quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:

quote:
Originally posted by Dave the Wonder Boy:
It bugs the hell out of me in this country when Christianity cannot even be mentioned in schools, and then you have cases of Islam being openly promoted and proselytized, as in the police station I mentioned above.
The only situations I've seen in which Islam is openly promoted is when such promotion is used to combat the disturbing amount of violence and hatred shown towards those people and their religious beliefs, primarily because the 9/11 attacks.
Well, hello, it was 9-11 !
We're talking here about a rather extreme event. A clearly stated Muslim attack on the U.S.

Even so, it was remarked by a Muslim commentator, who said well before 9-11 she was spat on in the street in Paris (hostility toward the 4 million Muslims there by many French citizens being rather high, and regarded as an intrusion on French culture). And in contrast, she said when she apprehensively visited New York after 9-11, her visit was without incident. That she was actually kindly treated in New York. That most people clud separate the extremists from other Muslims.

Of the 7 million Muslims in the United States, I think less than 5 were killed in backlash incidents by angry Americans after 9-11.
The only death I can recall offhand was a Hindu Sikh who worked at a convenience store and was shot because he was mistaken for a Muslim, because ofg the ceremonial turban he wore.

Many commented on how few incidents there were of angry-American-on-Muslim post 9-11 violence. And how there would have been many more incidents if a similar terror incident had occurred in another country.

And even so, I don't recall any incidents occurring in high schools or colleges, where Islam is being taught.

quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:

Christianity would probably be defended openly(though, considering the number of Christians in America, I imagine the defenders would be the majority, not the minority as with Islamic defenders), as well, if a terrorist attack was organized by prominent Christian figures.
That statement seems contradictory.

And again, the case in Canada is where a Protestant and Catholic Christian majority are restrained from talking even at a funeral service about Christ, while all minority religions are not given similar restrictions about "potentially offending" anyone.


quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:

I'm not an expert on the Islamic teachings, so I'll step lightly when speaking on this subject, but to my knowledge the Koran does not refer to homosexuality as an "abomination"(or "detestable"), as the Old Testament does with Leviticus 18:22.
I've spoken to enough Muslims to know that they certainly don't look favorably toward homosexuality.
Can you truly imagine the Muslim world being more open to homosexuals than the United States or Europe?

quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:
Considering nearly a fourth (if not more) of the United states population are either bi-sexuals or homosexuals, it shouldn't be too surprising to see why that's an unpopular message.
I don't know where your numbers are from, but the psychological studies I've seen quoted in TIME and elsewhere say that between 2% and 5% of the population engages in any type of homosexual activity.
One study I saw in the early 1990's said 10% of the population has homosexual tendencies, but that population study (again, in TIME) was said to be a biased survey, conducted by scientists who clearly advocated the gay cause, and the study was considered less credible than the 2% to 5% ratio.
( Of the ratio of gay people I've met, even 2% seems overstated to me. But that's what the most respected reports I've seen estimate. )

quote:
Originally posted by Animalman:

quote:
Originally posted by Dave the Wonder Boy:

In the specific case of those whose religious beliefs don't agree with the Canadian federal law on "sexual orientation" (which is, of course, code for homosexuality) for those with religious beliefs to criticize homosexuality will now be regarded as "hate speech", and is regarded now as a crime in Canada, despite the fact they know it as absolute truth that homosexuality is immoral.
I'm not quite following you here, who knows that it's an absolute truth? The people enforcing the rule? The people being enforced? Or just Canadians in general?
For Bible-Believing Christians, the Bible is the word of God, and clearly states God's position on homosexuality, from Sodom and Gommorah in Genesis to Leviticus to prophesy of signs of the End Times before Armageddon in the New Testament.
In that sense, the truth about homosexuality is known to all Bible-reading Christian believers.
( And based on their own religious texts and faiths, the truth of Jews, or Muslims, or Hindus and possibly other faiths for that matter. And they have a right to support or condemn different practices verbally, based on those beliefs. )

I agree that no one should be authorized to commit violence on another group. If Christians think gays are involved in an immoral lifestyle, then they don't have the right to beat them up or intimidate or lynch them.
The incident of the gay man who was killed in Wyoming a few years ago, wasn't done by Christians.

But Christians --and those of other faiths who don't endorse homosexuality-- who practice freedom of religion in a democratic society, have the right to believe as their faith teaches them to believe.
And to call it a "hate crime" for simply saying what the Bible and 6000 years of Judao-Christian culture says to be true, and to not allow Christians their democratic right to verbally and peacefully disagree with "gay marriage" or the gay lifestyle in general, or peacefully disagree with any other moral or political issue, is not exactly freedom of religion, and not exactly a democratic society.