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Religious Disparity
As of late we have seen terrorist acts on US soil. The suspects were of a particular faith that has so often came under attack as a whole. We are at war with extremists and ideologists. Do they speck for everyone of their faith? So often people come out and bashed a faith for the acts of some.
Let’s look at the objectivity of this. Some defend the ones that are blatantly curse and damning a faith if the faith is bashing is not Christianity.
There have been so many times there were attack on the US and the faith of the individuals really never came into question or they were brushed off simply being a fringe group. So prominent in this are the Westboro Baptist Church. Has anyone said that those Christians are crazy? They protested the funeral of US Soldiers killed in combat. How low is that? But now says that. Did anyone blame Christianity for the Wisconsin Sikh Temple massacre? If they did I didn’t hear it. Even on a larger scale was the Centennial Olympic Park bombing and the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. When some blamed the military Timothy McVeigh being a soldier in his past we all immediately distanced him from the military and only held him responsible. Did anyone blame his faith? It was the biggest domestic terrorist attack in the US.
I can’t recall any of the attack on abortion clinics that wasn’t led by a Christian. But I don’t blame Christians. That is just foolish to me.
Worse yet, do we do this with ethic groups? Do we blame a whole race for the actions of some. The US did this. I hope we can all agree that they Japanese Internment Camps were wrong. How is locking up every person of Japanese descent for the actions of the Japanese Empire going to help the war effort? Is this similar to what we are doing today?
I work with Muslims everyday. There are Islamic soldiers in the US Military. Are they terrorists too.
If they are then Cpl. Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, Spec. Rasheed Sahib, Maj. James Ahearn, Cpt. Humayun Khan must all be terrorist then right. Regardless that they all died wearing the US Army uniform in Iraq as Soldiers. But should we trust them? They were Muslims. Should we question them of their faith or should we treat all groups equally and go after the terrorists and not another.
As of late we have seen terrorist acts on US soil. The suspects were of a particular faith that has so often came under attack as a whole. We are at war with extremists and ideologists. Do they speck for everyone of their faith? So often people come out and bashed a faith for the acts of some.
Let’s look at the objectivity of this. Some defend the ones that are blatantly curse and damning a faith if the faith is bashing is not Christianity.
There have been so many times there were attack on the US and the faith of the individuals really never came into question or they were brushed off simply being a fringe group. So prominent in this are the Westboro Baptist Church. Has anyone said that those Christians are crazy? They protested the funeral of US Soldiers killed in combat. How low is that? But now says that. Did anyone blame Christianity for the Wisconsin Sikh Temple massacre? If they did I didn’t hear it. Even on a larger scale was the Centennial Olympic Park bombing and the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. When some blamed the military Timothy McVeigh being a soldier in his past we all immediately distanced him from the military and only held him responsible. Did anyone blame his faith? It was the biggest domestic terrorist attack in the US.
I can’t recall any of the attack on abortion clinics that wasn’t led by a Christian. But I don’t blame Christians. That is just foolish to me.
Worse yet, do we do this with ethic groups? Do we blame a whole race for the actions of some. The US did this. I hope we can all agree that they Japanese Internment Camps were wrong. How is locking up every person of Japanese descent for the actions of the Japanese Empire going to help the war effort? Is this similar to what we are doing today?
I work with Muslims everyday. There are Islamic soldiers in the US Military. Are they terrorists too.
If they are then Cpl. Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, Spec. Rasheed Sahib, Maj. James Ahearn, Cpt. Humayun Khan must all be terrorist then right. Regardless that they all died wearing the US Army uniform in Iraq as Soldiers. But should we trust them? They were Muslims. Should we question them of their faith or should we treat all groups equally and go after the terrorists and not another.
Religion
Tolerance
Faith
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 17
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There are radicals in every sect of religion. I agree with Cpl Neely - the majority of people do not believe that ever Muslim is a radical killer, nor do they believe that every Christian is an extreme protestor like the Westboro folks. People are crazy and do crazy things either because they feel like their religion wants them to, or in spite of what their claimed religion believes. And not every terrorist is linked to a religion. Judgement should be made on an individual basis based on an individuals actions.
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"Westboro Baptist: masking our own twisted psychosis through protesting since 1980."
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Except in instances where people are mentally ill (not drunk or high on drugs by choice), people are responsible for their actions. I don't care if someone says God told them to shoot up the abortion clinic, or if someone says Allah told them to plant the IED. All-powerful beings, by definition should not require the assistance or effort of human beings. People CHOOSE to do the good and bad they do, so individuals are responsible for their actions.
