I will make no apologize for my faith. I will also not bow to the thinking of others. It is my thinking that if one does not like the way others think, or the faith they follow, they should move on.
Although I am now going to back my words with even more words on it. A true faith is one of love, kindness, tolerance, and forgiveness. Odd that this is what one finds when they read the Bible. Not so odd that one would find it fitting, to base their faith on that kind of teaching.
If you have read my other post on this same topic, you will find that I have placed the "church" on the list of blood thirsty killers, right a long with Islam.
However as you may well not find here, I do not call the church a follower of any form of true faith. I know I will win no friends with the words that follow. however I do call it as I see it.
The church, ( no matter what one you pick) tells you they follow the Bible. Yet if they all follow it, why may I ask is there such a gap from one to the other? They read the same words, from the same book, do they not?
Now as for how I dare. I dare to speak what I think for it is the truth of how I see it. I dare to speak out, for is how I feel. I dare to speak up, for it is what I find in the Words of the Bible. I dare not however back down, or say I am sorry for what is my heart.
You see this was a blessed nation at one time. It was so for the faith in HaShem (God) that it founded on. It has been going down hill for some time now. I dare say it is do more in part to the removal of prayer from school, the ever growing movement to remove all this Biblical from the nation as a whole.
I dare say that being PC is going to be the death of this nation, and it has been eroding the moral values of this nation for way to long. Yes I dare say that if we do not return to speaking our minds, and standing up for what is right and true, this nation will become a desolate wast land.
I also dare to place the blame on folks that become offended at the ideas of others. I mean really, how dare anyone not think the same way I do. They should be locked up or sued for everything they have. Really? Is that the kind of world you wish to live in? A world of sheep, ripe for slaughter?
I dare, because I live in a nation of freedom. The same rights that give you the right to get up set over what I say, gives the right to say it. I am simply offended that you would dare be offended by what I say.

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Why is it that your not mentioning the religious atrocities committed by the Christians? Your telling only half of the story dosen't tell the whole truth. The Christians, around the times of the crusades, weren't the saints we were led to believe they were by our history books.

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 with the battle cry "Deus Vult" (God wills it), a mandate to destroy infidels in the Holy Land. Gathering crusaders in Germany first fell upon "the infidel among us," Jews in the Rhine valley, thousands of whom were dragged from their homes or hiding places and hacked to death or burned alive. Then the religious legions plundered their way 2,000 miles to Jerusalem, where they killed virtually every inhabitant, "purifying" the symbolic city. Cleric Raymond of Aguilers wrote: "In the temple of Solomon, one rode in blood up to the knees and even to the horses' bridles, by the just and marvelous judgment of God."

In the Third Crusade, after Richard the Lion-Hearted captured Acre, a Palestinian coastal city, in 1191, he ordered 3,000 Muslim, Jewish and local Christian captives -- many of them women and children -- taken outside the city and slaughtered. Some were disemboweled in a search for swallowed gems. Bishops intoned blessings. Infidel lives were of no consequence. As Saint Bernard of Clairvaux declared in launching the Second Crusade: "The Christian glories in the death of a pagan, because thereby Christ himself is glorified."

Throughout Europe, beginning in the 1100s, tales spread that Jews were abducting Christian children, sacrificing them, and using their blood in rituals. Hundreds of massacres stemmed from this "blood libel." Some of the supposed sacrifice victims -- Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, the holy child of LaGuardia, Simon of Trent -- were beatified or commemorated with shrines that became sites of pilgrimages and miracles.

In 1209, Pope Innocent III launched an armed crusade against Albigenses Christians in southern France. When the besieged city of Beziers fell, soldiers reportedly asked their papal adviser how to distinguish the faithful from the infidel among the captives. He commanded: "Kill them all. God will know his own." Nearly 20,000 were slaughtered -- many first blinded, mutilated, dragged behind horses, or used for target practice.

