Religions Don't Kill People, People Do

via Ace - a great many people are continuing a discussion / argument on the nature of Islam versus Christianity from yesterday. I wish I could find a quote I read yesterday pointing out a statement from President Bush. To paraphrase, we do not want to turn the war on terror into a battle between Christianity and Islam because we'll lose. He's right.

As my title suggests, conservatives are quick to point out the idea of personal responsibility when it comes to the gun debate. I think that's on target, pardon the pun. We do it for many things for which we have positions - welfare reform, health care, etc. The debate as to whether Islam is inherently violent is an unnecessary argument and a complete waste of time.

Unless you want to concede that Allah is an omnipotent God with the ability to take mental and physical control of everyone who crosses his path, proving Islam has the ability to incite violence proves nothing relevant at all.

The world is full of things capable of inciting violence - from images, to text, to leaders of movements, large and small. Ultimately, what empowers the incitement of violence rests within the individual who embraces a violent idea or cause.

The Islam is violent argument is the same type of argument as Blacks are lazy and better off being told what to do, or Arabs have no tradition of democracy, etc. It's a foolish and self-defeating notion to go anywhere near there.

When it comes to fighting terrorism of all stripes, we should keep our eye on the sparrow(s) - the sparrows being evil people doing evil things, regardless of their religion.

Ace directs you to the links if you want to peruse the discussion.

Comments

[oldtimer]

Islam is a cult of death, and the muslims prove this everday in every way.

[rwilymz]

Odd they're so prolific, eh?

[paul a'barge]

"we do not want to turn the war on terror into a battle between Christianity and Islam because we'll lose"

First, the war is in fact a war between us and the Islamists. You know the drill .... terror is a tactic, and Islamists are the source, so indeed the war is a war against Islamists. And second, we need not lose.

Give us just 30 days fortified with the will to show the Islamists just how brutal we can be when we need to be brutal, the will to wean ourselves off oil shipped from Islamic countries, and the will to ignore the politically correct sect, and no one will hear a peep from the Islamists again.

[Joe]

Sure, we must do something about specific people that pose a threat to the world! But on the other hand, we must not be naive and we must undesrtand that the indoctrination of young minds is a TIME BOMB. I want to believe that the majority of Muslims are not fanatics, but when both Shia and Sunni groups brainwash their children's minds with stuff like the "al-Jihad Booklet" (check it out at the Terrorist's Nightmare blog http://www.TechnonLLC.com/blog ), I start to get nervous...