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Originally Posted by mimartin
More like all of the above...You put 5 Americans an any room and you get 25 different opinions on any subject.
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Why is this a bad thing? Surely the point of importance would be whether they were wiling or not to cause harm to each other based on those opinions?
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Much like the drug war, we will never win the war on terrorism because we refuse to examine the underlining cause.
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As far as I can tell, the reason there is a war on drugs, is because people are willing to fight for drugs when they're opposed; which in turn comes from the appeal of drugs, which is that they alter natural brain chemistry to produce naturally desirable effects. Basically, human neuroanatomy, combined with the fact that there are such things as hard drugs.
What do you think is the reason for the war on terrorism?
It appears to me to be an issue of morality. The extremists were acting on according to a morality derived from a religion whose holy texts define the destruction of people not part of that religion, as righteous.
The retaliation from the victims of the violence (eg. the countries of the West), comes from a sense of victimization, and from a drive for justice derived from a morality which defines the destruction of people in the name of religion, to be reprehensible. (a morality derived from multiple factors, but is mostly a reflection of the people of those countries.)
Hence the 'war'.
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Originally Posted by thejman217
It is slightly personal for me as well. I am a Muslim, although most cannot tell right away because I am Caucasian.
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You seem like a reasonable, upstanding fellow, so let me ask you this:
I have Muslim friends. Good friends, too. They are polite, friendly, and good fun to be around. They know I'm a Christian; I know they're Muslims. We go to each others places for meals, and when they come to mine, my family makes sure that we only serve Halal meat. We're considerate of each other in those regards.
Now, the Koran has in it, many verses that:
1. Call for the destruction of nonbelievers
2. Place believers who actively fight, above those that 'sit at home'
3. Forbid believers to take Jews and Christians as friends
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Originally Posted by Koran
9:5 Kill the nonbelievers wherever you find them.
9:7-9 Don’t make treaties with non-Muslims. They are all evildoers and should not be trusted.
8:12 I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them
2:216 Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.
4:95 Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward
2:65-66 Christians and Jews must believe what Allah has revealed to Muhammad or Allah will disfigure their faces or turn them into apes, as he did the Sabbath-breakers.
5:51 O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.
5:80 You will see many of them befriending those who disbelieve; certainly evil is that which their souls have sent before for them, that Allah became displeased with them and in chastisement shall they abide.
9:29 Fight against Christians and Jews until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.
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This is a genuine question, and I mean no sarcasm or antagonism by it in any way:
Are these verses not applicable to Muslims today? Are they out of context? Have they been nullified by some later revelation?
How can my friends justify their actions with these and other verses in the Koran?
Or are they cherry-picking or simply ignoring those parts (as is a common practice among Christians)? Or knowingly defying the verses?