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Well it took us and the rest of the Western Hemisphere quite a bit of time and a hard road but through Judeo-Christian teachings, and a respect for the rule a law our democracy has finally reached a maturity and understanding of individual rights, etc. I do agree with those posters who remind us that it is a waste of time going back in history to address the OP's fundamental question. The question is relevant for only today.

The problem with the Arab world is that their still tribal and such will never be united. Compare this to the United States wherein despite racial/ethnic divides citizens unite for the common good. This is the essential issue with immigration wherein assimilation to the American experience and thinking is necessary to protect the common good. This is why it is tragic that some ethic-American are radicalized to go against their country (American terrorist)

I do not deal in absolutes. so while some members of the Islamic faith declare jihad not all do. and this will continue because of the tribal nature of these countries. Tribes cannot be governed their personal perspective as to their religion and the nature their tribal customs will continue to dictate their course of events.

So I believe the only effective way of dealing with Islam violence is to find ways to united these societies in democratic practice. Until then keep your weapons loaded.

Sharia Law can gain power here in America. all one has to do is look at the fact that Wiccan church is the 7th largest in the world.

:agree::agree: Sadly!

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.

:BigApplause:

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what i could never understand is what could cause such a hatered for a religous group to cause a holacost angainst that group. What did the American indians do to cause such a holacost and what did the jewish people in Germany do to cause a holacost. What causes people to be anti-semetic. Why ??

Any person that that is willing to believe and act on their religious teachings is a danger to us all. ALL faiths encourage violence against others if they differ from their specific religion. When it comes to violence, I see very little difference between Christian and any other belief. The less educated the individual, the easier it is to lead them toward acts of violence. Religious leaders of all faiths have used fear to keep the masses obedient to those in power for thousands of years.

Brown Eye vs Blue Eye
 

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I very much agree with your statement..

I too try to respect others and celebrate cultural and religious differences, but I am really scared when people embrace the idea of killing me and the people I love for religious reasons. And, I wish that the people who speak for the Muslim community would denounce the bombings in such a way that I thought they meant it and I believed that they didn't think it was the right thing to do. Every time they were asked on camera that I saw they didn't denounce but talked about how they were being badly treated.

My experiences with a university librarian from Mosul, Iraq.
 

Very well put. I went to the University of Denver in 1983-1984 to get a MA in Librarianship and Information Management. There was a small group of Muslims from various Islamic countries who befriended me after I started to hang out with a librarian from the University of Mosul in Iraq named Mohammad Mahmood. He had very different views from some of the other Muslims whose ideas were each different from another and molded by their families, mosques, nations, etc. Mahmood was a brother of one of Saddam Hussein's military leaders so he was a bit zealous in his opinions. I never met his wife for instance as she always had to stay in another room and the Muslim men did not bring their wives to Mahmood's apartment out of respect for his philosophy and religious views.

The Iran-Iraq war was going on at this time and Mahmood would tell me stuff he got from his brother.

After graduation, I started a correspondence with Mahmood who was back in Mosul. We remained friends for a short amount of time as his views on America became more and more radicalized as the war drag on (the Iran-Iraq war). His views became too anti-US and anti-West for me and mine seemed to have become too whatever for his own approach to life.

My point in this is that Muslims come from different countries, regions, families, and have different educational backgrounds. All kinds of forces can mold how anyone thinks and feels. Mahmood's brother was also involved with the Iran-Iraq war I some way as a military leader and these kind of relationships can also have a dramatic affect on how views develop.

Mahmood even started talking about joining the fight against Iran even though he seemed like one of the most gentle of people when I knew him at the University of Denver.

Monkei ... To argue that the proclivity for bloody violence amongst modern day Christians is no better or worse than the proclivity amongst contemporary Isalamicsts is to literally deny the reality of what everyone's eyes can easily see in the news. Why would you even attempt to make such an obviously inaccurate assertion ??

:clap2::clap2::clap2:

Nite … with respect to your comment about what did the Indians “do” to cause such a holocaust (ie by the Europeans against the Native Americans) … they didn’t do anything. They just ended up on the losing side of history. No one’s fault per se … just the way aggressive humans interact when one culture expands and the opponent retreats or is overwhelmed. My great grandmother was a Cherokee so I’m not being critical of Indians per se.

But, for purposes of historical consistency, do you ever wonder what the Gallic tribes of modern day France “did” to cause the Romans to invade and conquer them during Caesar’s time? For that matter, does it still upset you and strike you as unfair that the Vandals, Goths and various other “barbarian” tribes overran the Roman empire? Or what about when the Romans sacked Carthage to include salting the earth such that it literally vanished from the face of the earth? Just asking …

The Crusades killed millions of Muslims in the name of a Christian God. Just to name one example.

Gus ... you seem to have a one sided view of history. People always cite the Crusades in the manner you do, but never mention that Islam conquered the Holy Land several centuries before then. In other words, Islam took the area by force from what was then called Christendom, and to some extent the Crusades was a counter reaction.

Also, lots of people where killed ... no doubt about that, but I'm unaware of any reliable historical source that totals the actual combat casualties in "the millions."

While all cultures have their faults, the history of Islam is largely one of conversion by military conquest whereas Christianity largely spread through the Gospel and voluntary conversions. Muhammad was a (very effective) warrior whereas Christ was a pacifist. In other words, there is indeed an obvious difference between the two religions in this regard.

The OP who started this thread asked what can be done about Islamic violence? Given that it's been going strong since 630AD or so, it's a very good question.

Many have posted about what Christians and others have done in the PAST and it is true that many atrocities have been committed in the name of whatever God you believe in. I think the issue is...what is happening TODAY and what can we do, if anything, to stem the tide of violence in the name of God.

Did I fail to say in THIS DAY AND AGE????? I say what I said again. I don't know of any large group of Christians or Jews out to kill in the NAME of their religion, in this day and age. There are little pockets of extremists like the pastor in Florida that burnt the Quran and the family who ruin funerals of good people. But for the most part people aren't being Christian martyrs much these days. Whereas the more involved in the Muslim faith a person is the more likely they will do what terrorists have done. They believe they are doing the right thing, I will give them that.

There are extreme Christians these days but they don't go around killing people. Don't force them to dance and you are safe.

My uncle always told me, "There are a lot of sincere people in Hell".

Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber (among others) were Christians.
It's not about particular religions, it's about nasty individuals regardless of their beliefs or upbringing.

But they didn't kill in the name of their faith is my point. Islamic terrorists kill in the name of religion and are taught to do that by their faith.