Ambassador: Bush didn't know there were two sects of Islam

Indeed. My signature fits him better than your own. That's a heck of a thing.



Keep D&D Civil.

 

I don't think Russian, Ukranian, Armenian and other branches of the Eastern Orthodox church would appreciate you listing them under Greek Orthodox. While the Eastern Orthodox church is smaller than Protestant or Catholic churches at one time it was larger than the Catholic church during the time of Justinian and has as much claim on being to being the direct descendant of the Church of Peter as the Catholicism and more than Protestantism which arose as a heretical branch of the Catholic Church. Also Shiites numerically are much much smaller than Sunnis and it would surprised me if Shiites were about the same percentage of Muslims as Eastern Orthodox are of Christians.

I'm far from an expert on these matters but from my limited understanding is that the schism between Eastern Orthodox and Catholicism is more similar to the Sunni - Shiite split than the split between Catholicism and Protestantism. The Sunni - Shiite split has more to do with which branch is the true descendant of Mohammed legacy and is mostly political in nature. My understanding is that all Muslims can pray and even preach at any mosque and that the doctrinal differences between them are practically nonexistance.

Azadre or one of the other Muslims on board can probably comment on this far better than me but that is what my understanding is.

 

It's not quite that easy... you have to come up with doctrine and stuff...

Here's what I've pulled together for rimrockerianity...

The High Holy Days will start on March 2 culminate with a feast of only fried foods and nachos on April 21.

During this period, you must swear off all vegetables except taters and watch as much TV as possible.

Gimme caps are to be worn to all services.

All services will involve fire of some sort... the bigger, the holier.

All adherents are required to wear a cheap bracelet that says,"WWrD?"

The priestly garb will consist of only colors from Rockets Championship unis.

Richard Simmons is the anti-rimrocker.

The patron saints of rimrockerianity are named Hakeem, Earl, and Jose.

Most importantly, people can come to rimrockerianity freely... there is no charge for stages of enlightenment or any of that other nonsense... just by virtue of your interest in rimrockerianity you are assumed to be on a path to higher conciousness. (There will be a small materials and handling fee.)

I'm still working on the whole "beliefs" thing.

 

Like any good religion you need to take on some of the aspects of the religions that came before. May I suggest an "airing of the grievances" of "feats of strength" ritual.

 

Where did I put anything under Greek Orthodox? I merely said that there are two main branches Christianity, yada, yada. Are you doing your Hayes impersonation??





Keep D&D Civil.

 

Everyone will eat pork. Pork tastes good.
Any Rockets hall of famer would NEVER LOSE THEIR JOBS..EVER!!!
Any legal or financial problems that a legendary Rocket (either helped in winning championships or help defeat dynasties like the 86 Lakers) would be taken care of by the followers

 

I stand corrected (somewhat). Why then is the world held in the grip of terror with regards to indiscriminate Muslim terror rather than Christian terror?

I'd like to know more about what Christian reigns of terror you are speaking of.

The Inquisition?

The Holocaust?

What else?

 

violence surrounding the reformation

violence in Ireland over Catholic/Protestant stuff...that was more widespread in earlier times.

 

Don't forget all worshippers must tithe you 10% of their income so you can do holy rimrocker work.

 

The world is held in the grip of Muslim terror? That's news to me. I'm not going to deny that Muslims commit terrorism. They do and for the most part, except for the Tamil Tigers, they have a worldwide monopoly in this arena. But that's just strictly confining ourselves to the precise definition of terrorism. I'm not sure what difference the classifications make if you're talking about terror and then hyperbolizing it in saying that the 'world is held in the grip of Muslim terror.' Talk to people in Iraq, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, peasants in Afghanistan, East Timor, the descendants of a lost generation in Hiroshima, and numerous "democracies" in South America, and they might beg to differ on this assertion.

Not the Holocaust - that wasn't about Christianity. The Inquisition, Holocaust, conflict in Ireland, missionary colonization/imperialization of the Americas, genocide of the Red Indian, The Crusades, endorsement of Zionism, persecution in England of non-Catholics leading to the very need to migrate to America, British colonization of India, and the numerous occurrences which I listed above were all either done in the name of Christianity, for Christianity, with the complex of spreading the superior Christianity, or motivated by Christianity.

Look, I'm not here to slander Christianity or Christians. I respect the religion and I respect those who follow it properly and you won't ever see me taking shots at either. My point here is that you have this notion that Islam is inherently vile, Christianity is superior, and you seem to take every chance you get to justify this premise of yours. I then find it disingenuous when you backpedal away from your statements and claim that was not your intent. If you have a problem with something, come out and say it, and I'll debate you, but don't backpedal.

