It is a particularly bad religion. Name another religion which is known to stuff women into burkas and slice open innocent little girls in the name of “modesty.”

Name another religion which kills people for speaking out against it. Name another religion which condones death for people who leave it behind. Name another religion which throws gays off rooftops. And so on.

@TheDarkNolanite not all of islam stuff women in burqas; extremes are generally pretty bad but not all of islam is extreme. muslims don't kill people for speaking out or throw gays off of rooftops. islamist rulers who want to keep their power do. extremists who support and follow those power-hungry rulers do. don't confuse religion with politics.

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@genessa It says in the Quran that gay people are to be put to death. Religion IS the issue. You’ll call out Christianity for homophobia, but not Islam. This is a problem.

@TheDarkNolanite i will? when will i do that? i call out all religions for being based on the existence of a nonexistent deity. there are plenty of christian pastors who call for the execution of gays and i know muslims who do not. you think a literal reading of the bible is different in everyday practical life from a literal reading of quran? quran says this and therefore all muslims are murderers, and the bible says that, or a pastor says that, but all christians obviously are not murderers -- just muslims? i think you're just a bigot. this is a problem.

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@genessa How many Christian countries execute gays? As opposed to the amount of Muslim countries which do (12).

@TheDarkNolanite you're still talking politics, not religion. (besides, name a christian country!)

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@genessa Why do you deny that religion is a problem? Sometimes particular religions are worse than others. These are just cold hard facts.

@genessa And why do liberals such as yourself defend the world’s most conservative religion?

@TheDarkNolanite i do not deny that religion is a problem and i don't know how you managed to decide that i do. some iterations of some religions are worse than others. extreme christianity sends murderers into churches and nightclubs and movie theatres to kill people, and send bombs to people they don't like. islamists don't even follow islam, but let's call them extreme muslims anyway. they fly planes into buildings and shoot up newspaper offices. ordinary christians and muslims don't do these things. therefore it can't be the religion. and by the way, i am not defending any religion. i just happen to care about facts and truth. you can accuse religion of many bad things but that doesn't mean you can accuse religion of ALL bad things, whether they're true things or not. and how do you get off telling me what i deny when i have done no such thing, and telling me i defend a particular religion when in fact i don't? do you really not know how to read or are you deliberately lying about me? do you actually think i will believe you that i am doing these things or are you trying to convince other readers, who may not have read what i actually said? it's not a nice thing to do. stop.

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@genessa Well I’m still blaming religion. The first step in solving a problem is naming the problem.

@TheDarkNolanite then you will never solve the problem because you are incorrectly naming the problem. that's your choice. don't expect me, or anyone who knows what's what, to buy it, especially when you make up the totally false concept of regressive liberalism and the totally false claim that hate speech (which you incorrectly label "criticism" doesn't lead to violence.

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@genessa Congrats on helping the Islamists spread blasphemy laws by calling my criticisms of a religion “hate speech.” You’re playing right into their hands.

@TheDarkNolanite congratulations for not understanding a word i've said. fortunately others reading this will understand. i do not need any longer to continue to engage with you. i will just point out (not for YOUR benefit) that you changed the subject a lot, never actually answering any points i make (such as that there is no such thing as "regressive liberals" ). goodbye.

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p.s. if anyone else responds to this person, i won't be able to see that response because he's the original poster and i am about to block him. that's okay with me if it's okay with you, but if you want to respond to me, or want me to see what you've said, feel free to message me. you do NOT have to message me what he says. i don't play that game. thanks.

So what’s the solution then? Islamic blasphemy laws? There’s nothing more dangerous than telling someone which ideologies they can and can’t criticize.

@TheDarkNolanite

Groups feeling threatened from the outside usually circle the wagons. Leading by example usually is more effective. Part of the fall of the Soviet Union was the taste of freedom the youth experienced through pop culture. I was the group advisor to our university's student atheist group which included many foreign students. Demeaning their nations, peoples, or cultures would serve little purpose and actually be counterproductive.

@TheDarkNolanite I think that knowing each other is a great start. Most of hate comes from fear. Fear of the "differences" whether they are real or not.

Prove it, regressive.

@TheDarkNolanite name calling,how special.

@oldFloyd Well you are one for thinking we shouldn’t criticize a religion created by a 7th Century pedophile warlord.

You’re victim-blaming. Congratulations.

@TheDarkNolanite Sorry ??. I know I took your comment out of context but the murder of the Charlie Hebdo staff and others for "insulting the prophet" shows that criticism does lead to murder

@Moravian What I meant was criticism of Islam doesn’t lead to violence against Muslims. People who think it does might as well be asking for blasphemy laws.

@TheDarkNolanite Not so sure about that. Muslim terrorists are not specific about who they kill.
Overall it is a bit of a minefield. I have no love for Islam but the majority of it's adherents are nice peaceable people and the West has a lot to answer for in interfering in Muslim countries and stirring up a hornets nest.

@Moravian Doesn’t mean we deserve terrorism.

@TheDarkNolanite Terrorism as a weapon has been used long before the more recent White supremist and Muslim attacks. The Mau Mau in Kenya, The Stern gang in Palestine and the IRA in the UK to name but three. They all had grievances real or imaginary and their victims didn't deserve to be killed either.

@TheDarkNolanite My question is how do we reconcile the violence within Islam? Some of the worst violence is between Sunni's and Shia's and don't forget the extremists like Isis. And what kind of blasphemy would people have us make illegal? Could a Catholic not ask questions of a protestant or any other religious sect. Atheism might be banned because the name alone could be considered blasphemous (and the Pastafarians would also be considered blasphemous). This idea would have the whole world in jail.

@JackPedigo Which is what the Islamists want, and these dumbass leftists keep playing into their hands. By the way, I am not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination. Liberals need to start realizing that Islam is by far the world’s most conservative ideology, which means they have no business defending it.

@TheDarkNolanite I agree but I also strongly believe it is a religion and when we say freedom of religion it means all religions (which includes none). Too many Christians (there are lots of liberal Christians) think the Constitutional guarantee just applies to them.

Then why are there so many “liberals” who refuse to even remotely acknowledge that Islam has anything to do with the problems it creates?

@TheDarkNolanite I have NEVER heard any liberal atheist say anything of the sort. And, I have been politically engaged for over 50 years. Again, pure horse manure.

That’s the only proper way to be.

@TheDarkNolanite I don't know about "proper", but that's how I roll.
I tend to reject being told what is "proper" and what isn't.

Paraphrasing: "For good people to do bad things, it takes religion".

@jlynn37 uhm, no.