Cheer up Roger!!!
hmmm
If you really believe that, why do you hang around this place? Do you think everyone here is crazy?
Just a thought here: Perhaps humor is not really appropriate when we consider the results of what happened to our country (assuming you are an American) two years ago tomorrow.
The next time will potentially be much worse. A very well-informed person, Warren Buffett, says this:
Billionaire Warren Buffett predicts a nuclear attack
May 7 2002
“We’re going to have something in the way of a major nuclear event in this country,” said Buffett, the firm’s chief operating officer. “It will happen. Whether it will happen in 10 years or 10 minutes, or 50 years … it’s virtually a certainty.”
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/06/1019441479049.html
I hope he’s wrong, but the way things are heating up around the world I wouldn’t bet against Warren.
But why does Mr. Buffett’s acknowledged genius at financial matters make him any kind of significant prognosticator or political and/or terroristic phenomena?
Doesn’t taking Warren Buffett’s word on this subject make about as much sense as taking Richard Gere’s word on Tibet?
Sorry you are mistaken. It is exactly in line with your reasoning, it just gives a differently conclusion than you want. When this happens it is a good indication that your argument is faulty.
Live and learn I guess.
GOM, answer the question. If your God of peace started to once again order people to hack up babies, would you do it?
Now that’s not true. I personally know several people of Middle Eastern decent and I’m sure at least some of them haven’t blown anyone up.
Maybe that’s just what they want you to think. 
In any event it seems obvious to me that “Islam” is a Religion of Terror and Baby Jesus shall not rest until all of these violent terrorists are struck down by the Hand of the Righteous in the name of the One True Religion.
YMMV, of course.
I can’t see how Islam is any more warlike than conservative Christianity.
Evangelicals in America are the most pro-military constituency of any size in this country. They have been gung-ho for every American war in my lifetime, excepting the peacekeeping missions during the Clinton administration, of course. Having had plenty of opportunity to observe them from close up, I have never seen any of the circumspection regarding war from evangelicals that one might expect from the proponents of a religion that is aware that God deeply loves each and every person that might get killed in a war.
As the article stated, Buffett controls insurance companies. Specifically, property/casaulty insurance and reinsurance companies. He is financially incented to a) try to drive up rates and b) minimize risk by trying to socialize the largest ones, such as that of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack. He has no special knowledge of the odds of such an attack that I’m aware of.
Also, to correct the article, he is Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, not Chief Operating Officer.
GOM, please answer my questions. If the truth is being hidden from us and you know what it is, you should tell us. How many of the ~billion Muslims are violent? How many have to be killed or defeated?
Personally, I know many Muslims, and relatively few are transvestite lumberjacks.
Q:GUess where Warren Buffett was on the morning of 9-11?
A: Offutt AFB.
Nope, just me 
GOM:
You are defining Islam as violent based on the actions of Al-Qaida; specifically, this statement:
If I were to follow the same line of reasoning - that is, the actions of a subset of Muslims define Islam - I could just as easily say that the actions of a subset of Christians defines Christianity. Obviously, the Westboro Baptist Church does not define Christianity.
If I were to claim that Christianity is a violent or hateful religion, surely you would ask for verses from the New Testament, or examples from the life of Jesus. Surely if I were to cite the Crusades or the Inquisition, you would reply that such examples are not representative of Jesus’ true message of compassion and justice.
That said, since you have claimed that Islam is a violent religion, I would ask for similar such support from you. Perhaps you could provide a selection of Suras or Hadiths, and an explanation as to why they support your claim. In a similar vein, perhaps you could offer your opinions on the verses cited by Al-Qaida to justify its agenda. I also would ask you why you feel no distinction is to be made between current Islamic practice and the texts that (don’t) inform it.
On that note, since you seem genuinely concerned about violence in the Islamic community, perhaps you could offer your opinions on the ongoing (lack of) debate within Islam over Ijtihad and the Shariah. Do you think the theological differences between Sunnis and Shias preclude one sect’s arguments from being valid to the other? I have appreciated your scholarly and rational input thus far, and would love to hear what you think about other problems facing Islam.
(By the way - if you find yourself copying a list of Suras and explanations from a site that agrees with your opinion of Islam, as I imagine you might, think carefully about your motives.)
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Buffett is heavy into the insurance industry. He’s paid the big bucks to know what the odds are for bad things to happen in America. That’s how he runs his business correctly, based on potential risk. IIRC he has even suggested that the insurance industry needs some kind of financial protection from the US government in case of a nuclear attack. Just one A-bomb could potentially bankrupt many insurance companies. Insurance companies own tons and tons of stock. It’s a domino effect on our society…
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No. Of course, YMMV. You’re free to go with Gere if you find his advice useful.
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Hopefully you are correct.
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Right. I just don’t know if it’s done from ignorance, wishful thinking, or with a specific purpose in mind.
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If we start with that roughly one billion estimate and take only .01% we still get 100,000 people. Thousands of them have been trained in terrorists camps. For America, the .01% seems valid, but do you find that tiny % reasonable for some of the Arab countries?
Why does .01% “seem” valid. Are you playing number guessing games or is this based on some comprehensive study of Islam in America and abroad?
FWIW, estimates are ~5-6 million US muslims so you are guessing ~500-600 dangerous Islamists in the US.
Perhaps the most salient question GOM should be answering is what is it specifically about Islam that you take to mean it is a violent religion? And don’t quote some Al-Qaeda jackass, I mean actual Qu’ran script, or from the Hadieths, something along those lines. A proper quote, in context, from the source is the only viable authority. People throughout history have misinterpreted the intentions of many religions and done harm, so let’s not rely on what others say. So show us the proof.
I disagree, scule. I have complete confidence that a reasonably diligent person could find plenty of commands, quotes, etc. in Muslim literature, even canon, that on the face would seem to indicate that Islam is a violent religion. Certainly I could do the same with the Bible to “prove” that Christianity and Judiasm are violent religions. Except that, by and large, they are not.
More probative to me would be evidence – a survey, perhaps, or crime rates, or a demonstrated propensity to start wars (controlled for despotism) or something like that – that the behavior of Muslim people is on balance more violent than that of non-Muslims.
GOM, you’re kidding now, right? You call Islam a violent religion and you want to argue about how many hundredths of a percent of its adherents are violent? Do you not see just how silly that is?
I think we’re mostly on the same page on how to deal with terrorists, but I think you haven’t given careful thought or evaluated evidence of just what makes one a terrorist. Which makes you wrong about how to deal with terrorism. The charge you make in your OP just doesn’t stand up.
Answer the question, GOM.
I’m not sure I’d be proud of this fact! Basically, you’ve come up with an idea so nutty that even Bush won’t endorse it! That’s not something I’d personally be proud of!