Since 9/11, Americans have been on alert to the real risks terrorists pose. The attack on 9/11 profoundly changed my life, as I am sure it did yours. After 9/11, one could not look upon society and culture the same. America and its citizenry lost the innocence of just being carefree, just being able to come and go at one’s whim. To be free now, we have to really care and take note of how despicable and vile the 9/11 attacks were. To this day I still cry for the thousands lost and the families and friends left behind. Lives taken carelessly, recklessly, with no thought other than to kill.
It is amazing, at least to me, how many people tried to justify the 9/11 attack by implying we did something wrong — or that we somehow deserved it. No one deserves to be terrorized and killed. No one deserves the evil that al-Qaeda spreads in the name of their god. What kind of God tells you to kill your neighbor? Certainly not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Unfortunately, Christianity has in part fed into the anti-Semitism surrounding Israel and the Jews. In fact, Christianity has been de-Judeaized — yet it is Christianity that is an extension of Judaism, not vice versa.
The idiosyncrasies in Islam are monumental in comparison to other religions. First of all, Mohammed was epileptic. He was a pedophile with a wife as young as six, consummating the marriage when she was nine. He would have been jailed by today’s’ standards - and even then, this behavior was looked upon abhorrently.
Islam is also known for what their Koran says: “Kill the people of Saturday and Sunday” - in other words kill the Jews and Christians. There is no tolerance - just oppression and fear. In Islam one either chooses to live by the sword or to die by the sword, but either way one must know that in Islam the sword is ever present.
When I lived in the Middle East, what struck me most about the culture and Islam was that they were synonymous. Unlike here in the United States, where we pride ourselves on the perceived separation of church and state, there is no such thing in the Middle East. Islam, culture, society, and religion - it all goes hand in hand. Even Christians living in Egypt must succumb and abide by the Islamic dictatorship. There is no getting around it or behind it; this is ever present amongst the citizenry in the Middle East. Abide by the Islamic law or die. Speak against the “religion of peace” and be imprisoned and die. Everything Islam teaches — what it breathes and exudes — is death.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
"It is amazing, at least to me, how many people tried to justify the 9/11 attack by implying we did something wrong- or that we somehow deserved it. No one deserves to be terrorized and killed. No one deserves the evil that al-Qaeda spreads in the name of their god. What kind of God tells you to kill your neighbor? Certainly not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Unfortunately, Christianity has in part fed into the anti-Semitism surrounding Israel and the Jews. In fact, Christianity has been de-Judeaized - yet it is Christianity that is an extension of Judaism, not visa versa.
Very cogent observations, Layla. I suspect that the more you look at the Jewish roots of Christianity, the more you will discover that re-judaizing Christianity would make it a very different kind of faith from what it is now.
First of all, a basic concept in Judaism is that all of mankind is divided into just two groups so far as religion goes - the Children of Israel on the one side, and the Children of Noah on the other. The two faith sets - religion is not an adequate description - are matching pairs. If you cannot trace your ancestry to the Children of Israel in some way, you are a Daughter of Noah.
As a Daughter of Noah, you are subject to Seven Commandments:
1. recognize there is only one G-d,
2. bless this G-d,
3. do not spill blood,
4. do not steal,
5. do not practice sexual immorality,
6. do not tear off the limb (or any other part of a live animal) and eat it,
7. set up courts to enforce these rules.
That's all there is to it. When you need guidance in how to do these things, then you turn to the Children of Israel. That is why the Torah refers to us as a nation of priests. That is what bringing light unto the nations really means.
2 - freddie the frog
.....The "so called" religion of islam is not more than a murder cult. Thank you.
3 - Nancy
Freddie, do you mean that Islam is NOT a murder cult, or that it is? Please clarify. Thanks.
Ruvy, I know it's your religion, but all religion is an artificial construct; in that I have to agree w/Chris (Rose). NOBODY is 'above' anybody; referring to religious texts for justification of that is like referring to a propaganda pamphlet to justify something. The qu'ran, the bible, the torah - they're all just propaganda written to reinforce & justify why this set of people is 'superior' to the rest & special to God, therefore privileged somehow. I respectfully decline to view ANYBODY as my "guide" for correct behavior, when they're just as fallible & human as I am & no more.
And I do agree: islam is a violent religion. There is no 'peace' in it. I've read it & the hadith, & find them even more lacking than the bible - torah & NT.
4 - Devin
A- “God is a merciful God.”: even and mainly in Islam. Which is the reason why a certain Muslim son picked her up his non-practicing mother and her estranged family from the ex lover from the streets of Chicago, Despite the fact that this mother walked on her 7 children to be with her lover.
B- "islam is a violent religion": The Spanish inquisition, The Vatican's witch hunt against anyone who dared saying the word: Magdalena, is the perfect example of bloody religions. how many people died in the name of Christianity in Latin American? current day Middle East? Asia in attempts to spread imperialism Christianity.
C-
3. do not spill blood,: This is the specialty of Israel against the occupied territories of barely-there-Palestine.
4. do not steal: Layla, when you pay the money you owe your son and his Muslim family, you can then freely write this sentence.
5. do not practice sexual immorality: Um, so is adultery in the case of Layla Gonzalez allowed or maybe already forgiven?
6. do not tear off the limb (or any other part of a live animal) and eat it: who does that anyway?
7. set up courts to enforce these rules: the best court is Allah's court...you will then answer for all the sins and hurt you purposely caused.
D-When I lived in the Middle East....Layla, you did not really see anything and you told me so yourself. You were too busy having children anyway. 2 of the boys are born in Saudi Arabia and back then you even went to Umra, which is the smaller/lighter version of Hajj...which means you were Muslim, as you did do Umra voluntarily.
E-There is nothing peaceful about Islam: talk about the Muslims who helped you in the name of Allah only, picked you up when you were down, fed you when you starved, sheltered you when your own cross-bearing people threw you to the streets...talk about those Muslims, The hospitality and goodness offered to you in the name of Islam. Do not fool people in believing you are sacrificing anything, you morally destroyed your Muslim children just because they are Muslim. Murdering them by little fire of indifference and cold lies...
F-a false sense of well-being: is what Muslims feel in current day USA thanks to ignorant comments, news coverage and blogs such as this. We are threatened constantly by ignorance and its spreading.
G-9/11 happened, citing that it is our own fault:
unless you work for the CIA, you will never know the nature of the relationship between Bin Laden, the US $ supporting al Qaeda, al Mojahedeen of Ahmad Shah Mahmood, shah of IRan, Saddam's war against IRan in the 80's, Colombia's paramilitary operations.....so, please do not advance pretentious comments of knowing the truth.
H- Islam is also known for what their Koran says: “Kill the people of Saturday and Sunday"
I am asking you to please send me the exact verse, Sura and possibly the explanation if any from one of the Sahabas. I must have missed this verse many times then.
I- There is no tolerance - just oppression and fear: extremely biased, personally motivated hateful comment, another flagrant sign of misunderstanding and high self-absorbtion sense.
J-What kind of God tells you to kill your neighbor? Certainly not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: This is how Israel supports its terrorist invasion in ex-Palestine at least...and it is all over the news, so you are actually opposing Israel for once? Sacrilege!!!