I posted once to correct some particularly egregious
misinformation, and didn't reply to any other posts;
this will be my last comment.

Love for others does not exclude knowledge of reality.
I don't advocate violence against Muslims; I simply
advocate awareness of the true nature of Islam.
Muslims who are kind and gentle and tolerant are so
not because of Islam, but in spite of it. Those who
board buses and enter pizzerias to detonate nail- and
screw-laced packages of high-powered explosives, with
a view to dismembering as many innocent people as
possible, are in fact acting according to the tenets
of their faith as enshrined in their own sacred texts
-- contrary to the protests of their propagandists,
who have been remarkably successful in shaping the
American public's perception of Islam. The initial
comment in this thread shows once again that the
American public has been duped.

If a man is about to kill my child, I will prevent him
from doing so by whatever means necessary. Is that a
sin against love, or is it in fact a manifestation of
genuine love? Likewise, we must have a sober knowledge
of the reality of Islam, and apply that knowledge
discerningly. Christians have been guilty of
historical sins, but they have also produced the first
genuinely tolerant, genuinely pluralist cultures.
Islamic culture is not and never was tolerant. It
alternated hot and cold persecution -- the former
being pogroms and genocide, the latter being
overwhelming economic and social pressure. If you have
the inclination, read Bat Ye'or's "Dhimmitude," or
Srdja Trifkovic's "The Sword of the Prophet," to learn
more about what "tolerant" Islam is really like, and
about the explicit roots of Islamic violence in the
foundations of its tradition.

Finally, I will comment on your belief that "if we all
treat others the way we ourselves would want to be
treated, we'd have no conflict in the world." This
would be true if everyone did it, but unfortunately
there actually is a thing called evil, and there
actually are people who are more or less wholly given
over to serving it -- like the members of Hamas, and
virtually every other violent Islamist organization.
No matter how nice you may be to them, they still have
your death and the destruction of your culture as one
of their major goals. That means that you can treat
them with utmost civility and respect, you can abase
yourself before them, and they will still be trying to
blow up your children. This is the reality of the
world. If we intend to survive as a people, we had
better take reality into account, and not substitute
blind liberal fantasy for it.

-- Fr Seraphim






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