Muslims like no other religion seem to really go for the violence and death and destruction. I'm not talking archaic examples but modern interpretation.

They tend to support terrorism. They also tend to be very violent people who really believe that their way of seeing things is correct. They think Jesus is not the messiah so they don't have too much sympathy for Christians or Jews.

Why do you think this is so?

from the teachings of their Imam?

Stop picking on the poor muslims! /sarcasm off


Not all muslims are violent. The ones we see are the ones the media wants us to... the ones that can be whipped into a ferver just like any other major religion out there.

i have often wondered this..thought i had just crossed the not so nice ones such as some of the christains you encounter....maybe it is their culture...maybe their just that way...maybe its because they dont have any inner peace or joy unhappy ppl..

It seems like they are the only ones that want to blow themselves up as a form of protest? And a few times I have seen some of them on the playground here with their kids and they are so violently aggressive as kids, so its strange....

True, you have said your kids are being brought up Muslim. Have you noticed anything in their religious education that may lead to this attitude? And if not in your kids, do any of their friends seem to be learning anything from a religious standpoint that would lead them to being violent.

The reason I ask is that I think it has to do more with Arabian culture than Islam itself. I interacted with quite a few Muslims in Uganda in the summer of 2001 and they were all very nice, calm people who I can't picture being violent in the way we see in the Middle East.

Ah interesting point!

Because unlike the christian and jewish or even anyother religious holyman... they don't make up promises of virgins in the afterlife if you give your life for your religion.

However, just saying that muslims are violent is absurb(like my spelling) given that anyone or large group of people in any religion can be extreamly violent in any given enviroment.

And yet they aren't right?

You don't see an acceptance of it, but rather a shock. Take the Westboro Baptist Church, you see regular Christians are sick to their stomachs over these people.

But most Iraqi's for example were cheering at 9-11.

Why are Muslims so Violent?

I know...why... I know! Please choose me.. my hand is up..
Thankyou. It's because they're a bunch of CU...
CC...confused individuals.

what happened to the True that did a research paper and we all jsut misunderstand muslims?????

She's still here. Just pointing out how easy it is to make a mass generalization about a religion based on the actions of a number of the followers of the same religion.

Ya know, the way you and the others tend to lump all Christians under the same umbrella?

Ya know...like that?

I wonder if this is an attempt to start a flame war?
I usually give you quite some credit truethat, so i hope it is.

one could say the same about christians...
one could say the same thing about hindus'....re kashmir and pakisthan- india thing, also lets not forget the tamil tigers in sri lanka...still the most organised and accomplished terrorist organisation despite al qaeda's 911.
one could say the same about buddhists, the record of the sri lankan government against tamils of the north and east is truely appauling....other states where this religion/philosophy predominates have human rights records as bad as the us, israel, turkey, china....etc.

states which are 'atheist' dont get off the hook either, look at communist russia, china.....although they have both changed and relaxed anti religion laws...even north korea has a state religion/philosophy....but not many foreign fans.

perhaps the phenomenon or situation is more complex than being boiled down to 'which religion is most warlike?' or most naughty.

Its a shame there arent more muslims on this forum to defend this assault, and explain the true meaning of jihad. I hope some do come to do this.

maybe if there are some groups out there who have a grudge against this unfair and imbalanced international economy and trade, and countries who cant help being angry for being taken for a ride by the west time and time again....well maybe they've got a point. something worth listening to.
one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

years ago you could have said....so why are irish people so angry and warlike??? through dialogue and negotiations both conflicting sides there have put down their guns. (remember that was christian on christian sectarian violence)

anyway that said, i can get down to reading this thread...to see if it does turn into a religion bashing.

Most? I wouldn't even say most. Most of who the media showed us, yes. Because it's more newsworthy to see muslims cheering for 9/11 then condemning it and being sick of those actions.

Violence.. by anyone.. reguardless of faith isn't right.

What I'm finding amusing is when people make a generalization against christians you're all up in their face and acting like a pitbull for daring to lump christians like that... and here you are doing that to muslims.

So you do notice that its a stereotype when people "do that to Christians" and yet you defend these people for doing that???? Odd doncha think?


