They aren't meant as quotation marks, but to indicate that he was saying something with more or less that meaning (which he did).
I understood that. I puzzled for a long time about what he was protesting-- even went back to the original remarks to make sure you had "quoted" him correctly. You had. This is all I can figure he is arguing about...
100% agree. I used to think that the poverty/illiteracy/general living in the stone age were reasons why young, angry, poor men were drawn to militant Islam. In places like Afghanistan, Yemen, etc. I think that may still be the case when you have no perception of how the outside world exists or thinks. However, you're right about the literal interpretation. One dangerous aspect of Islam is that it is the final faith. When you believe that the Quran is last, final word of God that will never be expounded upon, you have a genuine believe that every non-believer is a blasphemer. Couple that with Quranic scripture that, when read literally, could be used to murder people who disagree with your faith and you have a dangerous situation.
I would like to see a response from posters here who keep on espousing the "lack of education, poverty" mantra. What explanation do you have for a young Muslim man who was raised in an American suburb and provided all the opportunities in the world to succeed to resort to violent Jihad? You don't want to say it but I will: A literal interpretation of the Quran. None of this "Illiterate Muslims being deceived by Muslims in power" bull.
What explanation do you have for a young Christian man raised in the suburbs who chooses to blow up a building partially occupied by federal government offices? The answer: There are plenty of morons out there who believe that violence and terrorism are an answer, regardless of religion. Education and poverty are contributing factors, as are the "Muslims in power" who twist the words of the Koran to convince people that violence is justified. Trying to claim that Islam, in and of itself, is the cause of this violence ignores thousands of years of history which clearly show that humans will resort to violence in a wide variety of situations, regardless of their race or religion.
That's part of the problem. If the face on the religion (rightly or wrongly) is one of extremism what message does that send to those who would be interested in joining. It's one of the reasons why I was wondering if publicizing the more moderate practices and stances would help influence the mindset of those interested in joining.
Obviously the Imam who considered the journalists at the magazines martyrs for freedom supported their right to poke fun at the religion.
I've had a lot of Christians saying Jesus is the only savior and I'll burn in hell if I don't accept this
People make fun of Christians quite a bit. And there is fury by those on Fox News and other outlets. Rare (like NEVER) has it resulted in the mass murder of the persons who are doing the mocking.
There are plenty of cartoons that mock Jesus. South Park has been doing it since the 90's. They portrayed Jesus committing acts which go against everything that he taught. Only difference is no one killed the South Park creators in the name of Jesus.
And to that end.... ...I wonder why there aren't more "moderate" Christians upset at images of their Jesus strapped with an assault rifle and wrapped up in an American flag....
We live in one great nation under God _ but we have hungry kids here, we don't take care of our old folks, and people who need medical attention can't get it and or have a hard time getting it... But the good thing is our defense budget is booming and we can send our soldiers to meaningless wars at a drop of a dime especially if there is a dime to be made... Speaking of 3 decades ago ----> our white conservative Christian based government made many black people slaves again by replacing whips, chains, and plantations with drugs, guns, and prisons... If they don't kill each other off they can lock them up and make money off of tax payers and create a bigger job market in law enforcement. Bush Sr was a visionary and Rick Ross did Bush's time in prison. So yes _ Christianity has evolved and don't use barbaric tactics like Islam... But terror comes in all shades of grey _ but it's still terror. Pot = Kettle... Rap music and videos that romanticize their struggle... They paid attention to the effect that rap artist like NWA, 2Pac, Biggie, etc had on many young black youth by making the gangster lifestyle romantic.
