Extremely racist letter in my local paper

[carrowsboy]

Insane! Christians and Jews are good guys cause they never do any harm, yet Islam is evil....

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031784425089&path=%21editorials%21letters&s=1045855935005

"Islam Has History Of Violence
Editor, Times-Dispatch: This is in response to Hamna Rashid's letter, "Koran Doesn't Promote Terrorist Attacks."

I am a Christian and I have read the Koran cover to cover, too, and I wish to disagree with the writer. I would cite, for example, Sura 5:51: "O believers, do not hold Jews and Christians as your allies. They are allies of one another; and anyone who makes them his friends is surely one of them; and God does not guide the unjust." Or, how about Sura 9:29? "Fight those people of the Book who do not believe in God and the Last Day, who do not prohibit what God and His Apostle have forbidden, nor accept divine law . . . ." I could go on for many more such examples.

No, these verses do not specifically exhort Muslims to kill Christians and Jews, but they certainly create an atmosphere where this is permissible, and nowhere does the Koran actually forbid killing in the name of Allah. Consider the fact that Mohammed picked up a sword and led armies in the field from the very beginning. Consider the fact that the great Muslim empires of the Middle East were won by warfare and slaughter. Consider that caliphs repeatedly encouraged their followers to "convert or kill." Consider that Muslim empires attempted to conquer Western Europe for 1,000 years (800 to 1800 A.D.).

Has anyone noticed that it is only Muslims who are flying jetliners into high-rise buildings, strapping explosives onto themselves and setting them off in Israeli restaurants and shopping malls, blowing up trains in Spain and England? I don't see Christians or Jews doing this. And just about every terrorist attack is followed by the terrorists themselves claiming to be acting in the name of God. Yes, they are following their extremist leaders as Ms. Rashid says; however, the Koran creates the basis for encouraging these followers to act. What we are seeing today is merely a continuation of the centuries-long war that Islam has waged against the West. It took a brief rest during the 20th Century, but it is back for the 21st.

"Those who refuse to learn from the lessons of history . . . ." David M. Hubbard. richmond."

[MnFats]

1. I'm pretty sure this is a form, or copped its assertions from a memo..

...that made the rounds of conservative fossils. Somebody that has access to Lexis/Nexis could do a search for a matching phrase...

meanwhile....tell 'em to read the Old Testament, which is rife with endorsements of violence and slaughtering God's enemies. And even in the New Testament you can find endorsements of violence: "I bring a sword...."

[skids]

7. If it is...

...then there are grounds to get an apology from the paper for publishing what amounts to chain-email spam.

[davidinalameda]

2. Mr. Hubbard needs a history lesson

Christians have been killing other in the name of Jesus for centuries

not to excuse the actions of some Muslims, but I can't really think of too many religions that don't condone killing of non-believers

fundies in most religions are responsible for the deaths of probably millions over the years

[kbm8795]

3. I should have known...a wingnut in Virginia

Look...maybe someone local could send an LTTE that points out that, yes, American Taliban christians bombed abortion clinics, target gay bars. . .in Britain, the IRA for decades planted bombs in such nice little targets as Harrod's...

[madeline_con]

4. I don't see it as racist, just extremely ignorant...

".... and God does not guide the unjust ..."

How does she figure this is any less self-righteous than Biblical verse?

"... the great Muslim empires of the Middle East were won by warfare and slaughter ..."

The great Christian ones were won the same way.

"Consider that Muslim empires attempted to conquer Western Europe for 1,000 years (800 to 1800 A.D.)."

Consider they both fought back and forth all that time, gaining and losing land all the while.

"Yes, they are following their extremist leaders ..."

Paging Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and George Bush.

"It took a brief rest during the 20th Century..."

I must have missed nap time.

"I have read the Koran cover to cover..."

Would that she go back and do the same with the Bible.

[wtmusic]

5. Has anyone noticed it's only Judeo-Christians who are lobbing cruise

missiles at sovereign nations without justification?

I thought so. :)

[Jim Sagle]

9. That's only because Muslim nations don't HAVE cruise missiles.

;-)

[wtmusic]

10. They make their own nt

[SledDriver]

6. Oklahoma City?

Timothy McVeigh was muslim?

[ET Awful]

13. King David Hotel?

Call me crazy, but I don't think that was Muslims that carried out that attack either.

In fact, there was a gentleman by the name of Menachem Begin involved as I recall . . . I wonder if they remember that.

