Goddess

This is true. But at least they have some kind of centralized doctrine. And some sanctions for misbehaviour. For instance, you can be a wife beater and still be a Catholic. But your wife will receive help. The Church may offer counselling or suggest counselling. There are resources provided for the wife. The man would likely be considered a "bad" Catholic and they would try to correct him. There doesn't seem to be any centralized doctrine for Islam - everyone is free to interpret it however they want. Maybe this is the problem. Would a Muslim wife beater be considered a "bad" Muslim? Do the women receive any kind of help? Are the men counselled to stop beating their wives? No, women are considered chattel and can be dealt with however the man likes. The imams who produce videos on "How To Beat Your Wife" - are they removed from their positions of authority?No, it's an accepted practice, even if some don't agree with wife beating. A Catholic who beats his wife will not be accepted in society. But a Muslim who beats his wife is accepted by his peers, since he is free to interpret the Koran as he wishes. This is what makes it dangerous - that everyone is free to interpret it however they want and there are no sanctions for bad behaviour (definite sanctions for westerners, though) and no centralized doctrine to refer to. There is a scripture that I always remember (I think from Hebrews?) that says "The word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword, able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart." If violence and chaos is in your heart, then you will interpret the words of the book according to your heart's desires. It's the same for the Koran. YOU may choose to interpret it in a kind way, but I have yet to see a Msulim man show respect or kindness to his wife or any other females. I know it upsets you but this is what I've seen and experienced.

Well, I doubt the neighbour who was constantly smacking his burka clad wife, is very vocal about improving women's rights in Islam. But you could be right....maybe the smacking and yelling is just a front for a very kind man.

Yes, I see you do that and I watch/read it all. I have a freind who's a big supporter of all things Islamic and I see it all from her too. I'm aware that not "all" Muslims have these same views. But as I've discussed with you, the vast majority of the ones I have personally met and interacted with fall into the violent, angry, vengeful, wife-beating category. The one on this board is just the same - loves and revels in punishment, revenge, violence. I'm sorry, that's just what I see. I can tell a weak argument from an intelligent analysis. When you posted the statement from a couple hundred Islamic authorities, and someone said, "They aren't real Muslims then" - that's a weak arguement. But it really is just a drop in the bucket compared to the vast numbers of Muslims worldwide. I get the impression that most of them are silent because while they might not agree with ISIS methods, they agree with the ideology.

I "get" what you're trying to say.....and I agree to a point. The Catholic church needed to be prodded by government/media to clean up their pedophile priests. I'm sure the situation is still present but I think it's not the problem it was in the past (I hope?) The way I see it, the Muslim faith needs the same thing. Whether it's government stepping in or media shining the spotlight on it, they need to be prodded to do the right thing and deal with their extremist issues. Just as the Catholic church denied the extent of their pedo problem until they were forced to deal with it, Muslims deny the extent of their jihadist problem.

It could be because I'm less likely to be present at an abortion clinic than I would be on an airplane, at a club, in an office building, etc....... So, I'm not too sure about your statement above, dialamah...... http://ijr.com/2016/01/518045-a-study-showed-right-wing-extremism-kills-more-than-islamic-terrorism-then-a-real-researcher-looked-into-it/ The New America study does not count violent jihadist attacks from self-radicalized or “lone wolf” terrorists who swear allegiance to Islam in the same manner as terrorist attacks committed by a card-carrying member of Islamist terror organizations. If a terrorist yells “Allahu Akbar!” before going on a murder spree, you see, that's not enough. However, when right-wing terrorist attacks are coded by New America, those are attributed in a loose manner to mere statements made by the perpetrators that fit the left-wing's shibboleth that racist or anti-government views define someone as a “right-winger.” Thus, the conclusions are not only questionable, they are borderline deceptive. The professor concludes: The professor's findings are consistent with terrorism incidents listed at non-partisan sources like the Global Terrorism Index and the Global Terrorism Database. It is certainly not true that “right wing extremists” kill more Americans than jihadists, or that they are “deadlier.”

I don't. I'm an avid traveller and I'm a bit afraid to go anywhere right now. And it's not because of Christians bombing, beheading, etc. I think what you're missing is the EXTENT of Islamic extremism. Are you saying that Christian extremism is as prevalent as Islamic extremism right now?

You can't tolerate ANY free speech. That's why all your topics have your made-up "rules".