The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 proclaimed the doctrine of transubstantiation: that the host wafer miraculously turns into the body of Jesus during the mass. Soon rumors spread that Jews were stealing the sacred wafers and stabbing or driving nails through them to crucify Jesus again. Reports said that the pierced host bled, cried out, or emitted spirits. On this charge, Jews were burned at the stake in 1243 in Belitz, Germany -- the first of many killings that continued into the 1800s. To avenge the tortured host, the German knight Rindfliesch led a brigade in 1298 that exterminated 146 defenseless Jewish communities in six months.

Also during the 1200s, the hunt for Albigensian heretics led to establishment of the Inquisition, which spread over Europe. Pope Innocent IV authorized torture. Under interrogation by Dominican priests, screaming victims were stretched, burned, pierced and broken on fiendish pain machines to make them confess to disbelief and to identify fellow transgressors. Inquisitor Robert le Bourge sent 183 people to the stake in a single week.

In Spain, where many Jews and Moors had converted to escape persecution, inquisitors sought those harboring their old faith. At least 2,000 Spanish backsliders were burned. Executions in other countries included the burning of scientists such as mathematician-philosopher Giordano Bruno, who espoused Copernicus's theory that the planets orbit the sun.

Nowadays, it's really popular to find fault with anything or anyone non-Christian. Seems to me, Christians have as much, if not more blood on their hands, in the name of Christ, than the people you're shaking your fist at.

How's what the Christians did and do, any different over the last 1400 years, than what the Muslims have done?

I'm not condoning any acts of violence by any religious group by another religious group. But, without the full story, it's hard not to gain a misunderstanding of why the groups behave as they do toward each other.

BTW- This info came from class notes I took while taking a class on Middle Eastern History, Prehistoric Times thru the Middle Ages, while in college 40 years ago. As such, I can't give you any web sites to go to. But, I'm sure, the same info is out there if you're willing to look for it.

Beside, it's easy to attach religion as a reason for one's actions. We cannot go to the source and ask " did you tell them to do that?". Mostly, I believe it is the desire to do violence that motivates people, merely using religion as an excuse, as though that were adequate justification.

Many of the battles mentioned in the Bible were motivated by human avarice. Note that the Jews were rarely victorious in those battles. It was not until they returned to God that victories were achieved. Simply stating that " my God told me to do that " is no kind of sound reasoning. It is a deluded excuse to do what YOU want to do.

From what I have read, it would seem that you both are right in your own way. Yet not being a man to sway with the tide, I would like to add my thoughts.
When we look at history, we see the things others wish us to see, nothing more. So when the numbers are in they should be looked at with a bit of suspicion. If one wishes to make things like worst than they really were, we make it look that way by adding 5-600 or what ever will look good without undo attention.
A look at the civil war can bare this out. So many today think it was only over slavery, they do not know that Lincoln said, " If I can preserve the union with out freeing one slave I will. Though if I must free them all I will." Or something like that.
At times the 2 terms ideology and religion get mixed up. True they are most often the same thing, it was an ideology that lead to ww2. The same ideology that brought about the death of 6 Million Jews. As for the total number of others that were killed by Hittler and his cronies, I am sure will never know. One thing that is a fact, though you may never find it in history books. Hitlers so call final solution, was backed by Islam. They to this day love the man for his killing of Jews. It is with this in mind that one should look for, and count the number killed by Islam in an indirect manner as well.
I have said many times, and will say it many more in my life. Islam is not a religion at all. It is however, an ideological form of government. Sure they have the unholy Koran, they pray to a god of war, and have their place of worship. They also have an uncanny ability to get others to see a lie and fail for it. Here are 2 of their greatest lies wrapped up in a phrase. RELIGION OF PEACE. They tell us this, yet when we are not looking they hide weapons in their mosque. They funnel money through them to get ammo, bombs, or help with a campaign to get one of their own in the white house.
When their lies are found out, or someone pokes fun, they kill as many as they can. This is done in hopes of shutting up folks that see the truth.
Sadly the true number of people killed by Islam will never truly be known. To say that it is this or that, I am sure will always be a lot lower than reality. You see, every soil the perished in ww1 and ww2 can be added in part, to Islam's total.
I am just as sure, that before Christ returns, that number will be added to by close to 1/3 the earths population, if not more.
The sad truth of it all, I am also just as sure that other religions have just as much blood on their hands. It is also a hard fact that many so called christian religions, have worked hand in hand with Islam in the past. Sadder still, many will do so in times to come.