[SeaRust]

8. Non Muslim bombers--the True Professionals

I was doing business on the phone with a Gent in London near the scene of one of the 7-7 bombings when the happened, He e-mailed me back later to assure me that nothing was really amiss, a bit of a bombing scare, but assured me that it was business as usual--"You see, We have been bombed by professionals in the past, and these were certainly not professionals"

Here are some of the Professional bombings he referred to---Not a muslim among them

1971: Mother of ten, Jean McConville, is abducted and killed by the Provisional IRA

1972 deaths of thirteen unarmed protestors

21 July 1972: 22 bombs kill nine and seriously injure 130

4 February 1974: A bomb planted on a coach carrying British army personnel and their wives and families explodes as it is travelling along the M62 motorway at Birkenshaw. Twelve people are killed; nine soldiers and the wife and two young sons of one of them.

1974: The Guildford pub bombings kills five and injures 182

1974: In the Birmingham Pub Bombings bombs in two pubs kill 19.

1975: The killing of businessman Ross McWhirter,

1976: An IRA landmine kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the newly appointed British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland,

22 March 1979: Sir Richard Sykes, British Ambassador to The Netherlands is assassinated in front of his house in The Hague.

1979: An IRA bomb kills Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the British Queen's first cousin, members of his family and a local child off the Irish coast. On the same day the IRA kill 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water, near Newry, County Down; in an attack described by the British government as "a classic guerilla attack", they first plant one bomb, which kills six, and then begin firing with sniper rifles at soldiers sheltered near a nearby gate where a second bomb explodes, killing 12 others. During an Irish visit, Pope John Paul II calls for the IRA campaign of violence to come to an end.

1981: The PIRA kill Ulster Unionist Party Belfast MP Rev Robert Bradford

10 October 1981: a bomb blast on Ebury Bridge Road in London kills two people and injures 39.

26 October 1981: a bomb explodes at a Wimpy Bar in Oxford Street London killing the bomb disposal officer trying to defuse it.

20 July 1982: In Hyde Park, a bomb kills two members of the Household Cavalry performing ceremonial duties in the park. Seven of their horses are also killed. On the same day another device kills seven bandsmen the Royal Green Jackets as it explodes underneath the bandstand in Regents Park as they played music to spectators.

1983: A Harrods department store bomb planted by the IRA during Christmas shopping season kills six (three police) and wounds 90.

September 25, 1983: 38 IRA prisoners escape from the maximum security Long Kesh prison. One guard is killed.

1984: In the Brighton hotel bombing a bomb in the Grand Hotel kills five in a failed attempt to assassinate members of the British cabinet. one woman permanently disabled.

1986: The SAS ambush two IRA cells as they attempted to attack an Royal Ulster Constabulary police station in Loughall. Eight IRA men are killed. Sinn FŽin later claim that they were "brutally executed without the right to a trial".

1987: The SAS attack an IRA cell that were planning to detonate a bomb near a public military parade in Gibraltar. Three men and a woman, all unarmed, are killed.

1987: In the Enniskillen "Massacre" the IRA bombing of a Remembrance Day parade kills 11 civilians and injures 63.

1989: Ten Royal Marine bandsmen are killed and 22 injured in the bombing of their base in Deal in Kent.

1990: Car bombings in Northern Ireland kill seven and wound 37.

27 May 1990: Two Australian tourists shot dead in Holland, having been mistaken for off-duty British soldiers.

July 20, 1990: London Stock Exchange, the IRA exploded a large bomb at the London Stock Exchange causing massive damage.

30 July 1990 Ian Gow MP is killed when a device explodes under his car as he is leaving his home.

September 19, 1990: The IRA attempted to kill Air Chief Marshall Sir Peter Terry at his Staffordshire home.The gunman opened fire through a window hitting Sir Peter at least 9 times and injuring his wife, Lady Betty Terry, near the eye.

1990: A British Army Artillery officer is killed by the IRA in Dortmund in the then West Germany.

18 February 1991: A bomb explodes at Victoria Station. One man is killed and 38 people injured.

1991: Mortar attack on members of the British Cabinet and the Prime Minister, John Major in Cabinet session at Number 10 Downing Street

1991: Two IRA members are killed in St Albans when their bomb detonates prematurely.

28 February 1992: A bomb explodes at London Bridge railway station injuring 29 people.

10 April 1992: A large bomb explodes at 30 St Mary Axe in the City of London killing three people and injuring 91.

12 October 1992: A device explodes in the gents' toilet of the Sussex Arms public house in Covent Garden killing one person and injuring four others.

1992: Eight builders are killed by an IRA bomb on their way to work at an army base near Omagh.

1993: Two IRA bombs at opposite ends of a shopping street in Warrington, timed to go off within minutes of each other, kill two children.

1993: The PIRA detonates a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, which kills two and causes around £350m of damage, including the near destruction of St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate.

1993: A bomb at a fish and chip shop underneath a UDA office on the Protestant Shankill Road in Belfast detonates prematurely, killing ten, including the bomber and two children.

8 March 1994: Heathrow Airport, four mortar shells were fired toward Heathrow Airport from a car at night following telephone warnings in the name of the IRA, but police said none of the shells exploded and no injuries were reported.

