I knew when I read the title of this post that it was a loaded question that would get some very strong responses. It didn't ask "what can we do about Islamic extremist violence"', just "what can we do about Islamic violence?". To say that Jewish and Christian religions are nonviolent is to forget history. Christian history includes the inquisition, the burning of witches in Salem, and anti-semetic pogroms throughout Russia and Eastern Europe for centuries, eventually resulting in the holocaust. As a Jew, I have always questioned the violence in the Old Testament, where a supreme being floods the world and kills almost every living soul. We celebrated Passover in April, in which G-d frees the Jews from Egyptian slavery by sending plagues that culminate in the killing of every Egyptian first born child....innocent children all! One of the ways we built our great country was by the wholesale slaughter of the heathen Indians. So, I think we are in a very fluid time where we are in the process of learning how to balance our constitutional freedoms against our need from safety from terrorists, both of the Muslim extremist variety and the home grown Timothy McVeighs as well as the school and mall mass murderers. They are all terrorists to me, because if something were to happen to one of my grandchildren whether it be a Muslim extremist, a Westboro Baptist church bible thumping nut job, an antigovernment militant, or a mentally deranged teenager with a weapon, my heartache would be the same. Except for a very, very few incidents of antisemitism in my life, I have experienced nothing but love and respect from Christians and Muslims I have known. But, we cannot ignore our histories or we will be in danger of repeating our mistakes.
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