I am raising my kids Muslim, I certainly wouldn't if I felt this was a true statement.

Again.. you're not listening. I'm not defending them for their actions. I'm just not lumping them together. Something I don't do.

I am thinking... you, however, need to do a little more.

still dont think people should confuse politics with religion....(even though fundie groups do, i know)...the reason fundie groups get support ...from a small percentage of any given population, it that they at some level reflect something felt to some degree by the society as a whole.

and believe me al qaeda and the taleban have killed more muslims than any other denomination. There are muslims just as worried about them as you.

I have lots of muslim friends who are never agressive, neither are their kids.

Did anyone see the suicide squad in Monty Pythons Life of Brian?

TrueThat,

I think you are making some very common mistakes in your observation. Firstly, you are focusing on muslim extremist groups, which represent only a minority, albeit a very noticeable one. There are currently roughly 1.3 billion muslims on this planet- from these figures alone it is obvious that most muslims are no more or less peaceloving/conflict prone than the rest of human population.

Secondly, every religion carries within itself the potential for religious fanaticism. It is important that you look at things in a longer historical perspective. Not so very long ago, in the name of Christianity, terrible wars have been fought, people of other faiths have been persecuted & killed. Just think of the religious wars in Europe during the 12th - 18th century, the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church (Inquisition), the persecution of Huguenots in France, the "Christianisation" of Natives in both Americas, etc, etc...Equally, religious wars have been & are being fought between other religions as well, in India, for example.

I think that Islam is undergoing a major crisis at the moment and, as any other faith, must finds it's way to tolerance & peace.

Thirdly, many times religion is being hijacked by individuals for alltogether totally different reasons & agendas. Unscrupulous leaders use religion to motivate & exert power over others. Nothing new there.

Many of the conflicts & polarizations going on today that appear to be islamist in nature have very little to do with religion if you get at the bottom of them. Very complex geopolitical, historical & economical factors are at the root of them.

Don't make the mistake to generalize, Islam is in itself no more violent than any other religions. There will always be some humans that will use religion to violent means & ends.

Here below you find some statisitcs of the major wars that have been fought in the 20th century. You can see for yourself how many of them were Muslim countries or instigated by Islami people. In addition, I put a list of major Muslim & Christian countries. Again, if you look at the individual countries, you will easily see that wars & armed conflicts have been fought more or less equally by nations of either faith.


Wars of the Twentieth Century
Approximately 35 to 40 million soldiers have died in the wars of the Twentieth Century, nearly three quarters of them in the two World Wars. The biggest wars of this century have been...
Military Death Toll War Dates
1 20,000,000 Second World War 1937-45
2 8,500,000 First World War 1914-18
3 1,200,000 Korean War 1950-53
4 1,200,000 Chinese Civil War 1945-49
5 1,200,000 Vietnam War 1965-73
6 850,000 Iran-Iraq War 1980-88
7 800,000 Russian Civil War 1918-21
8 400,000 Chinese Civil War 1927-37
9 385,000 French Indochina 1945-54
10 200,000 Mexican Revolution 1911-20
10 200,000 Spanish Civil War 1936-39
12 160,000 French-Algerian War 1954-62
13 150,000 Afghanistan 1980-89
14 130,000 Russo-Japanese War 1904-05
15 100,000 Riffian War 1921-26
15 100,000 First Sudanese Civil War 1956-72
15 100,000 Russo-Polish War 1919-20
15 100,000 Biafran War 1967-70
19 90,000 Chaco War 1932-35
20 75,000 Abyssinian War 1935-36