10 March 1994: Heathrow Airport evacuated staff and passengers from Terminal Four and closed its southern runway after the second attack on the airport in 30 hours. No one was hurt when four mortar shells were fired.

13 March 1994: Heathrow Airport, the IRA launched their third mortar attack on Heathrow defying tightening security. They fired four mortar bombs from a heavily camouflaged launcher buried in scrubland close to the southern perimeter.

10 February 1996: The IRA ends its 1994 ceasefire, killing two civilians in a bomb adjacent to the South Quay DLR station in London's Docklands.

15 February 1996: A 5 lb bomb placed in a phone booth is disarmed by Police on the Charing Cross Road in London.

18 February 1996: An improvised high explosive device detonates prematurely on a bus travelling along Aldwych in central London, killing Edward O'Brien, the IRA operative transporting the device and injuring eight others.

15 June 1996: The IRA detonates a 3,300 lb (1,500 kg) bomb in Manchester, injuring 206 people and damaging 70,000 square metres of retail and office space.

7 October 1996: the IRA kills one soldier and injures 31 people at the British Army's Northern Ireland HQ, Thiepval Barracks.

[newswolf56]

11. Before anyone goes smugly pointing the finger (even at one's own kind)...

consider the fact that ALL Yehvehistic religions -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam -- are together the most violently homicidal cult in all human history. The Old Testament genocide, the Christian Inquisition, the Crusades, the Islamic depredations (such as the massacre and sack of Mecca, or the total destruction of the ancient Vedic civilizations of the Indian subcontinent that facilitated British conquest in the 1700s) -- all these are of a kind: a singular phenomenon in that every one of these horrors were committed by the Abrahamic "People of the Book," whether devotees of the Old Testament, the New Testament or the Qur'ran.

And -- no -- humanism was NEVER a byproduct of this ideology. It is instead a Pagan survival, something so deeply rooted in human consciousness the Yehvehistic terror was unable to exterminate it.

(Some feminists say the patriarchal Dark Age has never ended. Some say that, perhaps only now -- with the impending collapse of the capitalist {patriarchal} economy derived from Yehvehistic theology -- are we at long last beginning to emerge from the blackest night in human history.)

[ET Awful]

12. Centuries long war Islam has waged against the west?

Here's a clue Mr. Hubbard . . . the first conflict between Islamic people and the "west" was the Crusades . . . perhaps you've heard of them? Yeah, that was when a bunch of Christians decided they wanted to slaughter a bunch of infidels. . . I'm sure you're familiar with the story.

What's that? You say they wanted to kick muslims out of the "holy land" . . . how familiar are you really with history? See, long ago, before there was such a religion as Christianity, and while judaism was still in it's infancy, that region was occupied by numerous other people, among them the Canaanites and other such small nations. Then it was decided that these people would be killed and their land stolen from them. I'll give you three guesses as to which god told which people to slaughter them. (I'll even give you a hint, the god wasn't Allah, and the people weren't Muslims).

This same god once, according to their scripture, ordered bears to tear about 42 children for making fun of a bald man. (2 Kings 2:24)

This same god praised Lot for giving his virgin daughters willingly to criminals to be raped repeatedly.

This same god thought it was great sport to torture his most loyal follower (Job) in order to prove to the devil that nothing would sway his faith.

The list goes on.

[newswolf56]

14. I suggest you read of the campaigns of Charles Martel...

specifically the Battle of Tours, 732 AD (the routing of Muslim invaders from France) or perhaps the astounding heroism of John Sobieski, 1683 AD (the routing of Muslim invaders from their siege of Vienna). Had Sobiesky not triumphed, it is probable all Europe would have been subjugated by the Ottoman Caliphate -- and the American and French revolutions would never have happened. Nobody -- Christians or Muslims -- has clean hands in the blood-drenched history of Yehvehistic religion.

[ET Awful]

15. 1683? The first Crusade began in 1095. n/t

[Vickers]

16. So, he's saying the Koran is just as violent as the Bible?

Who woulda thunk it, huh? :eyes:

[underpants]

17. I'm just glad no one ever killed based on their reading of the Bible

or in an interest to spread the Christian faith.


The Times-Dispatch=Right Wing rag. You should read their "From Wire Reports" articles-almost laughable in their spin.

[MuseRider]

18. I think I saw that one in my paper too.

I will have to look back but this just looks very familiar.

[Toots]

19. How again did the Jews aquire their lands in the first place?

This is one ignorant letter writer.

[StudentOfDarrow]

20. Mr. Hubbard should read King Arthur,

the most famous and respected Christian legend, and see if he disagrees with that book's contention that it is all right to kill those that have not been baptized by the Catholic Church. If not, there just might be a double standard here. The point is, all religions have both violent and peaceful adherents, and to brand all followers based on the actions of a few is ignorant.