YngNLuvnIt, I presume you are speaking to me, as you are quoting from my posts. Yes, evolution is a scientific theory. I don’t think anyone is arguing otherwise. A scientific theory is not a theory in the general sense of the word. It is a theory that can be empirically tested.

http://home.comcast.net/~fsteiger/theory.htm

I’d like to know which people base their “moral codes, practices, values, institutions and rituals” on such a theory. These last few items have little to do with scientific theory.
I don’t, personally, and I don't think many people do. They base them on other ideas, such as selections from Greek philosophy, inter alia.
“I think if anyone wants you to believe something, they should be able to prove it with objective evidence.” Your response to this is completely illogical. I wasn’t talking about faith here. I would have said “faith”, if that is what I meant.
I don’t happen to have that "faith" that you speak of myself. It is not that I don’t believe in God, it is just that I don’t know whether God exists or not.
I am not a “secular humanist” either.
I don’t like my ideas being labelled by any sort of “ism”. I don’t “belong” to any particular human grouping espousing a “doctrine” of any sort.
If you can find a way to prove to me by objective evidence and undeniable facts that God exists, please have a try. I personally don't think it's possible, which is why I'm an agnostic.
And don’t resort to “Holy Books” written thousands of years ago by primitive minds, as these are not objective evidence.
Yours is a belief system that is not based on facts or logic. Please, go on believing, if it makes you happy.

Most posters are close to reality and I share the majority view , that to me seems to be the author is blinkered.
While far worse cartoons have been posted in govement owned middle east news papers targeting Jew and Christian.
Most who opose these cartoons from Demark did nothing about those.
Some conrol of what appears in print even here is wrong too but we in the west are like it or not unlikely to carry signs asking for murder to be commited or even riot over a cartoon.
Un ashamed and honestly I question multi culturism, some cultures appear to question my right to mine.
This growing conflict is not the normal state of the world.

Benjamin (& Matthew S)

I am aware of the Egyptian Christians dilemma and it is a complex issue.

First, there was no history or record of discrimination against Egyptian Christians before the 1970s (specifically 1977).

The rise of Islamist extremism supported by President Sadat (and later wahhabism) transformed Egyptian Christians into an internal political opponent.

The trigger was a conflict between Pope Shenouda & President Sadat on the peace treaty with Israel (The Coptic Orthodox Pope instructed Egyptian Christians not to visit Jerusalem, while Sadat did).

Sadat saw the Pope as a political risk and the conflict escalated until the Pope was under church arrest in 1979.

Few things to consider:

- There is discrimination in Egypt. Period. Political and religious activists are harassed and discriminated against not because of their religion but because of their pro-democracy or anti-corruption. Dr Saad Ibrahim the founder of Ibn Khaldoun is a Muslim.
- Most Egyptians don’t care and don’t discriminate against each other. The discrimination I noticed is from the religious/ practising one. The discrimination there is actually mutual (ie Muslims employ their own and Christians employ their own).
- Some sites that promote fairer go for Egyptian Christians are not all that honest but have a separatist agenda. To give you a tip, they will have one or both of the following on their sites:
o Their ‘demands’ will include an ethnicity based democracy or parliament representation.
o They would refer to themselves as the ‘Native copts of Egypt’ which is a myth. Copts are Muslims or Christians. In fact, some of my own family in the south of Egypt remained Christians.

Many Egyptians today, Muslims or Christians engage in better community building sites. I have an article on my blogspot re the attack on the Alexandria church. www.musliminsight.blogspot.com

God, it's FH again... But I shouldn't always have a go at him, should I?

Here's to Athiests in general, something that I picked up from your fellow athiest some time ago, paraphrased:

At least they allow me to wear my "Jesus sucks" T-shirt walking down the street. But the Muslims won't let me do that (ie. wearing a "Mohammed sucks" t-shirt).

Morale of the story?

May you enjoy attacking Christians.... But when the Army of Islam lunatics come marching down every street in the western world, you'd better know who your friends are. Good Luck !!

I think the issue here is that Islam is not really a religion, but a political system pretending to be a religion. As such, it seeks power. It sees freedom of expression as an obstacle to gaining power, because Islam wishes to be free of criticism (in the main - some cultures within islam allow criticism from within, but the results of this criticism can never be relied upon).
Insulting someone's religion should be a right - it's the only way societies change: by brave people standing out from the crowd and saying something different, and what they're saying is often contemptable. But low and behold, a few years later what they have said is often seen as ordinary, as the majority have reflected upon the originally bold statement and found some truth in it. And so, societies change.
Islam mostly wants to revert to some golden age, marked by ignorance and oppression. In this, its political agenda is clear - a return to a pre-fuedal society where the political elites murder eachother and the general population with impunity.
If the world says that we cannot insult anyone's religion (which is a take it or leave it affair, after all, except in Muslim countries where renouncing your religion can lead to your murder), then we're on the way to religious totalitarianism taking over.
The cartoons are only a joke, so get over it.

Personally I think that adherents of any religion, but especially those of Islam, should move out of the Dark Ages and into the 21st Century. Religion has been the cudgel used by the few to maintain power over the many, thereby causing the many to commit in the name of their religion, so many atrocities down the ages. I think that any rational person of today would see the error of the ways of religion and put it in its place - the past. Anyone who believes in a god of any description, must surely lack in themselves, the ability to take control of their own life and take the consequences for their own actions.