Major Muslim Countries of the World
(% of population)1

Country Muslim (%)
Afghanistan 99
Albania 70
Algeria 99
Azerbaijan 93
Bahrain 81
Bangladesh 83
Brunei 67
Burkina Faso 50
Chad 51
Comoros 98
Djibouti 94
Egypt 90
Gambia, The 90
Gaza Strip 99
Guinea 85
Indonesia 88
Iran 98
Iraq 97
Jordan 92
Kuwait 85
Kyrgyzstan 75
Lebanon 60
Libya 97
Maldives Sunni Muslim
Mali 90
Mauritania 100
Mayotte 97
Morocco 99
Niger 80
Nigeria 50
Oman 75
Pakistan 97
Qatar 95
Saudi Arabia 100
Senegal 94
Sierra Leone 60
Somalia Sunni Muslim
Sudan 70
Syria 74
Tajikistan 90
Tunisia 98
Turkey 99.8
Turkmenistan 89
United Arab Emirates 96
Uzbekistan 88
West Bank 75
Yemen Muslim

[Index]
Major Roman Catholic Countries of the World
(% of population)1

Country Roman Catholic (%)
Argentina 92% (about 20% practicing)
Austria 74
Belgium 75
Belize 50
Bolivia 95
Brazil 74 (nominally)
Burundi 62
Chile 89
Colombia 90
Congo, Democratic Republic of the 50
Costa Rica 76
Croatia 88
Cuba 85 (nominally)
Dominican Republic 95
East Timor 90
Ecuador 95
El Salvador 83
France 83-88
Guadeloupe 95
Guam 85
Haiti 80 (half of population
practices Voodoo)
Honduras 97
Hungary 52
Ireland 88
Italy - primarily Roman Catholic
Lithuania 79
Luxembourg 87
Malta 98
Martinique 85
Mexico 89 (nominally)
New Caledonia 60
Nicaragua 73
Panama 85
Paraguay 90
Peru 81
Philippines 81
Poland 90 (about 75% practicing)
Portugal 94
Puerto Rico 85
Reunion 86
Rwanda 57
Slovakia 69
Slovenia 58
Spain 94
Uruguay 66 (nominally)
Venezuela 96 (nominally)

you are raising your kids as muslims true that? why, is your husband muslim?
do you take them to mosque? Intending to convert?
interesting.

You need to do a little more reading. When I stated you defend them for their actions I was referring to the Christian bashers that go on and on stereotyping Christians.

You defend them for their actions.


Muslims are not any more prone to violence. Its the way the media presents it and MOST IMPORTANT what we are willing to believe based on our own personal prejudices.

If a person is willing to believe a Muslim is a violent fanatic, it will take very little to convince them this is so.

If a person is willing to believe that a Christian is a fanatical domineering controlling hate spewing monster, it will take very little to convince them this is so.

This is why I get upset with people who lump anyone from any view point together.


What you are seeing in the other person that you find so loathsome has far more to do with what you hold in yourself.

quote]It seems like they are the only ones that want to blow themselves up as a form of protest?[/quote]

My sarcasm is off

I agree, other religions, i.e the monks that set themselves on fire, don't destroy others to make their statement. But you have to remember they have people in that area who will kill you over an argument about the world not being flat.. O.K it's not the greatest source, but I read about this stuff every day from all over the newspapers, web, and magazines. Is it fear of the unknown? What a human trait, huh.

As a social whole, their are those who love the power over the less fortunate, their are the religious zealot's who stand by the theory of all non be livers of Muhammad being the true prophet must die., Torquemada, anyone? It's going to get worse before it gets better. Now, I'm not being a "doomsday" guy, but this is a street-fight that's been in the making since WWII(research it ). I was in High school in the 80's in the dieing throws of the cold war, we were already discussing the middle east as the next big threat due to their zealot religous beliefs and their access to money and modern technology.

The U.S. has a history of supplying their enemies with weapons, and money, then when they don't "comply". CRACK! knock 'em on the chin. I am not being anti-American, in fact my personal belief was to Nuke, Neutron bomb the whole region in March of 2002, Russia was weak, China was weaker than it is now, It would of sent a message to North Korea; we send our troops to mop up the rest of the survivors/nut balls, and still we would of had the world on our side.

But mis judgment and incompetence prevailed(fear was also a factor), Also us sheepeople have now Idea what deals and guaranties were made by the powers that be.

GOOD TOPIC "TRUE THAT"

*sarcasm back on*

I don't want to sound stereotypical and even if true was trying to make a point here...

