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[بوتاسيوم]

اعتذر اخوتي مرة اخرى عن الخطأ وهذه هي ردوده أما الاخضر فهو حوار سابق تم الرد علية

Iwill admit that I have some negative feelings towards Islam in particular. You must understand, my introduction to Islam was when 15 Muslims flew airplanes into the World Trade Center on 9/11. Before that day, I had no feelings about Islam whatsoever. Before that day, I had no knowledge about Islam, it was simply not something anyone here talked about or thought about. Since that day, it's something that we talk about quite a bit now.

The Muslims I know in the USA? I have absolutely no problem with them or their religion. They are good Americans, they seem like decent people. The problem is when I read news stories like in Pakistan, where they shot a 14 yr schoolgirl in the head because she was being un-Islamic. They did this in the name of Islam.[/align

American laws on free speech are very different than in Europe. I totally disagree with European & Candian anti-free speech laws, and it's one reason I am so thankful to be an American and not a European. It is completely legal to question the Holocaust in America. It is legal to engage in hate speech in America. There are restrictions on speech here, but they are much more limited than in Europe or Canada.

I think there is more than one reason we stick our nose in your business, there are many factors. Oil is certainly a reason, but not for the simplistic reasons I've seen from the critics of America. For example, there is a naivete in American politics that I don't think outsiders fully appreciate.
You're wrong about that, Christian fundamentalist is used quite frequently here in the US media. In fact, the US is divided along sectarian lines between secularists and traditional Christians. It is a big part of our politics.

Timothy McVeigh was a Catholic, but he did not kill in the name of Catholicism. He wasn't trying to create a Christian theocracy. He was an anti-government terrorist who happened to be Catholic. I recall there was a Muslim guy here several years ago, he killed some people, but he was just crazy. So that's a different category than someone killing in order to force their religion upon others by violence

Right. Personally, I don't believe in offending people who are decent people sincerely practicing their faith, or observing their country's rituals, or whatever. The thing is, that video was stupid. I mean, really really stupid. It wasn't even offensive, it made no sense. So for people to die over this, I don't understand that. 99.9999% of Americans would never have seen that video, and even if they had, they would have said it's just a stupid video that doesn't even make any sense.

Part of freedom means that people get to say things that offend you. Do you realize how much offensive, anti-Christian media there is here that insults the Christian faith? As I said, there is a culture war here between the secularists and the Christians, and the media is controlled by the secularists. There was even "art" that was funded by our own government that consisted of putting a crucifix in a jar of urine, and a picture of the Virgin Mary made out of elephant dung.

The difference is that the Christians don't riot and kill dozens of people when they get offended. They don't declare jihad over this.

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Well, I am actually agnostic. I can't be atheist, there is too much unknown and unknowable. And you raise a very good point, I should read the Quran to be fully informed before passing judgment.

Yes, you make a good point.

Sorry for being hostile with you sometimes. You see, my interest is not in simply hearing about your religious beliefs. I'd like to get to know Muslims as people too. I told you a while back about my Muslim customer. What makes it an interesting relationship for me is that he never talks about religion. Ever. He never even said he was Muslim, he just talked about "religious holidays" when I knew he meant Eid. So, I've gotten to know him well on a personal level. He's the only Muslim I know other than you.

About a week ago, his son was killed in a car accident. I looked at my customer's Facebook profile, and all his family & friends were of course posting supporting posts to him, the majority of them being Muslim. I got to see Islam on a personal level, it's a very different experience for me. Not Islam as a religion, not Islam as a source of conflict with the West, but Islam as something important to people I know & respect in their time of need.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm as interested in who you are as a person as I am in your religion. You're not simply a Muslim, you are ... (or whatever your real name is.) That makes your religion much more accessible..