OK, I admittedly do not know much about Islam other than the religion is based on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (I apologize if that’s not the way you spell his name, I found several spellings for it). It is based on the Jewish and Christian Bibles and Muhammad appears to have viewed these two religions as being a part of the Muslim heritage. I believe that this is based on the separation of the tribes of Israel or at least common descent from Abraham. Anyway, as I said I do not know much about the basis of the religion, but I do know many Muslims and from what they have told me of their religion I understand that the basis of the religion is peace and devotion to Allah (God). I know that historically the religion was often spread at the tip of a sword, but the same is true of both Christianity and Judaism. So to say it is a religion of violence, is to condemn Christianity and Judaism as the same.
It doesn’t really matter, though, since Islam, whether you like it or not, is a legitimate religion. And this country, contrary to many Christians’ ideas, was founded on the principals of freedom of and freedom from religion. Meaning, we are not a Christian country, or a country of any other religion. We are a country of laws. And our law says that we have the right to worship, or not, without the interference of government. So Christians, get over it. The US is not a Christian country. Your little corner of the country may be mostly Christian, but not every little corner is. So get used to having to think in terms of including others' ideas, beliefs and traditions. Personally, I’m against religions, while being quite spiritual in my own way. What that means is that I don’t allow a church or organization to dictate to me what I should belief, how I should behave or how I treat others. So in my case, get used to keeping your religion to yourself.
Now, we have a “Christian” idiot in Florida who thinks that God has told him to burn Korans to show Islam that we, meaning he and his followers, but sounding like he is trying to speak for all Americans, believe Islam to be the religion of the Devil. Frankly, any religion that operates on that kind of basis, hating others for their beliefs, seems to me to be a religion of the Devil. You hear many Christians say that his (Terry Jones, I won’t even grant him his self proclaimed title of Reverend, since there is nothing to revere or reverential about the man) Christianity is not their Christianity. I would go farther than that and say he is not any kind of Christian. Nothing he is teaching is anything that Jesus taught, there’s no love, no devotion or thought, just hatred and obeisance to the Terry Jones ideal. I would call his religion Jonesism, except then you have the other Jones who killed his followers with Kool-Aid who also was no Christian.
The problem is that is this free speech? The man is doing this for the self proclaimed reason that he wants to incite Islam. And incite the radicals among the Muslims he might! We know that yelling fire in a crowded theater is not free speech, nor is inciting others to violence, either through direct commands or through actions intended to bring that reaction. So does this moron have a legal leg to stand on? At the very least, every thinking and intelligent person in the country should be denouncing this action. I wonder if Al Qaeda is smart enough to understand that, like them, he does not represent anyone other than himself and tiny radical group who probably will all die the next time they have a Snake Kissing service and all get bit.
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