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It's post 9/11 nonsense mixed with ignorance. There are many who know absolutely nothing about Islam and do not even wish to learn about it, or they only pick out the parts that can be interpreted and used to paint a bad picture of the religion. You also have to keep in mind that there are those who have an agenda to make -every- religion look evil aside from their own... or just every religion in general.

While I have often seen people attribute such to Muslims and Atheists, I have experienced plenty of Christians do it too {my spouse's own grandmother believes we are cultists that will burn in hell and every word we speak of religion is blasphemy because we are Hindu}. Why is Christianity not seen as a religion of violence and intolerance because of such actions? Because not everyone of the religion believes that way. Same can be said about Islam. Even if you run into those with such extreme views, they by no means represent the whole.

Part of the negativity you see floating around about Islam is the result of Christians feeling threatened. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world today, thus threatening a majority rule that Christianity has had for some time. To keep its position and prevent people from converting to Islam, there are those that will say and use anything they can to make the religion seem evil, and others who just want it to be evil because they cannot accept the popularity of another religion as it somehow makes them feel uncomfortable to know that there are people with different beliefs than them. There are those who are raised to believe that one can only be a good person if they are Christian. For someone to be a good person and not be Christian shatters this reality which they have come to accept as truth.

You see Islam being attacked more than other religions right now due to post 9/11 syndrome. When something terrible happens, everyone is quick to look for someone or something to blame. Islam was the most convenient thing to blame as there were {and still are} few people in this country who have even the faintest idea of what the religion teaches and its practices, and religion is a subject that people can hold such passionate feelings and beliefs for. There were very few people who even discussed Islam in this country before 9/11 and some who may have never even heard of it until then. When people know so little about something, it is easy to manipulate their opinions on it.

As for the United States of America "deserving" the 9/11 attacks, that is more of a political discussion than a religious one. I do not think Islam as a religion feels this way. Politically, however, some will say that the attack was blowback, brought on by the country's constant meddling in the affairs of the Middle East. The Iraq war was not the beginning of the USA's involvement with these countries. They have been there for years, constructing military bases, appointing leaders, and aiding their civil wars. Keep in mind, this is different from saying that it was "deserved". Saying that it should be no surprise does not mean it was deserved, though that is how many will interpret it. Civilians should never have to suffer due to the actions of the government and military, but that is at times the unfortunate consequence of foreign intervention.

Now there are Muslims in their own country that publicly broadcast non-peaceful messages. What about them? Here in America the only time you see a Christian being non-peaceful is on the news and then they are ridiculed while being interviewed. (one case being the Phelps family. just saying)

Well, if I may chime in on the original question, pretty much every faith on the planet is peaceful in nature. It's with religion, which is the interpretation of faith by humans, that things go all over the place.

That said, there are factions of Muslims that said that Americans had brought 9/11 upon themselves. And that's their opinion, and I'm fine with that. But what a lot of people forget, is that a lot of "christians" (notice the quotations) right here at home blamed it not only on Muslims, but on gays. Or liberals. Or whatever targets were on the agenda. 9/11 involved a lot of finger pointing, including a lot of conspiracy theories (aren't there always?), and as usual it got us absolutely nowhere.

As to a whole being represented by the few, allow me to present two examples. One not so out there, and one extreme.

First: Westboro Baptist Church. In case you don't recognize the name, these are the chuckleheads going around protesting at funerals of American service members with signs like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". One moment while I fume.....and I'm back. The reason? Because America has become too accepting of the GLBTI communties, and thus "God is punishing us" by getting American soldiers killed.

So yeah, out there, but not looney tunes out there. Still, no oter Christian church or group I've heard of has backed them in this particular method of expression.

Second (and extreme): There are militant KKK groups who proclaim their rights to defend themselves, at the same time calling for a lethal defense of the White race (another of the world's biggest jokes, but's for another thread entirely). The connection? They claim and tout that they too are Christians. Even some of the most anti-gay, anti-muslim, anti-not christian, Christian groups denounce those guys. For F@#K'S sake, even other KKK groups distance themselves from these guys. (On a side note, when the world's most notorious group of racists start saying someone's gone too for in their racism, it's time to start paying attention.)

So in conclusion, before I go rambling off on a tangent, the silent majority is always going to have to deal with the vocal minority. Whether it be religion, culture, or fanboys. And at the center of all the mess are people, not faiths. Just people who will not accept that others aren't like them. What we as responsible adults have to learn (or rather, should have learned as children) is that we must realize this fact, and not simply take the squeaky wheel to mean the whole machine has gone bad.

I'd just like to point out that there was a mosque within the trade center while it was still standing.

Beyond that we aren't talking about building a mosque near ground zero we're talking about building a Muslim YMCA. I don't know if that changes anyone's opinion but community buildings have different purposes than mosques/churches/temples do.

While this confusion is not your fault in any way, the media feeding frenzy that prioritizes fear and hype over actual facts took a non-issue and turned it into some kind of high stakes controversy. I hate to see people stereo-typed and damned for something they aren't part of and had no control over.





Gathering information is good but it's also important to look at the sources one uses. What are these people's agendas? Are they dedicated to fair and balanced coverage? Do they have biases and towards what? Who says it is as important as what they say.



I see Christians saying that it's not ok to be gay and that we don't deserve basic human rights does that mean we should not tolerate and Christians or that all or most Christians believe that.

Christians extremists have also bombed abortion clinics and assassinated doctors willing to perform abortions. They thwart public school systems attempts to teach anything besides abstinence only education.

We don't hate all Christians or refuse to tolerate them because some of them do this. Since they are the majority religion and we are well informed on them we know that the are a minority, if a vocal one and that most Christians aren't like this.

The Muslim faith should be granted the same courtesy. I mean Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Islam acknowledges Jesus as a prophet though not the messiah and they believe what he preached was part of God's values and works.

Blindfaith, I don't want to be rude in any way, but after reading your book, I was more confused than a boy taking a bra off. I can see how there are two entirely different views though. On one page the Qur’an says infidels are bad and then on the next it says to just leave them alone because they can't help it, they were born that way. The bible does the same thing (and yes i make a habit of reading holy texts. It tends to help in backing up my arguments). On one hand God is a vengeful d**k and on the next he's sunshine and rainbows. Jesus was a bipolar dude too.

I do agree with you, Christians are just as guilty of intolerance and extremities. Jim Jones anyone? How about witch burnings? I'm not taking sides in this either, hundreds of buddhist temples were detroyed in afghanistan, women are stoned to death every day. Really the whole idea of all religion just sucks.

Back to the subject at hand, no, I don't think it's wrong to build a muslim anything near ground zero. Do you live in New York? Is this directly (or inderectly) affecting or hurting you in any way other than your ego? If said community center can't go up will christians stop putting up churches in third world countries? I mean, they did kind of destroy them to begin with.

I'm a buddhist. We believe that everyone has their own path, be it full of fire and death or whatever you imagine to be good and wonderful. Go team.