What you don't find in the US are the stories of militant Christians in Africa slaughtering Muslims... but it happens. I wish people would quit using their faith as an excuse or justification for committing atrocities.
What you don't find in the US are the stories of militant Christians in Africa slaughtering Muslims... but it happens. I wish people would quit using their faith as an excuse or justification for committing atrocities.
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CPT (Join to see)
The short answer is simple. NO.
As said previously the loudest get the attention.
I would also caution that those who distort what their religion says e.g. radical muslims and westboro baptist church should really not even be given credit for being members of what they claim to be. i.e. muslims or christians (baptists)
Thanks for pointing out the good folks you have known, whose voice is not heard in the media.
The short answer is simple. NO.
As said previously the loudest get the attention.
I would also caution that those who distort what their religion says e.g. radical muslims and westboro baptist church should really not even be given credit for being members of what they claim to be. i.e. muslims or christians (baptists)
Thanks for pointing out the good folks you have known, whose voice is not heard in the media.
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Correlation does not imply causation.
Just because the recent terrorists (individuals and groups) are of one faith does not mean all individuals of that faith are terrorists.
To imply otherwise is a logical fallacy.
Just because the recent terrorists (individuals and groups) are of one faith does not mean all individuals of that faith are terrorists.
To imply otherwise is a logical fallacy.
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SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S.
"Correlation does not imply causation"
That is true, but conversely if you can not correlate causes to effects then you aren't looking deep enough.
Would you believe that, in humans, length of hair is directly correlated to height?
It is with a high level of statistical significance.
You know why?
Because females tend to wear their hair longer and are shorter (on average).
Sp the causality here is poly-modal and that makes it buggeringly hard to find the real cause and effect.
That is true, but conversely if you can not correlate causes to effects then you aren't looking deep enough.
Would you believe that, in humans, length of hair is directly correlated to height?
It is with a high level of statistical significance.
You know why?
Because females tend to wear their hair longer and are shorter (on average).
Sp the causality here is poly-modal and that makes it buggeringly hard to find the real cause and effect.
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CPL Brendan Hayes
SPC Jan Allbright, I would agree. As you point out, when any aspect of the equation/relation is multifaceted it becomes "buggeringly hard (BTW I love that term and plan on stealing it to use with my students) to find the real cause and effect." The result is that any attempt to simplify an arguement as complex as this into: "recent terrorists have been part of this faith, therefore all members of that faith are terrorists" would by definition be a logical fallacy. It is not that simple.
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Some thoughts:
- Not all Muslims are terrorists but recently all terrorists have been Muslim.
- I do not recall any foreign Muslim leaders, let alone American Muslim leaders, publicly condemning the recent terrorist attacks we are seeing. Boko Haram kidnapping of hundreds of girls, ISIS various attrocities, the killing of Christians in Libya, the drowning of Christians within the Mediterranean Sea, etc. The silence is deafening.
- Westboro Baptist Church is a good example of an extreme Christian organization that should be and is condemned for what they say and do. Not trying to defend this group but I am not aware that Westboro people have killed anyone. Their actions are despicable but generally non lethal. Using Westboro as an example of "Christians do it to" is a classic example of comparing apples and oranges.
- There is a double standard in America when it comes to religion. Someone places a Christian cross in urine and it is called art and accepted. An organization holds an event asking for cartoons of the prophet Mohommed and they are called provocateurs. The difference is the offended Christians will not kill the "artist" but some offended Muslims will try to kill the "provocateurs".
- Not all Muslims are terrorists but recently all terrorists have been Muslim.
- I do not recall any foreign Muslim leaders, let alone American Muslim leaders, publicly condemning the recent terrorist attacks we are seeing. Boko Haram kidnapping of hundreds of girls, ISIS various attrocities, the killing of Christians in Libya, the drowning of Christians within the Mediterranean Sea, etc. The silence is deafening.
- Westboro Baptist Church is a good example of an extreme Christian organization that should be and is condemned for what they say and do. Not trying to defend this group but I am not aware that Westboro people have killed anyone. Their actions are despicable but generally non lethal. Using Westboro as an example of "Christians do it to" is a classic example of comparing apples and oranges.
- There is a double standard in America when it comes to religion. Someone places a Christian cross in urine and it is called art and accepted. An organization holds an event asking for cartoons of the prophet Mohommed and they are called provocateurs. The difference is the offended Christians will not kill the "artist" but some offended Muslims will try to kill the "provocateurs".
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TSgt Christopher D.
Just google Christians kill Muslims in Africa. It is astounding how much we're shielded in the US from different types of news from around the world.
