Fellow_Human, you know as well as I do that muslims do not follow Jesus; neither the Jesus in the Koran nor the Jesus of the Bible. Muslims follow Muhammad!

In Buddhism there is the story of a man who has everything; prosperity, wife and family. He gives it all up and goes and meditates until he reaches enlightenment. He returns to his people and preaches love, kindness and non-attachment. The bible is the story of a people who are caught up in a quagmire of rules, warfare, scapegoating, victim roles, blood sacrifice, revenge, tit for tat, legalism (sound familiar?) and so on, until one day a man is born who frees them from all that and gives them 'free gift of grace' and 'unconditional love'. Lastly, in Islam we have a story of man who starts out with a few nice teachings (stolen from Christianity, but that's another story). When he has amassed a certain amount of followers he degenerates into a ruthless warmongerer who slaughters and rapes and steals. The story ends with him dying, cursing the jews and christians. These stories are archetypes that are the TEMPLATES of one's culture and life structure. These templates are born out of ideologies; stories that are passed on down the generations; stories that can lead to misery or, on the other hand, peace and prosperity. What story are you in - a degenerate's story or an enlightened one?

This article and accompanying references proves that today's Islamic terrorism is indeed inspired by the life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad;

http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/JenniferKing50710.htm

While there is Islam there will always be violence as it is so easy to justify using the example and teachings of the main character of Islam, and too easy to recruit those brainwashed from childhood to revere a man who was nothing but a terrorist himself. The only difference between Nazism and Islam is that Isalm calls itself a religion, and that is far more dangerous and cancerous for this planet with increasing access to technology and WMDs

Irfan

I take your point, I really wonder at some of the issues that receive the bulk of posters - eg, domestic violence, homosexuality, religion as compared to job security, environment, our political leaders. It is indeed strange.

However, Ciel has made a good point - many of us have relatives in Britain - most of us are descended from the British Isles, and we feel a great affinity for London. I don't, but I am descended from celtic stock.

I fully endorse your sentiments in your article and agree with Ciel that a website would be a good idea.

Ignore the bigots and right-wing christian contingent - they're always inciting negatives about everyone except themselves. I also believe they are a minority (albeit a vocal one).

I would request that all religious leaders form a coalition against extremists of all religious/political persuasions and declare that terror and violence only perpetuates itself and is the antithesis to peace.

Thank you.

Aisha,

Few comments:
- I cannot be a Muslim if I don’t believe in Jesus and his teachings. We just don’t worship him. That’s all. ‘Muslims follow Mohammed’ is a myth that you created. Muslims follow the Koran and Mohammed is one of the prophets. In fact, he is the least mentioned prophet in the Koran.
- “while there is Islam there is violence” means you are brainwashed my dear. Just pick up the encyclopaedia Britannica and look at the history of wars in the last 20 centuries.
- By calling my religion all these names, you are not exactly following Jesus’ teachings are you? :):)
- Not sure were you have been for the last few centuries but Islam is a religion. It is fast growing even in Australia among non Muslims. Someone likes it for whatever reason, you don’t need to.
- Christianity became peaceful after the separation of Church and State my friend. Please re read your own history: very colourful! Religions only mirrors what people are like inside.
- There is many of your ‘brotherly love’ websites by fellow Christians. Interesting when you look up Google, these sites pay a premium to throw dirt on Muslims..ie well funded vilification.. We can’t do that because we love ‘your’ guy and he is our prophet as well! But that’s OK, I am sure you go home at night and think ‘you did a good job and that God is Love’! Unbelievable hypocrisy.

Finally, if you are a real Christian, you should appreciate that Muslims are at least monotheist; believe in Jesus, his message, his virgin birth and second coming.

Trinity,

I endorse your call on religious coalition against extremism. Perhaps Irfan’s next article should be about it.

Peace,
AK

Someone said, (and I can't remember who, unfortunately, so I can't give them credit) that you get terrorism when you combine a sense of moral superiority with a sense of economic and military inferiority.
Irfan, your appeal against anyone believing in their own moral superiority is very important. I believe most religious figures have preached humility, would that more of their followers took that idea to heart.
George Bush frightens me because he also claims a moral superiority. In my view, such claims are always dangerous.

Irfan, have you made your "call" in unambiguous terms on the forum "Islamic Sydney" ? I hope so, because there are a number of people there who will forefully argue that an Islamic replublic in Australia is their hearts desire.
Nice to see the variety of comments. All good.

Fellow_Human, I am a muslim apostate, and now an agnostic humanist, not a christian, but I have to keep it secret IRL. Why? Because of threats and pressure from family and friends. I hope you will wake up too! :-)

To the social justice crowd; you are very naive to imagine that Islamic terrorism is due to social injustice. If it were so, then please explain why there are no Tibetan suicide bombers? American Indian hijackers? Aboriginal mass murderers? Who ever heard of an eskimo flying planes into buildings? These people are just 'some' of the thousands of people who have suffered from injustices, more so than muslims. Secondly, why is it that nearly ALL Islamic terrorists are highly educated, wealthy and at least middle class? Go back to the beginning of my first paragraph of my post and you will have the answer.

There have been 2400 Islamic terrorist attacks since 9/11 http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

Until we name the enemy; the ideology of Prophet Muhammad, we will not defeat Islam.

Terrorism Knowledge Base; http://www.tkb.org/Home.jsp
Other sites;
www.jihadwatch.org
www.faithfreedom.org
Online book on the lifestory of Muhammad; www.prophetofdoom.net

Fellow_Human, I hope to see you in the forum of faithfreedom.org! I can only post twice a day so can't really debate with you. If you want to fight terrorism you have to also say no to Muhammad; he was Islam's first terrorist. See you at FFI