[ilbegone]

There is a difference between a humble practitioner of any religion and extremism in religion.

I believe all religions have extremists, the questions are how prevalent are they and who are they.

I also believe there are professed Christians in America today who would have no qualms about tying someone with whom they disagreed to a stake, piling gasoline soaked wood around their legs, and burn that person to death if they could get away with it.

While there are not many who are that extreme, if the religious Christian right were to come into undisputed power, I shudder to think of how they would shred our constitution and wield despotic power by presuming to speak for Jesus.

Just as in Christianity, Islam was split into two major factors early on, and while they had a brilliant society which preserved European knowledge while Europe was in the dark ages, this is the time of darkness for third world Islam.

Western European Christianity slaughtered one another due to the later rift between Protestants and Catholics, and religion was often subject to the will of the state.

Historically, there has been an ocean of blood shed in the name of Jesus Christ, Prince of peace, not only between his children but people who were considered to be infidels by them. The same thing is now occurring with third world extreme Islam, with Saudi Wahabism behind the most extreme hate fest.

The nuts of any conviction or cause get the headlines, and everyone else remotely associated is judged by their acts.