I have to choke to death on the bleating ignorance and the absolute psychotic reference in turn to explain their variation of stupidity.
In the first instance; the very person who’s essay , you read is a renowned and in FACT, and is on record several times ; is on record of somewhat and in contrary form to this publication of Bovine excrement; Just ask Kaiser or ASIO for HOW LONG> STUPID>
This essay and a perverted intent is a statement on the insane and absolute idiotic and depravity laden moronic intent perpetrated on any level of and on a Nation;

I WILL in a public FORUM; MAKE NOTE; Kaiser TRAD has a Very substantial RECORD OF PUBLICATIONS: _ ASIO Consigned to boot, and many of the brainless idiots have NO IDEA, Enjoy the Freddy Kruger Ideology. You deserve it

Polycarp, a few points:
You seem quite happy to illuminate all of the ills of the Islamic world yet see, what I presume as your own religion, through "rose-coloured" eyes.

The Qur'an is a very contradictory text: consequently you can read it any number of ways - there is nearly always a passage which can support the reading you desire. eg, here are some examples on the net. http://www.carm.org/islam/Koran_contradictions.htm

Islam - as with Christianity - is a very diverse religion: eg. compare sufism with wahhabism.

I agree that strict interpretations of ancient religious texts can lead to great harm; but Islam does not have a monopoly on this. Some have noticed an acceptance of slavery in sections of both the Old and New Testament to justify slavery. The Ku Klux Klan is an extreme example of this.

Moreover, extremism does not need to be inspired by religion. Take the hundreds of suicide bombers of the nationalist Tamil Tigers.

I agree that violent extremism, in all its forms, should be condemned. But I feel that you are being just a little hypocritical. Furthermore I believe that you are making gross simplifications when trying to analyse the recent wave of Islamic militancy

Hi R0bert
My understanding (not that I've ever had anything to do with it) is that male genital mutilation (circumcision) is heavily frowned upon today for the unnecessary and outdated "procedure" it clearly was. Recent media discussions where I live indicate that parents who want it done will never find a doctor to do it.

Nicky

Hi Kroizy... welcome to OLO.. I've not seen much from your keyboard.. *vigorous handshake* :)

The position adopted by many here is similar to your's, though yours demonstrates more understanding and open-ness than some others.

Examinator says:

Part-1.
"Arguing by specific examples simply devolves into a contest of examples inevitably resulting in more heat than light."

Part-2.
"Polycarp resorts to Google searches of Islamic documents to make his idiosyncratic position. In truth this approach too has its fatal flaws in that there are equally highly contentious quotations in the Bible it’s all in the individuals’ interpretation."

EXAMMY.. "hoooooRAY" as for part-1... you are showing exactly WHY I personally focus on the IDEAS and foundations of the Islamic faith RATHER than just point to contemporary incidents to prove a point.
Even in my Mumbai thread, I'm looking at ideas, not just the incident.

BUT...then.. after a good start which clearly supports my approach... you spiral out of control into part-2 calling me out on google searches and an indiosyncratic. Obviously meaning that anyone who uses google to find ORIGINAL sources :) will have an idiosyncratic position... do you by any chance use gooooogle? hmmmm?

The problem with what some call my 'idiosyncratic' position is that they have not actually studied it :) sorry..painful but true.
Might even seem arrogant.. but it's a simple fact.

EXAMPLE. I used the same line of reasoning of "Islam is a violent faith" with reference to Surah 9:29 and then the hadith Bukhari where that verse is quoted to justify invading the Persians.. with a Bosnian Muslim from the Islamic stand just yesterday (MBS festival)..
He said "I don't disagree with anything you said"

All it takes is:

a) Some STUDY
b) Some DISCUSSION

It irritates me when people say 'criticizing ideas is promoting hate' .. good grief.. ALL political debate would cease if we believed that.

PS.. "contentious Bible sayings" ? choose your weapon :)

CHALLENGE 'Show where Jesus commanded his followers to fight/kill unbelievers' :)

polycarp. "How is it not rational to base one's understanding of Islam on the teaching of Islam and the example of it's founder? "

this has been explained to you 100 times, and not a few times in this thread. god, you're dumb.

tang: "Polycarp's theory that Islamic terrorism is linked to Islam's Holy Book is sadly proven to be true."

yes, if by "proven" you mean "endless god-on-my-side ranting".

kroizyjack, good luck. you'll soon distinguish the thoughtful christians here from the religious barbarians.

Banjo
You do me a disservice I too am not interested in religious debates as they all boil down to personal choice. My point to you was simply to point out that argument based on specific instances are futile.
If I misunderstood your post I'm sorry In the context of the topic I was trying to point out for every " evil" in Islam there are evils in Chritianity.
Challenging the author's stance on the points he raised also comes down to the context of the observer's cultural perspective