We can all live in peace if we convert to Islam.

Discuss.

or muslims could convert to christianiy, less people, less work!

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but are Sunnis and Shiites not both Muslim people...who have no trouble finding things to argue about? So which version of Islam should we all convert to?

ps. I realise you're probably not actually advocating we all do this

a la la la la la la la!

Islam is a religion built on war. Bit ironic isnt it.

It's build upon blood and murder like all abrahamic religions.

Which has what to do with the current situation?

No we can't.

As if the past would be irrelevant. How would you feel being slaughtered and enslaved by Hindus for 500 years?

Wait, I guess you'd be fine if they gave you a pipe and some tobacco...

I'd have to have lived for 500 years and been enslaved and slaughtered for that long to comment. Let's bring this back to earth and discuss it in realistic terms.

No. That proposal is based on the fallacious notion that people being bloodthirsty and stupid is a matter of culture or religion.

Well, fuck the 9/11 victims then, it's the past, why should you hunt terrorists then...

All major religions have been involved in wars and violence. But to build a religion off it is in no way a good start to peace. What does it have to do with the past? The past is the basis of every set of values and ethics in any religion.

Bin Laden made the proposal. You saying he's not religious, or that the proposal wasn't an extension of his religious beliefs?

I guess you're just being argumentative and absurd because you're mad at what I've been saying, but have no rational retort.

Do I really need to explain the difference between something that happened present day and something that happened to another generation? The Japanese attacked my country - actually they attacked only a few miles from where I type this, as well as other parts of the island where I make my home.

Am I mad at the Japanese today? Hell no, they are our friends and allies, and their tourism brings a lot of money to my state. Likewise, I'm not angry with Muslims for anything they did fifty years ago, or 500 years ago. There's plenty they are doing now to dislike.

I really don't care what someone's beliefs, ethics, intentions, or values are. I really only care about actions. The rest they're entitled to until it affects me and mine.

I get the impression bin laden is not religious but instead cloaks himself in it.

No, that isn't the relevant angle I think.

We can all live in peace if we stop doing things to piss each other off. Most importantly, stop thinking of each other in generalistic notions based on vague groups - such as "muslims".

For example:
It seems to me nonsensical to be "angry with Muslims" about anything. Reserve the anger for those who committed the crime. Should we be angry with black people due to specific crimes committed by specific black people, or likewise for white people, or likewise for Americans? This is why people say they don't dislike American people, they dislike what the USA Government is doing. There is a HUGE difference.

Muslims are just the latest instance of horrible things being done in the name of religion. Throughout history many or most horrible things have been cloaked in religion. It doesn't make religion bad. It makes bad the lazy human instinct to blindly follow, rather than learning to make informed decisions for oneself. When a country or ethnicity is down, that's the time for creativity and leadership. What you typically get are religions or tyrants picking up the slack, pretending to be the solution, and becoming the problem.

So much for generalizations. I just see Muslims and Islam as part of a longstanding pattern. It's not a solution to be promoted, nor a disease to be squashed. If we don't offer a better alternative, whatever religion is in the neighborhood that promises salvation or revenge will be enticing.

No, I don't blame every Muslim alive for 9/11 or any such thing. However, even worse than overly-broad generalities is trying to say we are at war with a tactic (terrorism) rather than a who (Muslim extremists.) After Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese flying planes, we didn't launch a war against aviation. We went to war against the Japanese.

Stop doing things to piss each other off? We don't live under a calaphate (sp?) we allow our women to marry whom they want, wear lipstick, paint their nails, and show their legs. We don't pray to Allah. That pisses Bin Ladin and his fellow extremist Muslims off. That's why he is demanding we convert. Shall we stop pissing Bin Laden off?