Please explain to me why Muslims born and raised in the States who read the exact same holy book as those causing riots overseas are not of the rioting type? How much violence is caused by the American born Muslim population? I'm guessing it has something to do with them not being oppressed by foreign invaders all their lives.
I believe that if their religion was less geared toward violence (say Jain or Buddhist), then yeah, we wouldn't be seeing this kind of behavior as much nor as intense. History backs that up, too. There's a reason Eastern philosophies have not seen nearly as much bloodshed in their name, meanwhile, Western philosophies... not so much. One of my favorite quotes on the subject from Harris: Would they eventually find something to riot over? Given their situation? Of course, but the smaller the spark/weaker the fuel, the less likely the chance of ignition. And certainly violence in the name of your independence and general welfare is FAR more justifiable than violence in the name of a book burning.
I think the Quran came before Bush, and I think Afghanistan was in pretty bad shape before we got there, but point taken.
Sorry, dude, but there are circumstances other than Islam going on in Afghanistan and these issues have as much to do with the violence going on there as the Muslim religion does. The United States is a predominantly Christian nation, but we had riots that lasted days in the largest city in our country because police officers were found innocent of a crime.
I'm aware of that, and I'm certain they play a part (socio-economic turbulence intensifies things, no doubt), however, as has been made quite clear by both the rioters themselves and patterns throughout history, the impetus here is religion. Irrelevant.
DonnyMost, so are you attacking islam or all religion? because if you examine history all religions exhibit violent behavior. but guess what, any group that is discriminated against in any fashion also has a history of violent behavior. also, certain governments have shown a history of violent behavior. see the pattern...
All religions with violent precepts,screwed up values/morals, etc. Incorrect. Also incorrect. And, once again, you're confusing violence in the name of freedom/welfare with violence in the name of religion.
oh wow, great you found 1 quasi religion (don't believe in a god) out of hundreds. ever heard of warrior monks? since you missed it, the pattern is that anger spurs violence no matter what cause. find violence and you can find anger especially in the cases discussed in this thread.
Yes, and it does nothing to prove or disprove anything about what is going on in Afghanistan. You want to point to Rodney King as evidence that it "might not be" a religiously inspired riot? That's not something to hang your hat on in this argument. Rodney King... there's a reason it was called "race riots"... that was the impetus... it took years of racial oppression to set that up... and one racial crime to set it off. Notice the common theme? Race. That doesn't exactly help your argument that something related to religion can spark non-religious violence, or vice-versa. If anything, it strengthens the notion that this was religiously motivated.
I have never, ever suggested that religion is the *sole* cause of violence or that violence cannot exist without religion. So this whole Rodney King thing is a completely misplaced point on the part of Andymoon. (at least, that's what his OP seems to suggest... that violence has other causes, etc.)
Did you know about 300 Jain followers commit suicide every year from starvation, imo considering the small number of followers that's quite a violent religion. They don't consider it suicide of course, it's done once life has served its purpose Oh btw Buddhists once considered murdering people a passage to enlightenment, it was part of a 10 step process (This was in China during a turbulent period).
Long as they're not harming other people. Yes, the perfect is not the enemy of the good though. This is a shades of grey argument. And Eastern philosophies are a hell of a lot more towards the white end of the spectrum than Western ones.
Just read the headlines today that an Afghan soldier turned on our soldiers, opened fires, killed 2 , wounded 6 and joined the protesters after the ambush. I'm so sick of these ass backward people, either we turn Afghanistan into a parking lot or we get the hell out of there down to the last troop like Ron Paul said. BTW_ Barry, stop apologizing to these people!