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SrA Daniel Hunter
It also depends on how you define terrorism. Merely killing someone can hardly be defined as terrorism. If the intent is to invoke fear in the general population then I would say it is terrorism.
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MSgt Lowell Skelton
Terrorists have been targeting doctors and women's clinics here in the States for decades. The perpetrators have not been Muslim. I'll give you one guess regarding their faith.
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You make some good points, CPT (Join to see). I agree that stereotyping and saying that all "fill-in-the-blank" people are terrorists is wrong.
However, to stick our collective head in the sand and ignore the fact that Islamic extremists are causing a lot of trouble for the USA these days would, in my opinion, not be prudent (to quote President GW Bush).
I'm not saying that all Muslims are extremists, but I am saying that Islamic extremists are causing trouble. Just as we all agree with many of your assertions above, we also likely agree that ISIS extremists doing their dirty deeds in the name of Islam are thugs and need to be snuffed out.
However, to stick our collective head in the sand and ignore the fact that Islamic extremists are causing a lot of trouble for the USA these days would, in my opinion, not be prudent (to quote President GW Bush).
I'm not saying that all Muslims are extremists, but I am saying that Islamic extremists are causing trouble. Just as we all agree with many of your assertions above, we also likely agree that ISIS extremists doing their dirty deeds in the name of Islam are thugs and need to be snuffed out.
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To quote your question "Has anyone said that those Christians are crazy?", no. I don't know many people who are Christians who would claim that church or its members to be Christian. "But Dave" you say, "they are a Baptist Church" they must be christian. No, to be Christian means to be want to be like Christ.
The actions of this "cult" (I'm tired of hearing them referred to as a cult) are absolutely appalling. Most everything they say in protest is directly contradictory to the Bible. The Bible even says that anyone who knowingly misleads Gods children are in for a world of hurt, and that it would be better that they had not been born (obviously a paraphrase).
This is another example of where "Freedom of speech vs. Inflamatory speech" is definitely questioned.
The actions of this "cult" (I'm tired of hearing them referred to as a cult) are absolutely appalling. Most everything they say in protest is directly contradictory to the Bible. The Bible even says that anyone who knowingly misleads Gods children are in for a world of hurt, and that it would be better that they had not been born (obviously a paraphrase).
This is another example of where "Freedom of speech vs. Inflamatory speech" is definitely questioned.
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If we take a quick look around the globe, we have religious people killing people of other religions all over the globe. Sometimes different sects of the same religion killing each other.
Muslims, killing Jews, Christians, and Buddhists; Jews killing Muslims, Christians killing Muslims, and Buddhists killing Muslims. Usually it's the religious majority killing a minority.
In the US Muslims are a minority, so they get the short end of the stick.
There are over One Billion Muslims on the planet, how many are radical extremists? 0.1%, 100,000 people that make up and help the major terror groups. It's probably the same percentage for any way you group people, religion, race, height, favorite color.
Muslims, killing Jews, Christians, and Buddhists; Jews killing Muslims, Christians killing Muslims, and Buddhists killing Muslims. Usually it's the religious majority killing a minority.
In the US Muslims are a minority, so they get the short end of the stick.
There are over One Billion Muslims on the planet, how many are radical extremists? 0.1%, 100,000 people that make up and help the major terror groups. It's probably the same percentage for any way you group people, religion, race, height, favorite color.
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"Christian" that really is not a very descriptive word when it comes to religion. It is more of an "umbrella" term describing thousands of different sects of faiths with a common core but vastly different views on theology, dogma and religious practices.
The same goes for just about any religious group that has more then a couple of centuries under it's belt. Due to this, using the "umbrella" term to describe an individual or group is really just bad form and misleading. If you MUST use a term, it is correct to narrow it down to the specific group the individual/group is a part of and that their actions expose the religious tenets of that specific group.
For instance, I would only identify Westboro Baptist Church as exactly that. I would not label them "Baptist" as they are independent of any of the Baptist Conventions, and certainly not solely as "Christian."
The same goes for just about any religious group that has more then a couple of centuries under it's belt. Due to this, using the "umbrella" term to describe an individual or group is really just bad form and misleading. If you MUST use a term, it is correct to narrow it down to the specific group the individual/group is a part of and that their actions expose the religious tenets of that specific group.
For instance, I would only identify Westboro Baptist Church as exactly that. I would not label them "Baptist" as they are independent of any of the Baptist Conventions, and certainly not solely as "Christian."
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TSgt Joshua Copeland
I would describe them as Wahhabi as opposed to Sunni or Muslim in general. It is the clearest, most accurate word (group) that describe their religious beliefs.
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