'And then there is the muslim who is suffering from some sort of "cognitive dissonance", in the same manner as a child (the author) might refuse to believe that their father was a thief.'

As I said earlier, racists positioning themselves as 'experts' on a Islam and now any poster who identifies them for the racists that they are.

Didn't you know Jesus was an Arab?

Sam said wrote

"when a whole group is targeted as one, something is very wrong"

Yep.

Let's have a look at a really prejudiced group. Let's look at British Muslims. Policy Exchange has published a report on literature found at Mosques and Islamic "cultural centres" throughout Britain.

See:

http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/307.pdf

The subtext of the report is that British Islam has been "hijacked" by nasty Wahhabbists, mainly from Saudi Arabia. Let's see:

Quote:

"And if he apostatizes after that, HIS HEAD SHOULD BE CHOPPED OFF, according to the Hadith: 'Whoever changes his religion, kill him'[emphasis added].

Fatawa Islamiyah - Islamic Verdicts, volume 5;

found at the East London Mosque; the London Central Mosque and Islamic Centre (the ‘Regent’s Park Mosque’)."

(Page 4 of the Policy Exchange Report)

Are we supposed to believe that this does not represent the views of the elders at the London Central Mosque? They were just distributing it in a fit of absent-mindedness?

Note that the quote is taken from Fatawa Islamiya, a source regarded as authoritative by Sunnis. The hadiths appear to be Bukhari 9.83.17 and 9.84.57, also regarded as authoritative.

Here is a quote from page 19:

"...undercover reporters were sent into certain mosques, where they filmed and voice-recorded speaker after speaker uttering hate speech against unbelievers, Jews, women, and homosexuals. The language was extreme, clear, and, at times, even threatening."

Anyone reading the Policy Exchange report with an open mind is driven ineluctably to two conclusions:

--The sentiments expressed in the literature reviewed in the Policy Exchange report may not represent the views of and actual majority of British Muslims; but they do reflect the position of a SIZEABLE MINORITY.

--The literature in the various Mosques may reflect the views of a majority of the British Imams. How else to explain the absence of a widespread outcry against such filth?

An Australian reader cannot help wondering to what extent the literature reflects the sentiments of Australian Muslims.

Evolution

"Dark ages" is an apt description

Liz

"As I said earlier, racists positioning themselves as 'experts' on a Islam and now any poster who identifies them for the racists that they are."

It has been explained to you before by stevenlmeyer that Islam is not a race. Yet you persist in using this term. Having contempt for Islam is not racist either, just as having contempt for Nazism is not racist.

Is'nt it funny how the mind commits all sorts of mental gymnastics to avoid something.

"Didn't you know Jesus was an Arab? "

What has this red herring got to do with anything?

You seem not to want to know about Islam and the rantings of its mentally insane prophet. You don't have to be an expert on Islam to know what Muhammed's doctrines are. Just get a Quran and have a read. You may then begin to understand why people, even Arabs :-) find Islam disgusting. You could also check this site out put together by an Iranian chap: http://www.news.faithfreedom.org/

As stevenlmeyer implied, you must think that Islam is special, needing some sort of protection or something.

Hello all, and especially Liz. Liz, please, Jesus was not an Arab, he was a jew.
A confusion often arises because both Jews and Arabs are now called semitic races. This makes many think that antisemitism means not being prejudiced against both Muslims and Jews. It doesn't. Antisemitism is a technical term for being prejudiced against Jews. Speaking out about Islam seems nowadays to be called Islamophobia, as if it's a disease that can be treated.
If you believe the story, Jesus became the founder of a new religion, named after one of the names for him - Christ.
Islam claims jesus as a muslim prophet, but the picture Islam paints of him has nothing to do with the picture christianity paints of Jesus. If you've read the apocraphal gospel of Thomas, you'll see a much closer resemblance to the Muslim picture. Christianity rejected this picture of jesus as being wrong. Read it and laugh - it's a riduculous gnostic fiction that isn't even well written (and I've read it in the greek).
Islam also claims many characters from the Torah and Old Testament, but each of the Islamic stories are so different from the sources as to be unrecognisable. In many cases, Islam has confused one or more characters in a hopeless jumble, and usually changes the names of the characters to lose the meaning in their names.
I'm an athiest, having studied christianity at some length. I've been reading about Islam for some years, and have not only had my athiesm affirmed, but have become genuinely alarmed at what can be found in the Koran and Hadith, and the use that many Muslims make of that material right now. Does that mean I have a disease?