http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... -under-way

Well, shit. Hope they catch the perpetrators soon.

I can't wait for the parade of "Islam is a religion of peace!" apologists no doubt circling the wagons already. Islam today seems like it's at where Christianity was a half a millennia ago, only now it's 2014 and they have no excuse. But hey, if everyone in the world would just accept the prophet muhammad as their imaginary friend and never say or do anything a Muslim could find offensive (that's a short list, right?) then we're all good.

Well, I'll say this for Islam's extremists--they sure make Christian nutters who protest funerals and are general douchbags seem like a treat to deal with.

EDIT: Whoops, it's 2015. Even worse

Wasn't this over some drawn comics?

Fucking bullshit.

http://twitter.com/davpope/status/55284 ... 097920?s=0

Two things:

First of all: why does it matter that it is 2015? I agree with the Christianity back then vs. Islam now comparison, but it's not like Christianity being barbaric 500 years ago was okay because it was long ago. At that time, it was current. So maybe in 500 years people will look back and say the same, when budhists suddenly start bombing churches and mosques, hehe.

Second: Islam is as much a religion of peace/war as ANY religion. I have plenty of Muslim friends who would never dream of killing anybody. Don't confuse extremism with religion.

It matters that it's 2015 in the sense that there are infinitely fewer "excuses" for being so ill-informed about the world. 500 years ago there was the excuse that nobody knew much of anything, but that is no longer valid. The only reason people are so lacking in even simple literacy in so many Muslim countries/areas is choice. Their leaders' choices, their own personal choices, but NOT a lack of information in the world.

And yeah, Islam is *just* like all the other big religions. So, where are all these Jews shooting up places? And Christian bombings? What about Buddhism? It seems as though it's a safe bet that if there's some "terrorist" attack on something it's probably Muslims.

I'm not making anyone do these mental, destructive, murderous acts of violence. Their religion is. Or, at the very least, the religion has put this nonsense in their head and these unbalanced people act on it as they see fit. In that case, though, I'd wonder why there seem to be so many more unbalanced and violent people trending towards a particular religion?

Because that's the flavor of the era right now. Islam has existed for centuries, how come the terrorist attacks have begun just now? Remember, Islam was much more civilized when Christianity was still barbaric many centuries ago. It comes and goes. There are over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world and less than 0.01% of them are violent murderers and terrorists. If this is the religion, why are not many many more of them blowing themselves up?

Well I'm pretty sure the advanced technology of the times has helped killing people in a way they were largely unable to do so for a long while.

As for the 1.5 billion Muslims thing, the first thing that comes to mind is that about half of those are women and they don't really count as people (according to them, not me!) so there's half that number dealt with

And again, it's not that they are ALL nutcases, but the odds of whatever most recent religion-based murder having to do with Islam seem overwhelming. Where are all these moderate, reasonable Muslims openly condemning and making great strides to repair the damage the crazies have done? It mostly seems like a code of silence.

Bah, I have to go to work now but would keep going if I could. Reasonable disagreements with people not prone to violence are fun.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/wo ... tack-.html

But I guess you will find a way to say this doesn't count.

Where were the Christians making great strides to repair the damage Breivik has done in Norway, when he went on his shooting spree? Because obviously, all of us a re responsible to repair the damage he has done because he is one of us, right?

There are roughly 2 billion Christians, why aren't they blowing themselves-up if it is not a religious/cultural thing? Should be seeing acts in roughly the same proportionproportion, no?

Trying to remember the last time I heard someone yell "Jesus is the Greatest" while blowing himself and a dozen other people up. Or the time Pissed Christ came out and a wave of bombings and shootings broke out.

Notice the "hehe" when you mentioned the Buddhists blowing up mosques and churches in 500 years? It was because you realize there is something wrong today and it would be absurd to a modern person for Buddhists to be blowing up mosques and churches.

(I am an atheist and there are plenty of asshole "holier than though" folks within it, but at least in the modern west they aren't going around bombing and shooting people)

You are right. Let's forbid Islam.

And I laughed because it is an eternal process. As long as there are explosives and people, someone will always find a cause to blow up someone else.

I never said anything about forbidding Islam and I hardly think that simply because explosives exist, that that would lead to someone "find[ing] a cause" to blow someone up. I don't see Buddhists and Mormons and Quakers blowing people up and surely they are aware that explosives exist. I wonder if it could be something else, besides explosives?

It is human nature.

Not every Muslim is a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim.

Yep.

Did Breivik convert and I missed it?

There are exceptions to every rule.

Pakistan school massacre.
Canadian parliament attack
Australia chocolate shop attack
NYC hatchet attack on police
Canadian soldier ran over

Just from the last quarter or so off the top of my head

How the fuck did these people get away?

You do not need to remind me of all the recent terrorist attacks. I am perfectly aware. Interestingly enough, all of those combined are not nearly as deadly as Breivik's attack.

The Pakistan school massacre death count is more than double Breivik.

True, overlooked that on the list. However massacres and terrorist attacks happen in the Middle East itself all the time and usually people in the West care little. It becomes a footnote.

The 18-year old suspect (who probably acted as a lookout) turned himself in. Smartest decision he has made in his life, I suppose.

This is very different though. These are not independent lone wolf nut jobs. These are Islamic extremists answering a call to Jihad - to kill Westerners and anyone they see opposing their extremists beliefs. Its time for the West to stop the appeasement and half hearted condemnation of this behaviour. Muslim leaders and communities need to voice their outrage at the extremists and not remain silent.

The number of recent terrorist acts listed in this page (most of which occurred in recent months) is not by accident. These things are going to happen on a more regular basis from here on unfortunately, especially if people write these off as nut job attacks.

I agree, but I would never condemn the entire religion because of that.

I am not sure if it was directed at me but I did mention Peshawar and I didn't ask why Muslim leaders are not condemning the attack. The leader of Egypt made important statements on the topic a couple of days ago.