How will the last decade be retold 100 years from now?

[Pandamonium]

Originally Posted by Terry21012

The Crusades were almost a thousand years ago. They were a RESULT of Muslims spreading Islam by the sword, not peacefully. Do I think they were brutal, of course. However, Christianity has evolved. Islam is still the same.

In most Christian dominated areas the only thing you have to fear is someone knocking on your door to spread the word of Christ, which you can tell no thanks and they leave. Maybe they say a prayer for you without you knowing, maybe they talk bad about you behind your back, you live through it. (Not to say there are not any wacko Christians, Ireland needs to straighten up for sure).

In an Islamic dominated area you'd better not be suspected of talking to a Muslim about anything other than Islam, if you can even let it be know that you are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, etc.

Islam has to be the most intolerant religion around TODAY, yet the one that is the most demanding of tolerance. Insanely, even after 9/11, there are many more people in America still condemning Israel and Jewish people than Muslims, yet you rarely hear the Jewish people cry foul.

Muslims are not the "victims" in any of today's battles, they just keep starting crap with the wrong people and getting their butts kicked.

Terry,
read the speech again. It was the biggest piece of propaganda. The Crusades didn't have anything to do with religion. That was the speech that was used to create a moral certainty. With moral certainty, atrocity is justified. It doesn't matter who does it. There are Christians in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria and up until a few years ago, in Iraq. Further, there are evangelicals in parts of Africa that kill children suspected of being witches today.

Oh, but those aren't true Christians. Well, so far as they believe they are. Well, but those aren't true Muslims. Well, so far as they believe they are.

None of this has anything to do with religion. It has to do with exploitation. And that means that in one hundred years. Your great, great, great grandchild will be picking through books reading what he/she can and watching moral certainty rise up again and seeing it for what it is. Or not.

There is a difference between standing up and saying, DU is ok? Explain to me the rise of cancer and the 4,000 Iraqi children dying a month. And standing up for extremists.

Nobody stands up for extremists. I'm sure that you aren't running over to defend the sects in Africa that support killing children suspected of being witches. I'm pretty sure that you don't want me to make that comparison at all.

[monkeywrenching]

Originally Posted by Terry21012

I often wonder if future generations will argue about whether America attacked the Middle East after 9/11 simply because we are Christians, which would be false to begin with considering how many different beliefs and non beliefs we have here.

It seems that every Muslim enticed battle where they lose turns out to be an unjustified attack on innocent, peaceful people.

It's amazing to me that many people think that Muslims were all sitting peacefully around their dinner tables, minding their own business when the evil Christians "started" the Crusades.

I just wonder if we will remember that we didn't start this in 100 years, so many have already forgotten.

last decade?

2009, the beginning of the end for the United States Empire, secession following into the breakup of the union.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by wjtwet

it will be known as the decade of divided america

This coming decade may actually be viewed more like that.

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

The extremist actions are the responsibility of the actors of extremism. The Muslim immigrants in Western Europe, for the large part as illustrated in France, have refused to assimilate into French culture. Political Islam is trying to force its way upon Western European governments rather than becoming part of the countries to which the people have chosen to immigrate. Britain now has declared zones wher it is unsafe for non-Muslims to travel through.

There is one non-Muslim country in the entirety of the Middle East, Israel. Given the number of Arabic/Muslim countries that have openly called for the destruction of Israel and supported Hamas and Hezbollas attempts at "wiping it off the map" why shouldn't they have our support? What threat can Israel possibly be to the entire Muslim population of the Middle East? Seriously? It is nothing but a small boat trying to keep the waves from crashing down upon it.

In addition, in the last decade or so, most of the growing incidents of anti-Semitism in Europe are being conducted by Muslim immigrants, not (as was the case historically) the host "native" population.

While the Jewish population of the UK, France and Germany (believe it or not, Germany's Jewish population has swelled in the last 10 years, mainly from ex-Soviet emigres) is a much lower proportion than in the US, it is large enough for there to be news reports of these incidents.

Incidentally, even Israel itself is facing the same issues as Europe. While I'm not sure the current "peace talks" will succeed, do you think that Benjamin Netanyahu suddenly decided overnight to change his mind and advocate a 2 state solution and even compromise on Jerusalem (if you believe defense secretary Ehud Barak?). No, it's because birthrates show that in a few decades the Israeli-Palestinian problem will be "solved" by simple demographics as opposed to war and terrorism if a solution isn't found (and not in favor of maintaining Israel as a Jewish homeland). Most "changes of ideology" are based on pragmatism, not psychology; Gorbachev "freed up" and "broke up" the Soviet Union not because I think he suddenly had an anti-Communist epipheny, but realized that the time was coming that it would all implode from within from the economic and moral failures of said ideology and it was "now or never". I think the same kind of thing is starting to finally happen in Cuba now (but very very very slowly).