"Let's not paint all Muslims as radical terrorists. I wouldn't want all Christians to be associated with Westboro Baptist."
At the risk of bringing up some ire here, let's not compare apples and oranges. I have seen this meme all over Facebook and it misses the point. Yes, Westboro is despicable and no one defends them. I really wish they would stop calling themselves Baptists. They say hateful things about gay people, but they don't behead them. They haven't killed anyone, and the Supreme Court said they had a right to free speech. I wish in this case they didn't, but they do. I wish some bikers would scare the h- out of them at a funeral. But they are a infinitesimal fraction of the church--something like 25 people, a cult, out of 2 billion Christians on the planet.
The issues with radical Islam go much deeper. The Q'uran calls for death to non-Muslims. It is a religion that spread through conquering. Radical Islam constitutes a much larger fraction of the Muslim population, more than 15%. No one is saying the neighbor who goes to a mosque is a radical terrorist. I know many hard-working and pleasant and yes patriotic Muslims. Yes, I can imagine some are feeling some persecution because of these attacks. BUT the attacks are growing, not diminishing. Something is wrong. You can call for tolerance to law-abiding Muslims without making false analogies.
However, the Internet and social media have never been known as places for rational, logical, and fallacy-free discourse.
We in Chattanooga have just gone through a trauma and if it could happen here, the buckle of the Bible belt, where else?
At the risk of bringing up some ire here, let's not compare apples and oranges. I have seen this meme all over Facebook and it misses the point. Yes, Westboro is despicable and no one defends them. I really wish they would stop calling themselves Baptists. They say hateful things about gay people, but they don't behead them. They haven't killed anyone, and the Supreme Court said they had a right to free speech. I wish in this case they didn't, but they do. I wish some bikers would scare the h- out of them at a funeral. But they are a infinitesimal fraction of the church--something like 25 people, a cult, out of 2 billion Christians on the planet.
The issues with radical Islam go much deeper. The Q'uran calls for death to non-Muslims. It is a religion that spread through conquering. Radical Islam constitutes a much larger fraction of the Muslim population, more than 15%. No one is saying the neighbor who goes to a mosque is a radical terrorist. I know many hard-working and pleasant and yes patriotic Muslims. Yes, I can imagine some are feeling some persecution because of these attacks. BUT the attacks are growing, not diminishing. Something is wrong. You can call for tolerance to law-abiding Muslims without making false analogies.
However, the Internet and social media have never been known as places for rational, logical, and fallacy-free discourse.
We in Chattanooga have just gone through a trauma and if it could happen here, the buckle of the Bible belt, where else?
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