[at-l] OT -- Forgive me --- BUT I MUST GET THIS OFF MY CHEST . . .

[dfaddleton at gmail.com (David Addleton)]

WHAT SORT OF RELIGION, FAITH, OR SUPERSTITION drives people to such  
violence and anger over a cartoon?
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060205/D8FIK3M81.html
I'm the kid of missionaries . . . I grew up in a muslim world (Pakistan) .  
. .
my parents were baptists . . .
these aren't the muslims I knew growing up . . .
and they are the SAME people I knew growing up . . .
how easily manipulated they are . . .
what weak faith they have to substitute violence for reason . . .
yes, reason will eventually (who knows when!) cure humanity of  
superstition, but how much blood must be spilt before, as a species, we're  
cured of this curse?
According to some muslims, I am a muslim: I've said the kalima, IN ARABIC:  
"La il'aha il"Allah, Muhammed rasul Allah" , , ,
According to some christians, I am a christian: I've partaken of all the  
holy sacraments but for the final one at death . . .
According some muslims, I am a kafir; according to some christians,  
notably right now my neighbors, I am not saved . . .
I've accepted the Tao as my personal savior, Muhammed as the final profit  
(intentional pun!) . . .
In the west we have whole movies devoted to religious satire: The Life of  
Bryan, for example: christendom did not come crashing down, nor will Islam  
come crashing down because of an obscure Danish newspaper's cartoons the  
MUSLIMS brought to the worlds' attention . . .
but you'd think the west had nuked Mecca and Medina from the reaction of  
the Muslim world . . .
as a geopolitician, historian, academician, secular, and yes heretical  
thinker for himself, I just no longer "get it" . . .
I'm at the point that I think nuking all the holy sites of *EVERY*  
religion would be in humanity's best, long term interests . . .
I'm taken by Rumi, Hafiz, Merton, jewish, buddhist, tao, zen, and other  
forms of thinking outside the ordinary box . . .
BUT I CANNOT ACCEPT A RELIGION THAT KILLS, MAIMES, AND HARMS PEOPLE  
BECAUSE SOME OTHER PEOPLE THINK THEY KNOW GOD'S THOUGHTS ON ANY SUBJECT .  
. .
I AM FUCKING INTOLERANT OF INTOLERANCE . . .
I DON'T CARE WHAT SHAPE OR COLOR IT COMES IN: INTOLERANCE IS EVIL,  
REGARDLESS OF THE RELIGIOUS GARB IT HIDES BENEATH . . .
AND IT OUGHT TO BE SATIRIZED!!!
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