Hello, first let say that I’m officially muslim, but the only religion that I believe is humanity. I don’t have any hard feeling about any religion including islam but I respect all of them. for example I greatly respect the pope because of his humanity. I don’t think islam is better than christianity or vice versa or judaism is better than buddhism or vice versa. I know this is not the right place to discuss about these issues but since this thread is off topic and read by many people and Herbert reffered to Muslims many times, I thought it is a good idea to put a muslim view in this thread. Many Islamic countries are governed by people that are not elected or representig their people. Unfortunately these days Islam is used as a tool by some evil people to gain power. Many muslims are simply hijacked by these evil people. Why ? because they are desperate, frustrated and lost their mind because of injustice. I think humans can be considered like zener diodes if you increase voltage(pressure) there is a point that they simply break. At this point a hijacker can easily hijack them. Do not forget they all humans are just like you (homo sapiens sapiens) herbert so if you were born in place of a muslim terrorist most probably you would do the same things. If you study history you will see that it is not the first time that people are hijacked by using their religious beliefs or nostalgic beliefs or …. Do not forget that these terrorist are only a very small and neglectable percentage of muslims and I believe that not all terrorists are muslims, but many of them are Jews, Christians,…(israel government, bask separatists, IRA,…) . do not forget that many of these hijackers are helped directly by governments that now fight against them(who helped saddam hussain to kill millions of people of Iran, Kuwait and indeed iraq ? who created Hamas to create division in PLO ?,...). so I agree with kai klass that injustice is the motor of terror. And I think Herbert point of view that paints all muslims with the same brush is totally unfair. Is it fair to call a nation child murderer because act of a few psycho serial killers ? Herbert, I totally disagree with your view.

/*It's our fault that Muslim terrorists want to blow us up because we're not nice? It's the rest of the world's fault for refusing to get along with the Muslims?*/

On the contrary, most muslims like European and American people very much but some of them are strongly oppose their government policies because of double standards.

/* How many Mosques are in Germany? How many Mosques are in Europe? How many Mosques are in the United States and Canada and Great Brittain? Now go to Saudi Arabia and see how many cathedrals and Baptist churches you can find in their phone book. How many synagouges will you find? How many times do we see Muslims defending Islam on western streets? Now I challenge you to try and preach the Gospel of Christ in Ryhad. Exactly who is it that you believe is intollerant? */
many Islamic countries are governed by non representative people and if it is the government policy (with the help of some pressure or hijacker groups) to not allow build many cathedrals it is not people fault.

/*Next you'll be telling me they're still angry about the Crusades! */
This is a very strange and … idea. Do you seriously think muslim people everyday remembering crusades and think how they can revenge ??? they live just like you Herbert they have more important things to think about than crusade!

/*Since Muhammed penned the Koran, for well over a thousand years, the Muslima have never met a non-Muslim that they didn't want to kill in lieu of conversion.*/
I don’t know what should I say about that irresponsible and wrong remark. Do you seriously think that all muslims plan to kill non-muslims because of their beliefs ?
Most of them do not even want to convert them, because they are busy of their lives!
There are different interpretations for Koran. The only few muslim people that think Koran says to kill are either hijackers themselves or those that hijacked because of their belifs. If you ask most muslims they will say Koran only talk about love and peace.

/*Next I suppose your going to go off on this mantra about peace loving Muslims. I know that most people in the U.S. who claim to be Muslim aren't the militant variety (or at least they won't admit it openly). So what!? Most people in this country who claim to be Christian can't tell you where in the Bible to find the teachings of Christ. Most people in Israel will tell you that they're Jewish, but how many are Hasidim? Most Muslims in this country, like most Christians, subscribe to their "faith" because their daddy told them to.
They are what they were raised as because they were raised that way. They practice religion as a social function, not as a faith. Most of them, Christian or Muslim, can't tell you why they believe as they do. */
Totally true.
what Hasidim means?

/*If a person tells you that they believe Muhammed is (or was) God's prophet, then one of two choices must be true. Either they believe that it is their divine responsibility to kill all of us who aren't and refuse to be Muslim, or they're lying. The Koran leaves no room for middle ground. If I believed that Muhammed was God's prophet, I would be out right now killing anyone who denied Islam. */
This is exactly the hijackers words and this is exactly how they hijack people so are you a militia muslim herbert ???
But nothing can be more wrong than thoes words.

/*But I don't believe that Muhammed was God's prophet. So I don't go out trying to kill those who reject Islam. Neither am I foolish enough to think that there is some compromise to be reached with those who take Muhammed at his word. What exactly do you believe dialogue will accomplish? They haven't been willing to get along with anyone else in over a thousand years. Why should I be gullible enough to think they ;might start now?
If you want peace, work for victory.*/
I’m very sorry to read this because I feel you have an extremly fixed point of view, herbert .
I leave it to readers to judge with whom cann’t be a dialogue with people that say above paragraph or with muslims ? how many times have you tried to have dialogue with muslims ?

Khalil