Islam is not the only ideology to cause terror.

Communist China has done much to beat people into accepting their ideology. I just read an interesting book about this called "As Bold as a Lamb" by Ken Anderson. It is the story of a Chinese pastor who was put in a prison camp for 20 years. Every day after hard labor and sheer exhaustion he had to endure 2 hour long lecturers as to why religion was false and atheism was true and why the communist ideology was the correct one. He was seperated from his wife and family (his wife died in another prison). The case is not unique. Many many people suffered the same plight.

By the way, interestig post Xena. You wrote

"A very conservative interpretation of the bible leads to the christian identity's conservative and right-wing agenda. They are exclusive and have been responsible for a lot of terrorism on their own part eg; anti-abortionist Clayton Waagner.

Anti-Immigration is also a part of the agenda – many posts here have been against immigration – not all from Christian extremists, however enough have been placed."

You forgot to mention how Christians like William Wilberforce abolished the slave trade in the British empire and how eventually this led to the abolish of slavery in the Islamic world.

You also talked a lot about terrorism. You managed to name just one man who called himself a Christian who did something extreme. I don't suppose you could name another 15 so called Christian terrorist attacks so we could at least reach the same number that are being commited by Muslims in places like Iraq almost every week? I wonder how many terrorist Christian organizations you could name?

Xena, I think it is wrong to kill those who perform abortions. But think about this. If a few hundred years ago one man killed another man for trading slaves and he hated the slave trade what would you think about that?

If you lived 200 hundred years ago and someone said to you, "If you don't support slavery then don't buy a slave. If other people want to own a slave isn't it their right? How dare you interfere with their choice!" How would you feel? Would you respect their position and remain silent? The person who looks at owning slaves as everyones right is saying that slaves aren't human. The person who says that women should have a choice to kill their own child are saying that a fetus is not human. Pro choices and pro lifers both believe that innocent people should not be killed. The issue in the debate is, "Is a fetus a human being?" If they are they are innocent and should be protected rather than killed.

It is hard work trying to bring everyone down to the same level.

Here are some things we should be concerned about.

The punishment according to the Quran is cutting off the thieves hand which is enforced in Saudi (not by an extremist group but by a government.

Now, imagine you are a politician in Saudi Arabia and you say in parliament, "I think the punishment for thieves should be a fine or prison sentence" and someone yells out (as they are prone to do), "Do you think you know better than Allah? Do you think you know better than God!?" Now you are in trouble. You could be labelled an enemy of Allah (See Surah 5:33 to see what happens to the enemies of Allah http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/ ). Perhaps this is why some Australian Imams are saying that the Sharia is non-compatable with democracy? Islamic Law (Sharia) is very detailed.

It would seem that Islam is not compatable with democracy (I suggest you read Romans 13 to find out the Christian view regarding government http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2013&version=31 )

Christian terrorism
From Wikipedia,
Christian terrorism refers to terroristic acts or doctrine motivated by the promotion of Christianity, either putatively or actually. Examples include the assassination and threatening of abortion doctors—such as James Charles Kopp's shooting of Dr. Barnett Slepian, and the tactics of strategic rape and abduction of child soldiers by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda—linking each of these examples is the claim by those committing the acts of terrorism that such acts are performed in furtherance of Christian goals or teachings…
.

….. Often, their activities are rooted in pre-existing mutual hatred, such as the case is with the conflict in Northern Ireland, which has roots traceable as far back as medieval England. While some of the Christian terrorist groups active today may be motivated by the prospect of converting subjects to join their faith, others have territorial/political motives for fighting. Still others have more in common with Nazi ideology than with religious ideology, and work primarily with racist ideals, such as white supremacy.

List of Christian Terrorist Organizations
• Christian Identity movement
• Ku Klux Klan (A racist Protestant Christian organization. )
• The Order (1980s-present)
• Lord's Resistance Army (Christian/Pagan/Muslim) (1987-present) (Uganda)
• Nagaland Rebels (1948-present) (Nagaland)

Monday, July 18, 2005
Christian Terrorist Rudolph Sentenced
What the Rightwing Press Will not Say

Notorious Christian terrorist Eric Rudolph was sentenced to two life terms on Monday. The one-time fugitive had carried out four bombings that terrorized the southeastern areas of the United States. Among his crimes were the blowing up of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed a policeman, and a bombing of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

As his sister-in-law made clear, Rudolph is driven by the ideology of the "Christian Identity" hate group. Terry Nichols of the Oklahoma City bombing was likewise connected to Christian identity and their "Elohim City".

Source: http://www.juancole.com/2005/07/christian-terrorist-rudolph-sentenced.html

Christian Terrorism in Northeast India

Here on this page you will find several reports and news items on the shocking amount of terrorism caused by the Christian militant groups in Northeast India,

Source
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/christian_terrorism_in_northeast_india.htm

Trinity, I looked up the sites you posted. Did you look up mine?

The Klu Klux Klan hay?

I find it strange (if what you say is true) that the once head of the Klu Klux Klan Johnny Lee Clary became a Christian. I also found it interesting that Mr Clary only knew a couple of Bible verses when he was the head of the Klan. If the Klan is a Christian organization it is one which doesn’t pay much attention to the Bible. In fact that was one of the things that eventually led Clary to read the Bible to try and find verses to support the Klan’s view. The end result? He came to Christ and now defends black people and has written books which expose the Klan. Here is Johnny Lee Clary’s story http://www.johnnyleeclary.com/Life%20Summary.htm

You mentioned the "The Christian Identity Movement"

I met one of these blokes once and he knew next to nothing about the Bible. In Martin Walter’s “The Kingdom of the Cults” he shows how the Christian identity movement (or British Israelism) twists the Bible to the extreme (to say the least). Below are some links to the Christian identity movement

http://www.carm.org/list/christian_identity.htm
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/c106.html

I looked up the LRA on the Wikipedia

Quote: "How the leaders of the LRA reconcile their apparent Christian beliefs and their campaign of terror and bloodshed is not understood".

Isn’t it odd that where there are lots of Muslims who know the Quran well there is a lot of violence against non-Muslims but most of the violence by these "Christian terrorist" organizations happens where there are few Christians who don’t seem to know the Bible. If Christianity is really so violent shouldn’t the majority of attacks by Christians be happening in places where there are few non-Christians and lots of Christians who know the Bible well ? Islamic extremists know the Quran very well.

Here is a copy of the letter which was written by Mohammed to the Omani people which is on display at Sohar Fort, Sultanate of Oman. http://www.answering-islam.org/Muhammad/oman.htm

Jesus never said or wrote anything like that.

To the conservative christian contingent - it is very upsetting to have your religion criticised isn't it? Makes you sad, angry and defensive. You feel that you have to fight back don't you - after all its your belief system that is at stake here. How dare others insult your religion! So you churn out the hyperlinks, the arguments as to why your religion is better than anybody else's. No one understands how you feel.

Well, maybe someone does understand. A lot of Muslims must be feeling sad, angry and defensive right now. Perhaps it is time to stop with the criticism and start with the co-operation and respect for one another.

Just a thought......

A follower of Jesus Christ does not have to defend Him, his life stands alone from any defence we might like to make. Our defence is inferior to his character and behaviour. Examine Him, apart from his followers.

The term Christian Religion is a system of belief held that may reflect some of his teachings. We may be ashamed to defend this as it is often corrupt, and controlled by men with evil intent.

Any religion / idiology that is enforced upon a person denies the individual the right of choice. Jesus gave choice, he said any one who follows me must take up his cross. It is the choice of self denial, of any aspirations for power, control or pleasure.