Are you actually claiming that the most (or even the only?) salient difference between the status of African Americans and ISIS militants is which religion they subscribe to? … Not all oppression is the same, and different forms of oppression attract different responses.
I think it's the difference that best explains…

I love you Dr. Zaius, I mean, IdiotKing. I'm not sure what your last line means, but I take it to be implying that singling out Islam is a sign of some kind of obsession or bias or even semi-bigotry, given that all religions are subject to manipulation and misinterpretation (a la Life of Brian)?

I'm with you.
I'm NOT saying that Islam is somehow inherently worse. I'm saying that its set of ideas pose greater global dangers right NOW.
I agree that Islam can be reformed — or at least I hope it can be — and I think what we need to do is EMPOWER reformers in the Muslim world. We cannot empower them without being…

My apologies for taking so long to respond. The holidays have been busy.
I haven't really had time to look into this issue, but from what I can tell, it appears that I was mistaken on the point of the number of Christian Palestinians. From what I've been able to tell, the percentage is pretty low, so I retract the…

Well, obviously nuts exists in every religion, and Christian nuts can be dangerous too. But people *do* become receptionists in abortion clinics. Why is it that *no one* is putting on a Koran musical? Why is it that no one in their right mind would ever host a "Make Fun of Mohammed" cartoon contest? People *do* make…

Just because this one is happening right now doesn't make it special. It's a devastating tragedy of humanity, but its not in any way a uniquely muslim phenomenon.
You seem to be misunderstanding. I'm not arguing that violence itself is limited to Muslims or even necessarily the specific violence we're seeing. I am…

Sorry for the delay in my response. Holidays have kept me busy.

Religion is a tool, and as such, it can be used for good or for evil. It is not in and of itself the reason for evil.

I think we agree a lot more than we disagree. I'm not sure exactly how "evil political force and ideology which is connected to the religion of Islam" is much different than "Islamism," besides the word count.
But I am resistant to the idea that there's a "real Islam" that is peaceful, whereas Islamism is some kind of…

Sorry for the delay in response. The holiday has kept me pretty busy.

Well, hold on. I *agree* that the specific belief that homosexuality is evil is responsible for the bad actions of many Christians. There's an area where Christianity produces specific evil.
It's not a matter of correlation. It's a matter of specific beliefs and specific consequences.
But many evil Islamic beliefs are…

I don't know enough about the Martyrs' Brigade, so I'll have to learn more and think about them, but I'd be curious to know how many of the suicide bombers — the ones who actually blew themselves up — were Christians. I'm sure there have been a handful of Christian suicide bombers somewhere in history, but I was…

As I understand it, actual Jihadists and failed suicide bombers talk about little more than martyrdom and paradise. I'm sure most of them are pretty far from being religious scholars, but they honestly believe things that motivate them.
And, of course, the leaders of ISIS *do* have religious scholars among them, who…

If you could go into their heads and remove their religion but not improve their quality of life, the violence would not change a bit.
Then why don't similarly oppressed and poor populations perform suicide bombings, behead infidels, throw gays off rooftops, take sex slaves, and crucify children on the side of the road?
…

There are definitely Christians who talk like this.

And I'm saying that that's a bunch of baloney

You can't say that some religions are more dangerous than others and then define the field of view so narrowly.

Absolutely. Which is why we need to fight insane demagogues like Trump.

Indeed, this is an example of Christianity causing a specific evil effect (centuries and centuries ago). If Christians still spoke like this — and if frighteningly high percentages of Christians said that they believed in a religious duty to reclaim the Holy Land by martial force — I'd be writing posts about that.

You've taken what is a complex interplay of history, of trade routes, of foreign intervention, of imperial conquest, of ethnic migration, and reduced it down into "ah, well, it's all religious dogma, innit?"