http://godsfriends.org/Vol13/No1/allah-akbar.html
when trying to really understand something in depth, you should learn as much as you can about all the possible facets of a situation, and then take an informed, intelligent and holistic approach to that path towards understanding.
of course, this also takes skepticism, critical thinking skills etc... but hopefully yu get the idea.
I'm not saying that all muslims, or all christians, or all of any religion are bad people... in fact, I'd say that probably the majority, in a sense, are good people. or even "very good".
the problem lies in the fact that the underlying loss of cognitive ability, objective reasoning and critical thinking skills... that ability for rational thought... it is a symptom of religious belief... it is requisite for that belief, and is bolstered in turn by that belief... it is that lack of rationality that becomes the most dangerous symptom of religion... the lack of objectivity inherent in that belief leads to things like bigotry, discrimination, repression... and when those beliefs start being passed into law because that mindset becomes so widespread... THAT is where those beliefs start doing a much more widespread and deeprooted damage to society as a whole.
let's see if this very simple description of something is too hard to follow.
the judeochristian and muslim conflicts over the past several centuries including the crusades have led to a deep rooted animosity between these "2" religions.
the united states is by far the single largest ally and supporter of Israel, at the cost of $15,000,000.00 PER DAY of United States tax payer dollars.
the United States in the mid to late 1950's CHANGED our National Motto to "In God We Trust" (which as far as I know doesn't fully replace the original) as well as added "under god" to the Pledge of Allegiance and added "In God We Trust" to all of our paper currency. (in violation of separation of church and state no less... a very hotly debated topic in it's own right that we won't get into here.)
this centuries old, deep rooted animosity towards judeochristianity held by a portion of the muslim world now falls upon the United States for a three fold reason.
1) #1 backer and ally of their greatest enemy, Israel.
2) United States foreign policy, military operations and covert operations resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Arab men, women and children over the past several decades.
3) the United States taking a concerted stand as a christian nation, echoing it's crusading christian forebearers, which in light of point #1 and point #2, only make this third point more poignant.
now hopefully that isn't too hard to understand. if you wish, you should read about the war crimes trials against israel and note who the dissenting vote(s) is(are). research the amount of money we REALLY spend in Israel. (a $3,500,000,000.00 per year "loan" that is quietly written off every year, so that we don't have to state it as actual outright funding, brand new military equipment being "sold" to Israel at discounts over 80%... lots of interesting things going on.)
read about the history and facts behind the whole "in god we trust" and "under god" debacles. study about the reasons why separation of church and state is so important... something I've covered in several previous posts, some at great length with references.
hell, just go study... go dig. go gather information... and remember to keep digging for different sides of the story... try to get a solid and in-depth over-all view of the situation and see if you gain a much deeper understanding of what's going on.
generally when you start "investigating" something like this, you might end up learning a lot more in the process... ie; study the number of international assassinations that the CIA has perpetrated in the past 60 years... the number of dictators we have replaced democratically elected leaders with for our own monetary or political gain... or the truth behind Bush's military and past political record... or for that matter John Kerry's (I read his military records and watched the actual video of his speech before the congressional committee). which in turn might lead you to learn about the truth behind the Viet Nam "war" (it was actually a Police Action, NOT a war.) and the Gulf of Tonkin.
I guess, now that I've gone on at a bit more length than I intended, in closing I should say that I have hopefully provided you with a well illustrated example of at least a small part of a train of thought and investigation which leads me, in part, to the kind of knowledge and understanding that I have of the world around me.
I am CONSTANTLY researching and investigating and thinking about the world around me, on such a vast variety of topics that I can't really list them all here. essentially about almost everything there is in the world around me... I seek to have at least a basic understanding of it all, so as to better facilitate a truly knowledgeable, intelligent and holistic view of the world.
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