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I point it out as the Crusades were the 1st of several, large scale (for the time), military/religious invasions by Christians into previously Muslim lands. That the Crusades, while their pretext was to be to freeing the Holy Lands from Muslim suppression, were, actually, wars fought to conquer land and collect spoils of war for the papacy and the warriors. That the Crusaders weren't very particular in who they killed, Jews and local Christians, including women and children, doesn't speak favorably toward our alleged "Christian love" toward one another.

Of course, there have been recent Christian killings in the name of Christ. Not every religious war is Christian vs. Muslim. Many are between different denominations of the same religion, as well as with different other religions. While there are countless conflicts, it is impossible to go into detail with each of them, so here is an alphabetically organized list/description of some of the more notable ones.

On Cyprus, the Greek island has to be partitioned between Muslims and Christians, with a UN peacekeeping force stationed to maintain order.
In Indonesia in 1999, the Christian and Muslim populations broke out into conflict

In Macedonia, the Muslim population was in a civil war with the Christian population until a treaty was signed and NATO staged a disarmament.

In Northern Ireland for the past 30 years, 3600 people have been killed. Although a cease fire has been in place, every now and then, somebody(s), decide they've been wronged in some way and start some crap.

In Uganda, Christians who call themselves the Lord's Resistance Army are conducting a civil war in the North. By the end of their campaign, they hope to have established a Christian theocracy based on the 10 commandments. According to www.religioustolerance.org , they abduct and enslave and/or rape about 2,000 children a year.

Christians in the Philippines have a militia that attacks Muslims as retribution for attacks on Christians, and other times, simply for the fun of it. In Malaysia, the same holds true.

To say that Christians are totally innocent in all this is turning a blind eye to the root causes of conflict.

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I point it out as the Crusades were the 1st of several, large scale (for the time), military/religious invasions by Christians into previously Muslim lands. That the Crusades, while their pretext was to be to freeing the Holy Lands from Muslim suppression, were, actually, wars fought to conquer land and collect spoils of war for the papacy and the warriors. That the Crusaders weren't very particular in who they killed, Jews and local Christians, including women and children, doesn't speak favorably toward our alleged "Christian love" toward one another.

Of course, there have been recent Christian killings in the name of Christ. Not every religious war is Christian vs. Muslim. Many are between different denominations of the same religion, as well as with different other religions. While there are countless conflicts, it is impossible to go into detail with each of them, so here is an alphabetically organized list/description of some of the more notable ones.

On Cyprus, the Greek island has to be partitioned between Muslims and Christians, with a UN peacekeeping force stationed to maintain order.
In Indonesia in 1999, the Christian and Muslim populations broke out into conflict

In Macedonia, the Muslim population was in a civil war with the Christian population until a treaty was signed and NATO staged a disarmament.

In Northern Ireland for the past 30 years, 3600 people have been killed. Although a cease fire has been in place, every now and then, somebody(s), decide they've been wronged in some way and start some crap.

In Uganda, Christians who call themselves the Lord's Resistance Army are conducting a civil war in the North. By the end of their campaign, they hope to have established a Christian theocracy based on the 10 commandments. According to www.religioustolerance.org , they abduct and enslave and/or rape about 2,000 children a year.

Christians in the Philippines have a militia that attacks Muslims as retribution for attacks on Christians, and other times, simply for the fun of it. In Malaysia, the same holds true.

To say that Christians are totally innocent in all this is turning a blind eye to the root causes of conflict.

