muso,
Quote:Generally I've kept out of inane attacks on Islam
Do you mean keep out as in you don't refute them? It's a waste of my time doing it, and I'm a Muslim, so likewise I'm sure you'd probably not want to waste your time refuting them.
Quote:My personal observations are that the Muslim people I have known are like any other people
Generally speaking most Muslims are just ordinary everyday people. However when their countries are invaded, and their apartments bombed into dust, sometimes they get a little angry, true. And as we can see in Africa, so too do Christians sometimes. People in exceptional circumstances often do exceptional things.
Quote:and they vary according to the local customs. The degree to which they interpret the Qur'an seems to vary too
Most everyday Muslims don't really interpret the Qur'an at all. Most take the interpretations of qualified scholars of Islamic jurisprudence. There are obviously differences in Islamic jurisprudence, and of course different peoples often adhere to rulings to varying degrees as well. But this is not necessarily according to local custom. It may be in some cases, but often you can have very practising people living right next door to people who are not so practising.
Quote:but I do see that there are serious dysfunctional aspects in all cultures, including Western culture for that matter. Nobody is perfect.
Agreed.
Quote:A lot of the attacks that I've seen on these boards have fallen into the category of people who live in glasshouses throwing large rocks, generally in the direction of Islam, and I believe that's the message you're trying to get across with this thread.
It certainly was. But it seemed to go over quite a lot of heads, thankfully not all
Quote:That includes the children who are killed at Palestinian schools as well as ordinary Israelis who cower in fear every time a missile explodes in their neighborhood.
If your statement said Israeli children I'd agree with you. However, trying to equate the situation of Palestinian civilians and Israeli civilians is not quite the same. Palestinians didn't goto Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, USA etc. and start booting Jews out of their homes, or start committing violence against them. Jews on the other hand did come to the Palestinians and do that. The caged prisoner stuck inside the Gaza strip, is not equivalent to the Israeli sitting outside the fence, most likely in that persons former family home/land.