Islam Does Not Permit Terrorism

that's for sure. The only thing is, I am discovering that many countries in the middle east are very slow to change. The kind of defense you are talking about can take place in a democracy. For many Muslims to fight back and defend themselves, that would mean civilians taking up arms against their own leaders. They might have swords, but the governments have bombs. Their political law IS the Qur'an, there is no "people," with individual rights that the government is for and by. I am not talking about all Muslim countries, but the ones that are "progressing" like Turkey, are the minority right now.

"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude

This statement is only true if you myopically consider the terrorist attacks surrounding the most recent conflict between the U.S. and the nations of Afghanistan and Iraq. When you pull back a bit, and take a look at the demographics of terrorism over say...the last twenty years or so, and around the entire world, we find that the islamist brand of terrorism really isn't that unique.

In fact, there is a rather strong movement of christian terrorism, as well. The most famous to Americans, of course is the Ku Klux Klan (literally hundreds of indictments for crimes of violence and terrorism have been issued against the KKK), but there's also the Christian Identity Movement (Eric Robert Rudolph, Peter Kevin McGregor Langan, Richard "Wild Bill" Guthrie, The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, the Phineas Priesthood, the Oklahoma Constitutional Militia, the Aryan Nations, the Aryan Republican Army the Patriots Council). These groups are associated with a wide variety of violent attacks, bombings, assassinations and robberies. Then there's the Army of God (Clayton Waagner, Rochelle "Shelly" Shannon and others guilty of bombings, shootings, and killings directed against targets viewed as "pro-abortion).

Some christian terrorists are less organized, of course, such as the 17 christian men who were convicted of terrorism in Indonesia last year (2007) for the kidnapping and beheading of muslim men in retaliation for the conviction of three other christian men who were executed for murdering literally hundreds of muslim citizens. In India, we have The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) (that attacks Hindu tribes that refuse to convert to christianity), and the Nagaland Rebels (who have killed tens of thousands in their quest to establish a "Nagaland for Christ"). In Lebanon there are The Guardians of the Cedars and the Christian Phalangist Militia.

And let's not forget Ireland...there's the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Official IRA, the Irish National Liberation Army, the Irish People's Liberation Organisation, the Continuity IRA, the Real IRA (all on the catholic side) as well as the Ulster Volunteer Force, the Ulster Defence Association, the Loyalist Volunteer Force, the Red Hand Commandos and the Ulster Resistance (all protestant).

In Russia there is The Russian National Socialist Party and Russian National Unity, both of which have been the source of many terrorist acts, and just last year a member of the RNSP circulated an internet video depicting two muslim men being beheaded. The Tsar Lazar Guard is another example, as are the White Eagles.

Other groups around the world include God's Army (Burma) and the Son's of Freedom (Canada). The "big winner" though is probably The Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda (also known as the Uganda Peoples Democratic Christian Army), which is responsible for more than 10,000 deaths along with countless mutilations, torture, kidnapping, rapes and which uses children as soldiers.

The claim that "90% of the terror attacks around the world are committed by Muslims" is just plain ignorant. All of these groups and individuals have acted specifically out of a motivation infromed by some type of christian self-identification. Terrorism is NOT limited to muslim extremists, and christians have their fair share of these whack-jobs, too. In the case of BOTH, however, these people respresent an extremely small percentage of believers who live at the radical fringe of their more mainstream fellows.

In closing, I will remind you that the modern "suicide bomb" was invented by a group known as the Tamil Tigers, based around ethnic groups of christians and hindus attempting to secede from majority buddhist country (Sri Lanka). It is well-known that I am not a fan of religion, but it really isn't fair to paint the mainstream religious community with the broad brush that your comment employed. If you do, however, beware and remember the old adage...people who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones.

TTFN,
Blackout
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