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I am not a Christian. I will always think of this most wonderful nation as THE one with Christian values. I give Christianity the credit for its moral successes. Christians are not the ONLY moral people, but they are a cohesive group within America, and they resists killing innocents. We, here cannot control our own government, let alone a foreign one. We cannot help what is done elsewhere. I never give a thought to thousands of years ago. The past is the past, as the political left so frequently tells me. I am not to think of the 1950's because we are not living in the 1950's. So, there is no reason to constantly carp and harp at the Christians in an effort to insist on moral equivalency. There IS NOT MORAL equivalency between murderous 21st century religions and Christianity that exists in America. Christians saw their folly and cleaned it up, for the most part. Extremist Muslims DO NOT CHANGE. I don't even know what you are arguing about , but it puts you outside mainstream America when you must search to find ways to belittle our country......AND the religion that helped keep us on the right track for so many years.

I find it disgusting that Christians are urged to constantly defend something so peaceful and wonderful and important to them. If you were the enemy, I would think differently, but you are supposedly an American, and if Americans must fight Americans who are doing nothing but good, we have lost the fight before it begins. PS. People who try to force Christianity on others ARE NOT CHRISTIANS. Bear in mind that I COULD call myself a Christian, and wish I could, and you would know no different, but it would be a lie.

Well people who called themselves Christians were responsible for the slave trade, the near extermination of the Native American, two World Wars and the Nazi Holocaust. I honestly don't see how you can blame Islam for either World War. The main reason for WW I was that England wanted Germany's African colonies and Germany's share of world sea trade. (Old rivalries between Germany and France and Russia were part of it) the main reason for WWII was WWI. The Ottoman empire was a bit player in WW I -not in any way the cause of it, and they didn't even exist in WWII.
I agree that the *wahhabii* muslims are a bunch of Crusading assholes. No doubt! And the Palestinians are trying to pay the Jews back for stealing their land. Can't blame 'em for that. As to the REST of 2,000,000,000 Muslims in the world , even the US Govt says there are only around 2000 active Islamic terrorists in the world. That is one in 1,000,000! By contrast, me mither's people in Belfast raised 1000 gunmen and bombers out of population of 750,000!

Gre

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I am not a Christian. I will always think of this most wonderful nation as THE one with Christian values. I give Christianity the credit for its moral successes. Christians are not the ONLY moral people, but they are a cohesive group within America, and they resists killing innocents. We, here cannot control our own government, let alone a foreign one. We cannot help what is done elsewhere. I never give a thought to thousands of years ago. The past is the past, as the political left so frequently tells me. I am not to think of the 1950's because we are not living in the 1950's. So, there is no reason to constantly carp and harp at the Christians in an effort to insist on moral equivalency. There IS NOT MORAL equivalency between murderous 21st century religions and Christianity that exists in America. Christians saw their folly and cleaned it up, for the most part. Extremist Muslims DO NOT CHANGE. I don't even know what you are arguing about , but it puts you outside mainstream America when you must search to find ways to belittle our country......AND the religion that helped keep us on the right track for so many years.

I find it disgusting that Christians are urged to constantly defend something so peaceful and wonderful and important to them. If you were the enemy, I would think differently, but you are supposedly an American, and if Americans must fight Americans who are doing nothing but good, we have lost the fight before it begins. PS. People who try to force Christianity on others ARE NOT CHRISTIANS. Bear in mind that I COULD call myself a Christian, and wish I could, and you would know no different, but it would be a lie.

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Wrong, pencil-breath. School's never out for me. I continue to research and am working on my 3rd masters. One thing my research has taught me, is how to distinguish ones agenda from ones point of view. Dr Warner has an agenda. He's all about scare-tactics and mis-information. I choose not to go to him for information as his is a very biased and non-scholarly presentation.

Perhaps, you should learn to be more discerning in how you decide who to follow and whose messages you listen to for unbiased truth.