I heard an Israeli government official say tonight that nearly all Muslims are not terrorists, but nearly all terrorists are Muslim.

I think he is correct, but I don't know why he is correct. Why are nearly all terrorists Muslim? Or, do you reject that premise?

Is this a religious war? And if so, how should we respond? What role does the Christian faith play in this, if indeed, this is a religious war? From the secularists--what role does secularism have in this war? And please, no sermons on how this simply illustrates the corruptive nature of religion. You're preaching to the choir, and it serves no purpose.

Is this a cultural war of east vs. west? How then is it that nations living side by side have such different cultures?

I truly haven't a clue. The events are far beyond my intellectual capacity.

Any thoughts?

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"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Winston Churchill

then Christians thought they'd get into the act also with disasterous results that we are still paying for.

Could have been solved had Moses decided to make changes from WITHIN rather than reveal himself as a Jew - big mistake. He could have changed views as the known leader of BOTH Arabs and Jews.

Didn't a Roman Ruler learn from Moses mistake and change Rome to Chritianity from within?

All terrorist are funded, backed and trained by intelligence services for false flag operations. Pawns the elite use to keep people in fear and at war. Follow the money and who gains the most by such actions.

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Voltaire: “Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.”

Well, that money trail seems to lead to Iran. Or, if you're perspective is different, to the US. But this is not the question I'm asking. There seems to be something more fundamental being manifested here. Having the means to fire missiles does not compel a nation to fire missiles. Just what in the h-e-double hockey sticks is taking place? Is this indeed World War III, and can civilization even survive another world war?

The cradle of civilization is the Middle East, and after six thousand years of civilization, this is all we have to show for it? This is the best we can do? I'm sorry, but something has gone terribly wrong.

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"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Winston Churchill

I reject that premise. That's nothing more than typical Israeli political drivel. If you open your eyes and look around at the world, you'll realize that terrorism is a tactic used by many, for many purposes. I mean, we could go through a long list of countries that currently have some form of terrorism in their domains, like many parts of Africa and South America for instance.

No, this is not a religious war. This is a war for the survival and stability of Israel, against the people who believe it has no business being there. This is over political and economic security (for instance, the water supply of the Palestinians, and the miserable economic conditions they've been forced to endure for some forty or fifty years).

Perhaps, to a certain extent, there is a clash of cultures between the Islamic world and the Judeo-Christian world. And it certainly contributes to the war, but it's secondary. It is, though, part of what allows Iran to make statements like "an attack on Syria will be considered as an attack on the entire Muslim world".

Here's a few terrorist acts that were not religious:

Timothy Mcveigh
Columbine
Waco Texas
Lee Harvey Oswald
The murder of Yitzhak Rabin
The attacks on a school in Belsan Russia
Poison gas on a Japanese subway

There are more that I can find but that's a start. It's sad that there are a lot crazies out there who do things like these with religious armor. Faithful pirates who feel that they are protected by their faith from the acts they commit. They attack their fellow citizens and leaders which makes it not about religion. I think it must be a security problem more than it is religion.

IMO it is not a religious war yet their faith has become part of their armor against committing crimes. The war is about land. They want the land back that was once theirs, and when they can't get it they turn to their faith for strength. They are also trying to conquer land in Africa and Asia. They want to bring their customs upon the land they want. So it be religion that is their biggest custom, but religion is not the purpose of their conquering desires. If anything it is their armor and weaponry.

1. The Protestants want "Armageddon" and the "Rapture"

2. The Catholics want the "Great Chastisement"
http://www.arcticbeacon.com/9-June-2006.html
(This one is a wild read)

3. The Jews want "the Jewish Final Redemption". http://www.politicalforum.com/viewto...495&highlight=

4. The Muslims want the "Coming of the Reformer" or the "Surah" (The Shaking’)
http://www.muslim.org/books/testi-hq/ch2a.htm

And you wonder why we are headed toward WW111?

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Voltaire: “Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.”

Ah, Greg Szymanski reveals himself. I knew there was something wierd about that guy.