There is an unmistakable air of violence and elitism about the religion of Islam. And I would say it does have a lot to do with Arab culture. Why? Because they are raised with Islam, with a Koran in almost every house. Where Islam is the rule and anything else is cast away. Religion is beaten into their society over and over and over again. It's all over their media, it's in their schools, and in their homes. The religion of Islam combined with Arab culture takes fanaticism to a whole new level.

Now of course, this is not all Muslims. There are plenty of non-violent and non-extremist Muslims.

To me, Arabic Islam today is something like Christianity might have been two or three hundred years ago, when there's no room for public scrutiny of a religion and what's expected is silent obedience.

Alot of my opinions on this subject come from talks with many Muslims online, Most of whom I have found to be angry, elitist, absolutist, and simply intolerant.

I don't think people would have missed your point if you put that in the original post. I really don't see the necessity to use a dumb subterfuge to get your point across- people aren't THAT thick. Thanks for wasting my time by taking your post seriously.

All things aside there is no denying that there is an aspect of the culture that is quite violent.

I suppose that because these countries have been in turmoil for so long that its not so big a deal.

I cant imagine buddhists blowing themselves up.

Unfortunately people ARE that thick. Take a pop around and you will see that to many on here it is perfectly acceptable to post steretypical threads about Christians.

We can't bash anyone but the Christians and so that's what's done all day long on this site, always under the guise of "getting to know them better"

Right....


Sorry for having wasting your time in a sense but the topic is still being discussed.

What is even odder is when a person baits a trap, in order to draw people into giving their opinion on a subject, then chastizing them for it.

Why the subterfuge? Why not simply start on topic on "stereotypes & religion" or some such?

really? one could say the same about the us and christian culture, if you was an african american in the deep south 30 years ago, even more recent...well those christian white folk might not have seemed so nice and charitable.

edit: id like to add, that i was going to make a statement about racism and intolerence in the uk at first, we have the bnp and other racist, violent groups, but i thought that youd see that as not your problem....believe me your culture and country has problems just like any other. my point was just to raise that issue.
intolerance is a feature of your society too at some level, in every city, in every village. Just like mine.

why they are so violent? for the same reason that Christians where many centuries ago. Due to "non believers" and "conquest"

Any idea how many people where killed during the spanish inquisition, the witch trials and the crusades? im willing to bet that more people have died at the hands of christians over the centuries then Muslims.

dont get me wrong I dont hate modern day Christians most are fine by me except the fundies.

Well I disagree. I find it interesting that someone like SilverCougar for example who actually went to the trouble to register on my site just to back up Christian bashing done by another member here, is the first one to leap to the defence of Muslims all the while defending those who do the same to Christians by using the "they're fed up and jaded" as an excuse.

The blinders are on, on this, we've been saying the same thing for months. And errr..... I stated that I would do this in a thread and uh, thought it was pretty obvious that I was doing it for this reason.

Ya, they got thier own East coast / West coast rapper thang' going on.

when i was in sri lanka for a few months last year i saw a demonstration in colombo (capital city) where some monks were protesting that the govnt. wasnt being hardline enough. chanting 'kill kill kill' and stuff like that and holding up murderous plaquards.....and fighting anti protesters....some of whom were also monks....i think theres footage on utube and pics online.
It has to do with nationalism, and a belief that their theravedic faith is destined to be THE faith of lanka.
not all buddhists there share their fanatisizm, and many are appauled.

imagine a buddhist hit squad, or a hindu one....killing a top hindu priest for shaking hands with the buddhist president of the country.
imagine school children being massacred, and families too....and both political sides blaming each other for the event...
its not really that funny.

Nationalism is a very good point. Why is it we are able to do this?

Those Iraqi's that cheer at the 9/11 and those that blow themselves up aarent really following their faith propperly....only going on what I have heard on the news is all

I read that the true teachings are not meant to be violent

not quite sure what you mean....a national goal, built upon an idea of national identity. this can cause problems for those who dont fit into the picture...whether they be american indian, tamils, kurds, jews, palestinian...the list is endless.


edit: and then there's 'national interest'....that can take a country and its army half way around the world to prosecute a war.

