Nutek

That's not today so it's forgotten.

Fortunately I despise all religions (somewhat) equally. I must admit to a certain bias creeping in of late however. I think I'm getting a bit tired of all the hand-waving-religion-of-peace bullshit.

Sally Redux

So we could say that extremists act in extreme ways.

I am not expected to apologise for deaths caused by Christian extremists or white supremacists.

kimilseung

Buddhists murdering Muslims in Burma.
Christians murdering (and eating) Muslims in CAR.
All contemporary.

SultanOfSwing

I already did, sort of.

Well of course you're not.

I personally don't think muslims have to apologise for anything. If the moderates alienate and marginalise the extremists, eventually the movement will lose traction. It'll take time, of course.

Sally Redux

There are things the west could have done better, going back to colonial times, which would have reduced the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. To then step back and say "why oh why has this happened?" is naive.

On a day-to-day basis, Islam doesn't affect my life at all; presumably you mean hand-waving in news items?

I just feel very sad all round, of course for the deaths in Paris and also for the race hatred that will ensue.

Pulaski

This.

Tolerance is not equally shared by the main global religions.

Sally Redux

A small reminder that we lovely peaceful people have caused suffering too.

Iraq study estimates war-related deaths at 461,000 - BBC News

Pulaski

That is part of the reason, but certainly not the only part. There is another peculiar reason for the rise of islamic fundamentalism in the 1970's. At that time there was considerable US paranoia about the direct intervention of the USSR invading countries, and which were later proved to be a legitimate concern when the USSR invaded Afghanistan, en route to an anticipated invasion of Pakistan. But there was also US paranoia about countries spontaneously (without an invasion) becoming satellites of the USSR, and indeed several Middle Eastern countries did develop close ties with the USSR, most notably Syria and Libya, but also Saddam Hussein's Iraq and post-revolution Iran. The CIA cooked up what even at the time can't have been the best idea, but looking back was just playing with fire, to promote islamic thinking as a bulwark against the spread of communist ideology in the Middle East.

It is ironic that after the collapse of the Communist Bloc, which never proved capable of delivering the threat which America and Western Europe feared, the greatest threat to peace and stability of much of the western world, though at a "small attack - terrorist level", not the nuclear holocaust level feared during the cold war, is from the islamic fundamentalist groups that were funded and encouraged by the CIA to "stop the spread of communism".

Nutek

Pretty much.

scrubbedexpat099

Publishing Muhammad cartoons would have been too risky, says Amol Rajan | Media | The Guardian

This says an awful lot.

I have never understood why the likes of the Independent have been apologists, you would have thought it would have been completely opposite their views.

Pulaski

Just because you can jab a stick in a hornets' nest doesn't mean that it is sensible to do so.

RoadWarriorFromLP

When will conservatives apologize for Anders Breivik? He killed 77 people and was a committed Islamophobe.

Collective guilt sure is good fun.

scrubbedexpat099

They seemingly have no problem when covering other areas, when it comes to the religion of peace different standards seem to apply.

Which is of course part of the problem.

Hotscot

As I've pointed out...my concern is what their religion actually teaches regarding gender equality and behaviour towards non-adherents, and in what manner conflicts can arise within the society that they currently exist.

A religion of peace?
A religion of equality for all?
A religion of respect for all humanity?

Would anyone claim these as core teachings?

SultanOfSwing

Addressing the points with respect to religion as a whole:

A religion of peace? I have yet to see one
A religion of equality for all? I have yet to see one
A religion of respect for all humanity? I have yet to see one