 

News to you? How can you say that? The US, Britain, Germany, Spain, France, Australia, Bali, et al just wait for the next attack from AQ not the Tamil Tigers. What's the US DoD strategic response for Tamil Tigers?

I daresay that most of those conflicts are more political than religious in nature. Nowhere in Christianity does it say to kill the infidel. There are a large, divergent and active group of Muslims who do interpret Islam with a directive to kill the infidel. Not all Muslims, of course, so so but a large enough group that they took down the Twin Towers in NY a few years ago and made some other messes around the globe and are still felt to be a major threat. When will the Congregationalists/Methodists/Baptists/Episcopaleans strike next?

I don't think you understand my position at all. The original comment to which you objected was an observation about distinct sects of Islam. Is there not a sect or several sects of Islam which are so violent-- either towards one another or towards outsiders? Which are the Christian sects which are likewise violent? The IRA? Isn't that more political than religiious?

 

Do you not have any reading comprehension skills? I was agreeing with you! I said except for the Tamil Tigers, Muslims have a near monopoly on worldwide classical "terrorism". Sheesh!

You must not be too familiar with history then if you are claiming that those instances I mentioned were not religious in nature. If anything, the conflicts involving Muslim terrorism are just as if not more political in nature than the Christian ones historically. You're telling me the Inquisition wasn't religious? You're telling me the Crusades, when Urban the 2nd summoned Christians to "cleanse the Holy Land" wasn't religious? You're telling me George W. Bush's mandate to wreak havoc in the Middle East wasn't gained at the hands of the Christian Right and a moral superiority?

You're really making little sense here. There's two major sects in Islam. You're post in response to someone who didn't know there were sects in Christianity was to sardonically reply that "
If they had a penchant for killing each other I bet you could tell them apart...", implying that only Muslims kill each other. It's as simple as that. And you're assertion was false.

How is that any more political or less religious than worldwide Shi'ite/Sunni conflict? Shi'ites and Sunnis don't kill each other over some claim to religious superiority. They kill because the Shi'ite have been opressed for the most par t throughout the world. The schism's origin was strictly political as the Shi'ite believed that the successors should come from the lineage of Muhammad while the Sunni believed that the successor should simply be whoever in the community was most qualified. When the 3rd Caliph was assasinated, the 4th (Muhammad's cousin) did not vindicate this murder because the community was too weak to absorb civil warfare against the numerous tribes who had conspired in the killing. The conflict eventually erupted when years later, Muhammad's gradson and his followers were brutally killed in a battle in Iraq. Shi'ites now base their religion upon commemoration of this event and reverance for Muhammad's lineage. This has absolutely nothing to do with religion.

 

Of course I do. You wrote: "The world is held in the grip of Muslim terror? That's news to me." Which is it? Do you agree or is it "news to you?"

I did a google search on "al qaeda" and "terror" and got 32,000,000 hits.

I only said most

The Inquisition was of course religious; it was the one on the list that was most patently religious. People were killed for their beliefs.

The Crusades were a religiious war.

If we have to go back more than five centuries for you to try and make your point, I think I've made mine.

My assertion was not a historical one, but a current one. The only thing remotely similar to the IRA and it is very small in comparison and even quiet now.

You say is is political but it goes back to Mohammed? It sounds like it has everything to do with religion. How do you see it as different?

 

Why just share your brilliance...

 

Don't forget the Maoists in Nepal, who are a walking anachronism if there ever was one.

giddy, I did the same search using Christian and Terror. It got 28,600,000 hits. Now, if someone wants to really drive us all crazy, they can figure out the percentage of Muslim terror compared to Christian terror. Me? I think I'll go open a bottle of an excellent Louisiana beer... Turbodog, by Abita Ale. I highly recommend it for those who enjoy a dark brew.

giddy, you should be wearing one of those WWII steel helmets today!



Keep D&D Civil.

 

It turned out someone did want to drive you crazy, deck!

Here're the results (i.e., # of hits) of my google searches:

muslim terror: 22,800,000
al qaeda terror: 25,200,000
christian terror: 27,600,000

So, as it stands,

- muslim terror hits google 9.5% less than al qaeda terror does;
- al qaeda terror hits google 8.7% less than christian terror does;
- muslim terror hits google 17.4% less than christian terror does.

There are many other different ways to present the data. Go ahead and draw your own conclusion.

 

al qaeda sure made up for a late start, didn't they?

 

That's spin #1. Well done, giddy. Next one please.