the remote Nahrin Valley, north of Kabul in the Hindu Kush. He had intended the school to provide education for boys and girls in equal numbers. In order to accommodate the strict faith of the communities in this remote region, he was working on placing a separate playground for the girls when he was killed.

...Proper education for today's children in Afghanistan is a priority, to ensure a future that is better than the present. But though children are now in need of schools the whole society in Afghanistan, which legally stipulates the death penalty for those leaving Islam, is in need of a massive re-education program.

.....While Muslims in the West make efforts to convert people to their faith, traditional Islamic countries have laws which prevent anyone trying to convert Muslims out of their faith. In Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, conversion of Muslims from their faith can lead to jail sentences. In Algeria on March 15, the parliament introduced a bill which prevents anyone from apostasising from Islam to another faith. The bill was passed into law, and allows imprisonment of from two to five years and a fine of from $6,000 to $12,000 (US) for anyone "urging or forcing or tempting, to convert a Muslim to another religion."

The Muslim Boys have managed to develop for themselves a fearsome reputation. They use Islam as a cover to justify doing whatever they wish. They are devout, in that they pray five times a day, but their version of Islam is one that follows the "caravan-raiding" of the "prophet" Mohammed and his followers, as described in Sura 8 of the Koran.

Last year, the Evening Standard wrote an interview with a member of the gang, called "Winston" on July 5, 2005. He said: "Knives is f*ck-all. Later, my bruvs will be back from their robberies with our skengelengs [guns] and cream [money]. Later there be MACinside-10s [sub-machine guns] all over the floor, laid wall to wall. And moolah! We count it - 10 grand, 20 grand. Then, after midnight," he adds, matter-of-factly, "me and my bruvs go to mosque to pray."

its obvious that God did not create us all equal. And I dont believe muslims or any other faith group actually believe it either.

Quote:

its obvious that God did not create us all equal. And I dont believe muslims or any other faith group actually believe it either.

I'm not going to argue with that Steve. God DID create us all equal - its man's ignorance and barbarity that created inequality. Faith has always preached love, harmony and justice. Dogmatic people can claim expertise on any faith and spew any rubbish they wish. That does not cheapen the faith! Were it not for devout Jews, Christians, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Hindus or Buddhists, the world would be far worse than it is.

Faith has always preached love, harmony and justice.

Finished Angle

Why dont you spend less time trying to convince us of the beauty of your faith and more time convincing the radical elements within islam?

Please note I despise all religions equally.