A link for what? The testing? There's quite a few companies to choose from. Just Google and see which one suits you.

I'm not "feeling smug" as I am neither Christian, nor Muslim. But I agree with Betsy, you can't compare ordinary crime to crimes against humanity. And I don't believe it's 100% just the media picking on Muslims. There is clearly a problem with extremists in that religion and it goes beyond the WBC picketing at veteran's funerals and abortion clinics. It needs to addressed - why that religion seems to breed extremism. But I believe it needs to be addressed by Muslims themselves and will not be solved by Westerners. It will never be addressed as long as they keep telling themselves that there is no problem. Edit to say: I will read your links when I get home tonight but if you're trying to point out that Christians also have issues, you're preaching to the choir. I feel as I stated above. there's a problem with extremism in that religion and they need to address it.

That's my understanding too. Apparently some testing covers more recent genealogy and some goes back further. My results match pretty much what my recent genealogy is, from what I was told from grandparents so I'm guessing it's pretty accurate.

Yes. I'm glad I did it. It confirmed some things I already knew from my grandmother. My American grandfather used to tell me that I was living proof "there was a ni##er in every family's woodpile" as I'm the only one with dark curly hair. Looks like he was wrong. Not that having black genes would be bad, I tell myself I took the best of each nationality, LOL And my grandfather's prejudice died with him.

Not sure. I also had a small Western European percentage - I'm guessing that would be the small amount of German ancestry I already knew about.

My birthday present to myself this year was to get my DNA tested. My results were 40% Eastern European (I knew about the Romanian/Czech background) 30% British/Irish (I knew about that, too) Surprisingly, I also got 15% Scandinavian and 10% Italian/Greek. I'm the only one in my family that seems to take after the Romanian/Czech side - dark, curly hair and 5'4". The rest of my 5 siblings are tall (6 feet tall and over) and blond, straight hair. So I wonder if their results would show the same but with varying percentages? Like maybe they would get a higher percentage of Scandinavian, since they are all tall and blond. The Scandinavian is where I get the ice blue eyes, I think. Anyways, quite interesting! Has anyone else done the DNA testing?

All I know is that you don't see the Amish or the Quakers runing around trying to convince the rest of the world that they're "the religion of peace."

Your view of "justice" is one of the most warped lines of thinking. You think "justice" is nothing more than punishment and revenge. It's not. Revenge is like poison to your heart and soul.

I wonder if the Turkish army/navy knows there's someone on a Canadian political forum giving away all their moves......

So does Canada.

None of this carnage delights me. None of this make me LOL or cheer. Maybe it's because I'm an atheist. **shrugs**

I'm sorry about your pets, Altai. I think they add a lot to a home life and teach you important things. Up until last year, I had 2 dogs - Hugo (chihuahua) and Whiskey (Chi-weenie) Last fall, I had to put my chihuahua, Hugo, to sleep. He was very old. But it was still sad. Then last April, my ex-husband was going through a rough time and asked if he could have our dog Whiskey for a few months. (We live about 5 hours apart, are divorced 5 years, but are still freinds and Whiskey had been his dog, too.) Three weeks later, the fires happened in Fort McMurray. On the Tuesday of the mass evacuation, my EX called me at noon to assure me that everything was okay with the fires. At 2:30 pm I got called out of a meeting by an emergency call from him - the neighborhood was on fire. The evacuation went from "voluntary" to "mandatory" in our neighborhood within 10 mins. No one had time to get home. And Whiskey was home. My EX was crying on the side of the road, he could not get to the house to rescue Whiskey, as the police were already enforcing the evacuation and said they would arrest him if he tried to go back. I heard of people in our area who were going into houses to rescue pets, and I hoped that Whiskey was rescued. I searched for him for weeks, had a few close calls that looked like him, but were not him when I got there. I finally had to accept that he was gone. I have always had rescue dogs and maybe I will get another one some day, but right now I am still heartbroken over the circumstances of Whiskey's death. In the picture, Whiskey is the red dog and Hugo is the black one.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37908782 Is this one Christian or atheist? The article doesn't say, so by Altai logic, he is automatically Christian or atheist.

Oh, okay. France deserves all the terrorist attacks. Got it.

I don't think this is working so well, certainly not in other countries. I don't know why we are expecting it to work in Canada when it's not working anywhere else.

I disagree. People's motives for doing things are very important.

Why does this excite you?

I did make a statement about the topic. I'm allowed to do that.