War, Why Cant We Be Friends ?

I wish that too. But you should remember that often dreams can be realised.
Cheers
Sedickah

dreams can be realized,but action speaks louder than words,Shelly

hello ,.i feel that peace and time have a lot to do with the out come of all things ,.as all we have is time and we as human being should first and formost use this gift of time wisely ,. we are here in these bodies for a very short time ,. as we are the spirit within , and as we end our time in this body ,and should have the right to move forward in peace

Peace can only begin within the individual. I firmly believe that as we grow spiritually we will find that our commonalities far ourweigh our differences. We just have to be able to stop the noise long enough to hear each other.

THE MERRY MINUET....The Kingston Trio(?)

Peace can never be one-sided. Like any relationship, it takes two. Each must respect the other and be willing to allow individual expressions of life, from cultures to religion.

To the radical Muslem, everyone who isn't a Muslem should be killed. That's pretty hard to live with in peace.

When Muslims start to speak out loudly against all the terror groups and start to join us all against this threat to our way of life there will not be peace. Too many Muslims remain silent when it comes to this scurge of terrorism.

It is not easy to find solutions, talk is a good part of it but all parties must be willing to really talk if that is to happen.

I've come to realize as long as there are men in the world there will be war......women talk and men are of action.......that is the way it has been since the beginning of time......But we all can wish, it would be nice if that is all we had to do for PEACE!

I don't understand why we can't live in peace. I pray every day for world peace. I am sick and tired of war, of conflicts, of other's tired ramblings. Shut up and get along!!

Anne muslims dont think about compassion. Just submision and control. Their religon has taught them that their only goal is that all lands are controlled by Alla. There will be peace when the planet won't need there oil any more. That is the source of all terrorists, some Arab Royal in a bed sheet decides that he wants to help his god and gives a small fortune to a guy that cant feed his kids. The only catch is he must create terror. It ok by their religion. Every other religion is pasifist exept Islam. Not all muslims are terrorists but all terrorist attacking the US are muslim.

I agree with tom

Tom is right, their religon teaches violence.

I wouldn't put much faith in Tom's facts. And no, their religions does not teach violence. You guys would really do yourselves (and the rest of us) a big favor if you would try to learn the truth instead of listening to rhetoric.

Sandy wrote:
I wouldn't put much faith in Tom's facts. And no, their religions does not teach violence. You guys would really do yourselves (and the rest of us) a big favor if you would try to learn the truth instead of listening to rhetoric.

To which I respond with FACTS.

The Quran says that women who disobey their husbands should be beaten (4:34), that missionaries from other religions should be killed (4.89) that Muslims should fight until 'religion is only for Allah" (2:193) that Jews and Christians should be destroyed (9:30) and that Hindus should be ambushed and killed (9.5)

That's just a few highlights. Anyone who says that the Muslim religion does not teach violence either hasn't read the Quran or simply wants to pursuade the rest of us to believ a lie.

More pathetic racism and war-mongering. I doubt Joyce's wistful message invited the hateful vitriole of some of the assinine comments posted.

Tom, what about turning the other cheek? What about turning swords in ploughshares?

David H: Just wanted to briefly remind of the Christian Crusades when Western Kings earned special dispensation from the Pope for their part in the bloody pilgrimages that devastated sacred parts of the Middle East. The Holy Crusades went on for centuries.

"Onward Christian soldier, marching off to war" was one of the first lyrics I learned as a young girl in the church.

Are all Muslims radicals? I have not got that impression.
I would like to hear from Muslims.
We cannot guess. Only they can say what they believe.

Tom,

You wrote: "Every other religion is pa[c]ifist ex[c]ept Islam."

Oh, really? Does "every other religion" include Christianity? If Christianity is such a peaceful religion, then why is it that during the 1500 years that Christianity had political power, millions of people were murdered in its name? Cheryl is absolutely right in her comment about the horror of the Christian Crusades. Other atrocities committed in the name of Christianity include the Inquisition and burning people at the stake. Yes, most Christians are peaceful today, but is it because their religion is peaceful or rather (as I believe) that they are much more secular than they used to be?

The Quran does have some violent and aggressive verses (and some peaceful and tolerant verses), just like the Bible. Consider the following verses from the Bible (King James Version):

"If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which [is] as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; . . . Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people." (Deuteronomy 13:6 -13:10).

The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalms 58:10)

"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." (Luke19:27) - This last is from the New Testament.

Do you really see these as the words of a pacifist religion?

Cheryl - Yes the middle ages and the crusades were a time of violence in the name of Christendom. That was my point. The majority of the people perpetrating the violence were illiterate and had no idea what the bible actualy said. When literacy became the norm, Christianity changed because the New Testament is basicaly a pacifist document.

Genie - Those quotes are out of context and I think you know that. I don't have time to debate each one with you and I doubt anyone would read it anyway. My point was that other religions are (more or less I think I said) pacifist. The central teaching of Judaism is "Thou Shalt Not Kill" to which Christ added "Turn the other cheek". You can split hairs by quoting vague passges out of context, but anyone who reads and studies the document as a whole can come to no other conclusion that Christianity is a pacifist religion.

The central tenet of Islam on the other hand is that there can be no peace in the world until it is ruled by Sharia law, that those who die fighting for this goal go to heaven, and that those who disbelieve are "the vilest of all animals", not even human.

Lest someone mastake my defence of Christianity for something other than what it is, I am NOT a Christian, but I have studied the Christian bible.

It's too bad that people feel the need to FOLLOW some thing that was written so long ago(I do not believe any of it as true) It would be nice to have peace on Earth but as long as man covets there never will be.

My knowledge of the Muslim religion is limited, but I do not believe that all Muslims should be condemned based on the horrific actions of radicals. I believe the more violent passages in the Quran, as well as the Bible, were written in order to increase faith and dedication to that particular religion. It was an incomparable era then and violence/death were viewed differently then civilization views them today. I think we can all agree that these religious writings were not to be taken word for word until the end of human existence and each is to be deciphered by every individual that takes the time to read them. There are certain radical leaders that choose violent passages, such as the ones previously listed, and focus on those to gain support for their tyrannical actions. This manipulation of religious values causes certain stereotypes to form and hatred ensues. The path to peace lies between acceptance of differences and understanding. I'm not saying that we should accept the violence that "terrorists" present within our society, but I do think we should take the time to understand it and its historical context rather than pass judgment on an entire culture.

JOYCE- I like your wish and I am optimistic that the majority of society does too. Peace is a challenging goal, but not unattainable. It is people like you that give me hope.

John L wrote:

>I think we can all agree that these religious writings >were not to be taken word for word

You just encapsulated the problem. We CAN'T all agree. You and I might agree, most people in the world might agree, but the people who are the problem DON'T agree. Islam teaches that government and religion are the same thing....so the religious Muslim simply cannot accept the tolerance that you say will lead to peace. So the only other choice to achieve peace is to allow the Muslims to impose their religion/government on the rest of us.

Since we can't make them choose peace, and we won't accept the jackboot of Sharia law being imposed on us, our choice is war.

Fools who try an make the case that all religions have a nasty streak are missing the point. Out of context quotes won't change the truth. The MAIN theme of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Bhuddism is tolerance and peace. The Quran is page after page of violence that denigrates people of all other religions as "the vilest of animals" and urges them to be placed under Sharia law by force, and killed if they do not comply.