There are more catholics than there are muslims.

One more reason to pray for atheism.

It's just a general ignorance most of us have about Muslims and their religion that causes us to not see the differences. They are as divided amongst themselves as the Christians are. Funny how we paint everything we don't understand with the same brush and don't bother looking for differences.

How profound Marsha. probably accurate.

Very interesting points!

I echo Marsha's comment. Ruth, what a brilliant comment, not that I agree with it for a moment. Frank, war and love are contradictions in terms - they deny each other. There is no such thing as a loving killing. As to the Lord of the Rings, is that the Pope? lol

Magi

Don't tempt me Frodo! I mean Frank. lol

There are billions of reasons to pray for latex.

The big problem is that the Muslim extremists (thank goodness it is a very small percentage of the Muslims) hate us infidels more than they hate each other.

the nasty habit we have of clumping everyone together is the seedling of prejudice

On the basis of religion, Muslims are different.

But the world's problem is not their differences but the things that most of them share. Those are bare subsistence living standards and oppression by their leaders.

Economically, most Muslims live in countries with economies which mirror what the West started to leave behind 300 years ago. While Western economies have taken people far above subsistence levels and given even the poorest relatively high standards of living, most Muslims have not progressed at all. They quite simply don't have those elements necessary to economic progress, namely property rights, scientific rationalism, capital markets, and advanced transportation and communication systems.

And being oppressed by their leaders really puts them in bad shape. In order to remain in control, their leaders must blame the West for their economic plight while fomenting anger and a jihad mentality against the West.

As the gap between the well-to-do West and most Muslims increases as it has and will most surely continue to do, the problem for the West grows in intensity. Is the solution regime change or are there other effective fixes?

Best regards, Ben
Author "Leading People to be Highly Motivated and Committed"

I heard a very interesting discussion on the radio today. This guy from Newsweek said that the general wisdom is that the poverty of your average Muslim (as Ben so accurately describes above) is the cause for terrorism, but in fact, almost ALL of the terrorists that we know of have been at least middle class, if not upper class, college educated people. Mohammed Atta was an architect, and of course, the big kahuna, Osama bin Ladin, is from a very, very wealthy family.

I wonder what that's about?

Religion of whatever stripe is more of a problem than a help in the world, in my opinion. It's either "the opiate of the masses" or the justification and inspiration for a lot of mischief, like the Inquisition, the Witch Trials, the terrorism of today. Really, if you think about it, much more good has come to the world through science rather than religion. What that is worthwhile has come from religion? Some great art, which is not an insignificant contribution, but that's about it.

Extremists will always find a cause to justify their actions. It is often religion, but the environment is also a popular ruse for them. These people need to hate. The cause doesn't matter just as long as they get to act out their hatred of humanity.

For one, we Catholics don't blow ourselves up to kill the innocent bystanders.