[graciegirl]

The thread on the awful shooting in San Bernardino has been taken over as a debate on guns.


I am worried about the insidious threat by a group defined by a religion. Being critical of anyone because of their religion is a no no, and yet a woman in Kentucky who is very far right was highly criticized for not issuing marriage licenses to gay people. I don't agree with that but she was acting according to her extreme religious beliefs. This group of Islamic terrorists are very conservative and very devout. Who can argue that that usually is an alright thing. Those folks usually become pastors and priests and Rabbi's and nuns and teachers in Christian schools...nice things, or at least fairly understandable to most of us. But this is a different thing going on.


I don't know anyone who really knows well someone who is wearing a burka or a cap. I don't know anyone who is a scholar of the Koran. I think that Islamic people who dress like westerners aren't radicalized, BUT Syeed Farook dressed like a westerner in his job as a health inspector.


We could usually tell if a family member was heading toward the convent because they would go to daily Mass and not hit their brother as often. But Islamic MEN go to the Mosque three times a day. (The women aren't allowed to go to the Mosque to pray, just for the PTA and stuff like that or am I wrong?)


I am not worried about this for us in The Villages because we don't have a large Muslim community but we moved from a subdivision with a mosque and my children and friends still live there.


How can we know when an Islamic person is heading along the path to being devout? Their family isn't going to tell on them, because I think they must be kinda proud of that.


Please don't be angry at me. This is on my mind. Does anyone know more than I do on this subject? I know it is probably politically incorrect to discuss it.