Muslims are no more violent than the next religion. The terrorist attacks are more to do with radical individuals who dislike America and other places around the world for reasons I personally cannot fathom. In fact the Quran, advocates non-violence, so it has more to do with the individual people than the religion as a whole.

- Bokonon

The curse of Allah is on disbelievers. 2:89

Jews are the greediest of all humankind. 2:96

Allah is an enemy to the disbelievers. 2:98

The one's that are in power are afriad of the modern world, the use it against the rest of humanity.

I'm Irish catholic(yes lower case "c"), still jeez, GET WITH THE PROGRAM, lets get off this rock and explore!

The analogy is: My, brother and I are sitting on promontory rock, I want to invesigate the happenings below, he's afraid, kills me to stop from learning.

Wow, reading through this thread I've really come to see the double standard.

It's kind of funny how nobody really minds if someone criticizes Christianity, calls it violent, etc..

Yet you have a religion which does inspire a very large amount of violence (Whether the religion as a whole is violent or not), even more so in the modern age than Christianity;

and yet...

...almost everyone is defending it as non-violent and misrepresented.

Who woulda thunk it.

Too vague of a statement, give examples, ideas, or facts.

You say Muslims are violent look around we are the most violent look at us we invade countries for oil, we test nuclear weapons on our own soil, we feed our country countless amounts of bad food, diabetes, and obesity. We wage wars bomb innocents of countries to get a hold of one man. And then you go to the history the midevil ages, the crusades, Hitler, yes all religions are violent but the Muslims are not the mst violent far from it.

Because it's deeply embedded in their religion?

Just for the violence... Let's use Surah 4:34 as an example... Allah says it's alright to beat the living hell out of a 'bad' wife. That's violent to me and Allah willfully says it's alright... Hell at the end of that passage because you beat your wife to become a "good" wife, god is great.

Jihad is another example... Spilting up the world into two halfs... One Islamic and the other infidels/war zones. What the hell is that crap? Granted jihad as many meanings, one of those meaning is war.

Islam is just a sick religion which it's own morality is twisted. Who can really respect a religion that supports terrorism and wife beating?

I think you're a wonderfully funny and honest person.....

The red thread of conquering by the sword has been their mainstay for hundreds of years. Not much has changed unfortunately. The koran seems to be a very military minded book rather than one of peace, as far as spreading their faith is concerned. This mind set must have it's roots in their belief system which stems from the writings of Mohammed.

My take on this is that muslims are innately no different to others.

The present tendency towards violence by some muslims is an instinctive reaction of people who feel threatened.

Everyone fears difference, and difference in religious matters has always bred violence. Take the inquisition of catholicism, or the huge religious wars in europe during the reformation. While christianity has stabilised into a dominant position in the most developed countries, it largely no longer feels threatened. Cults like the branch davidians show what can happen in exceptional cases.

On the other hand ,muslims must feel very threatened, both by the ongoing divisions within their faith and by the cultural and religious dominance of the world, by western civilisation. We all tend to react to fear, with violence, where other means to ease our fears do not seem to be effective.

The muslim world will need to work through a process of reformation and adjustment to the scientific world to regain the parity with christianity which existed in the early years of muslim expansion. Until then i doubt that little can be done except try to minimise the excesses of violence brought on by this sense of fear.

I understand the reasoning behind this thread, as I've tried to point it out many times myself, truethat.

I thought so...... You had me worried there for a moment because I know that about your kids and I've got a Muslim niece too......

Hmm, I have to say, you nearly got me on this one TrueThat....

I knew you were raising your boys in Islam, I was thinking either something really ticked you off at the Mosque, or you were trying to prove a point. I'm glad to see you were proving a point.

Well done!

Personally, I believe Islam has confused the jihad of the soul with the Physical level of life. The Koran like the Bible is a spiritual book that has been dragged to a physical level. Understanding the Koran is difficult at least. I found the same discription of the souls struggle in the Ancient Sanskrit text of India. In short it says kill anything that stands between you and your lord, meaning your desires, your wants, your posessions, but not your fellow human beings. But then again this is only my opinion.

And a very valid opinion it is, in my opinion.....