[quote]Jews and Arabs got along very well with each other for almost two thousand years. The trouble started when Britain and the victorious powers of WW l created "countries" out of the defeated Ottoman Empire. Then, after WW ll, the Brits created an artificial state called Israel to solve Europe's problem of the still living stateless Jews. None of the victorious powers were willing to absorb the victims of Hitler's pathological hate.
The Arabs and Jews are both Semitic people.
Incidentally, there is virtually no historical evidence that the ancient Egyptians captured and enslaved the Hebrews. It is a fairy tale.
Constantine made Christianity an official religion of the Roman empire in the early Fourth Century. He remained, despite what some Christian scholars claim, a follower of Sol Invictus (formerly know as Mithras). The emperor was baptized in to Arian Christianity as he lay dying and may not have known the ceremony took place. Arian Christianity was shortly thereafter condemned as heretical.

I'm not sure statistically. But if most terrorists are Muslim, I do not believe it is because of religion. In fact, the direction of the relationship is telling. If Islam led to terrorism, most Muslims would be terrorists.

Partially. The war manifests itself through religion. But like all religious wars, it's roots are in something related to sovereignty and economics. Religion has played a part over all of history in rationalizing such fighting. The rationale seems to follow the need for conquest, not vice versa. In this day and age, Muslims are just the most often involved in disputes over sovereignty and living in areas not yet fully overtaken by modern ideas of peaceful resolution. Where religion has the strongest effect is in creating a connection between disaffected people from different parts of the world whose disaffection is in reality based on different problems. Religion allows for the connection of varied problems to a "common enemy". But areas of less disaffection will produce fewer terrorists.
End Muslim disaffection in Western countries for starters. Australia has had the novel idea of creating Islamic study centers where the public can learn about Islam and Muslims can learn from moderate clerics. Unfortunately the extremists reject it. But it marginalizes the extremists more and makes a better path for Muslims within Western countries. We must put an end to anti-Islamic rhetoric and policies. While this will not end the disputes over sovereignty, it will help to cut those disputes from the religious ties and crush the ability of the terrorist epidemic to move seamlessly across the world through different people. We need the cooperation of moderate clerics and need to bolster their strength. The moderates have wide appeal in most of the Middle East, but people fear the extremists and those extremists can b very persuasive when they control the media. Pakistan has been doing a pretty good job of fighting its extremist elements. Unfortunately when a disaster does occur, rather than appreciating what they have done we look at what they have not, forgetting the caution reformers like Musharif need to take to avoid removal by extremist elements.

Christians need to focus on the substance of their religion rather than the surface features. Rather than wishing to war with the Muslim world, Christians should desire to aid their brothers and sisters in need, the majority of the Muslims who are manipulated and scared by the extremists. They should avoid the temptation to simply side with Israel and despise the enemy and instead appeal to the empathy and love that is at the heart of Christianity.
We need to painfully sit back and accept it if democracy in the Middle East winds up being akin to a friendly version of theocracy... provided the elections are free and that the theocrats can be voted out. I hate to say it but we seculars need to stay quiet about some things, because the Muslims hate our philosophy more than the Christians we're used to. They view our philosophy as the danger that is corrupting their culture, much like some Christians here only more extreme. History has shown that if democracy is allowed to flourish, secular ideas will eventually become more accepted. So as long as they are not executing opposition liberal secular parties in the Middle East, we should sit back and watch. What is important is marketing democracy to the people. If they fear secularism so much, we should cut the secular rhetoric to a minimum. Let them have their own "culture wars".

Religion and corruption are both cultural universals and I don't believe they are exclusive to one another.

Again, partially. Sam Huntington was partially right in his analysis of wars over culture. Part of the friction is based on dissimilarity of cultures. This war is like a regular war over economics and sovereignty multiplied by our own culture wars. Culture wars tend to be pretty civil until you get economics and sovereignty issues involved. We do need to understand that the people of the Middle East do have a different culture from our own. But when we talk to one another, we gain understanding of different cultures. It's been shown that Muslims with communication to Americans tend to like Americans more, even as they hate our policies and dislike our culture. People do not have to belong to the same culture to get along. And the more Muslims that like us, the fewer Muslims that will think blowing up random civilians is a good idea. It is a (*)(*)(*)(*) good idea to not only increase our understanding of Islamic culture (and not strictly for security purposes) but to find ways to increase Muslim understanding of our culture.
Remember that Gandhi was very well versed in British culture. That's what we really need. Muslim clerics that understand us and are willing to both peacefully stand against our unpopular policies and against the violent techniques of their own extremists.

Just history. What more can I say?

We're all pretty much guessing here.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III