Well, RW – I consider Muslim fundamentalists to generally be MORE dangerous as the “Bible thumpers” (only generally, because there are the Paul Hills & the Eric Rudolphs to contend with)…

Thing is, you’ll have to go a long way to find anyone in the bible thumper crowd who’ll applaud Hill or Rudolph. It’s not an act of honor to blow up a pizza parlor full of gays, it doesn’t get your family $25K if you kill an abortion doctor; it gets you imprisoned and universally despised within the USA (save for the Fred Phelps crowd, which is akin to the people who think we faked the moon landing; you can find a nutcase in any group large enough over here. There, the group doesn’t need to be very large & could actually include many of its elected members of gov’t). Our extremists are REAL extremists and we don’t have them blowing up people on a constant basis. Finding an American extremist who wants to kill gays/lesbians is the fringe; finding a Muslim leader who wants the destruction of Israel is, sadly, not the fringe. It’s darn near the norm. The president of Iran comes to mind.

Think about that for a second. Imagine a US politician who stands up and gives a speech calling for the death of gays in America. Or, who would deny that slavery even existed. THAT is the reality in Iran. Yet, here, we have outrage over caterpillars placed in a box alongside a terror suspect & sleep deprivation.

But, I didn’t grow up with a mosque.

Obviously, Occam’s razor dictates, that they’re teaching a whole lotta hate and zeal for death in many Muslim mosques. Do that here and you’re headed for jail.

Heck, say you think a marriage should be between a man and a woman over here and you’ll be punished. WORDS that offend people get you fired over here. Over there……you get beheaded if you draw a picture of Allah. This shouldn’t be a left/right issue and it doesn’t make someone automatically agree with the war in Iraq if they say “hey, you Muslims, to say you have problems with your religion within the middle eastern region – the rest of the world’s Muslims seem okay – is akin to saying that the Catholic church has issue with gay priests & altar boys”. But, that sentiment is farther down the priority list in too many circles. THAT is our enemy, not Rush Limbaugh, not Jim Cramer, not Fox News (and not Barack Obama or Hillary or George Soros on my side).

I agree with you that the Arbitration act in the UK leaves open the possibility that domestic violence cases will not be handled equitably through the traditional court system and may instead be handled poorly by Sharia courts or other unorthodox arbitration schemes. I think it should be repealed.

As for Nicholas Kristoff, he may be a great thinker, but isn’t up on his Bible study. The Passover Lamb was always slain on the day of unleavened bread prior to the actual day of Passover.

Matthew 14:12. And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?

Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.

Christians know Christ was crucified the day before the Passover celebration because it was illegal for them to have a crucifixion on that day. They had to take the bodies down before midnight. That is why soldiers went over to break the legs of the men who were being crucified in order to stop them from being able to push up and breathe. Christ was already dead and they stuck a spear in His side, instead. When I read the book of John, I find no inconsistencies with this. It was the preparation Day of the Passover when Christ stood before Pilate.

As to the authorship of Mark, it is certain. The verses added at the end could have been by another writer authorized by Mark, but it is consistent with the Word of God and presents no problem to anyone I know.

Also, the question he brought up concerning Judas has never presented a problem to me and I have never heard anyone else speak as if this concerned them. Basically, the explanation I have heard is that when Judas was cut down, he fell and the description of the entrails gushing out, occurred. In 1599, the following explanation is given in the Geneva Study Bible:

(q) Luke did not consider Judas’ purpose, but that which followed it, and so we used to say that a man has done himself harm, not that he wanted and intended to, but in respect of that which followed.
(r) The Greek words signify this much, that Judas fell down flat and was torn apart in the middle, with a tremendously great noise.

Every teacher I have ever studied under realized that this is not an inconsistency, but rather a further description of what happened.

But, I didn’t grow up with a mosque. I don’t have Imams working in the cubicle next to me (I’ve had about a dozen co-workers who were part- or full-time preachers), and I’ve never read the Koran all the way through.

In other words – apart from reminding them that a skeptical, objective evidence based, epistemology is better and that a modernist ethic is more civilized, I have very little to say to convince them to moderate. And that’s if I thought any of them read my blog (and I’m pretty sure they don’t). I can cheer the guys like Abu Zayd from a distant sideline… but even they won’t hear me. So… I guess you see what you are saying.

In short: yeah, but it’d be nice if the NYT thought Islamic radicals were as dangerous as us Bible thumpers living in the inbred south (when we vote Red, that is….NC and FLA are acceptable, again).

Evolution is a slow process man

I don’t care if you give it 2,000 years you are still gonna have some nuts in the cake.

But the signs are encouraging and I will make it a point to read more of Kristoff at your recommendation.