I didn't think of turning the other cheek (by which I mean accepting the differences between people instead of hating them for it) as a religious thing. More, as the type of reaction between people who would rather live a happy life with their fellow man than one filled with hate and loathing. Perhaps realising that difference between people are there to be embrbutted and learned from, and not despised because of those misunderstood differences.
Damn good point. But remember, not everyone is alienating all of Islam. There are many people who have no problem with the Islamic religion, but have plenty of problems with the fundamentalists within Islam.
This is the religion of peace! 1161artie morty Abstinence is definitely not in the rules, but a varying scale of moderation can never hurt. As for the fishing, perhaps one of the 10...
Perhaps the problem is that your everyday non-extremist Muslims do not appear to be distancing themselves enough from the fundamentalists to prove that they are as worried about extremism as the rest of the world.
Too many time you hear of clerics and mufti's preaching hatred, rest and terrorism to ordinary non-extremist muslims, yet nothing happens.
They keep preaching, the muslims keep listening, and the attacks keep happening.
You can't blame ordinary people for their fear, when it is being fed daily by stories of rest and destruction over things like freedon of speech that we hold dear to our society.
I see the only solution to the problem is in 3 parts:
1. Islam itself has to denounce terrorism, and not only say it, but physically stop the fundamentalist teachings and actions within its own religion.
2. Non-muslims have to be prepared to accept the denounciation of terrorism by Islam.
3. All people have to realise that those of us who worship, actually worship a similar higher being - we just do it in different ways, and those ways should be accepted and treated with the same respect we would wish for our own beliefs.
Artie...
