Extremism is an Unneeded Part of the World's Human Element.

Terrorists have destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon. The lunatics that crashed planes into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa were deluded into thinking Allah would like them in heaven with him. If Allah had a use for the terrorists, he would have given them a brain and self preservation instincts. Whichever cause they think they could further with these actions, they were wrong.

Religious extremists are blinded by their zeal. The idiots that blow up abortion clinics and shoot doctors that perform abortions don't think that their own taking of life is just as wrong. The God of the Catholics is the same God as the Protestants in Northern Ireland yet the killing is still going strong between those groups. The Buddhist that immolates himself, takes a life that is not his to take. Even the Koran condemns killing. Why do people get their own religion wrong so often? Are not all humans God's creation?

I think the majority of blame for the rise in extremism comes from the poor education most extremists have received. They fail to understand the most important concepts of their religion, and focus on a small section that is easy for them to digest. It is easy to try to understand the old method of an eye for an eye, but requires much more thought to practice "Though shall not kill". That's how we end up with idiots that want to kill the heretics and infidels instead of trying to understand other cultures and religions. Religion started out as a way of life that enabled people to work in harmony towards the common good. The core of every religion is cooperation. Tolerance is needed now. The majority of Moslems have more to fear from the idiots that form its lunatic fringe than the rest of the world's people. The masses of poorly educated people don't know or care that "Classical Islam" is one of the most tolerant religions out there, all they see is the acts of a few idiots that killed lots of people in the name of Allah.

Religion isn't bad. The vast majority of Moslems are good people. So too are most of the Catholics, Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists, and every other religion I haven't named. Even most atheists are good people. Most people perform the rituals needed during religious services, but don't let their religious views interfere with their interactions with people that are not of their faith. These are the people that make life in the United States enjoyable. For them religious service is something you do once a week and on certain holidays. Cooperation between people of all faiths makes this a great nation.

Religious intolerance is BAD. The United States has no need of a group of idiots that want to act out a "my God is stronger than your God" scenario. A brief look through history will show you that God is claimed to be on the side of the "winner" of every battle (which means that in every war, God changes sides, sometimes very often). If you look back to the core religious values of the people that start the fighting, you will see that they weren't supposed to be fighting in the first place, so win or lose they have violated God's will. If God is truly on the side of the victors, why is he so capricious during the war?

Will Middle Eastern Moslems ever admit that their Allah is the God of the Christian faiths (Since they view Christ as a prophet), which is also the Yahweh of the Jewish religions (the Torah is the foundation upon which the Bible and the Koran are built). Since all spring from the same source, why do they insist on killing each other? The simple answer is the clerics have more to gain by keeping their sheep under their control than they have by teaching the flock the truth. As long as religious leaders are able to mystify the congregation, they have power. Nothing corrupts morals as much as power. Power attracts money and adulation. A strong man can get power for a while, but power doesn't have to come from strength when you have a pipeline to God. By making sure most of the congregation are not able to gain access or understand the "holy" texts, clerics maintain a firm grip on their power. The ignorance of the majority is maintained by making the followers remain impoverished, malnourished and placing the blame for their plight upon the nonbelievers. Simple misdirection goes a long way into maintaining a fanatical following. Truth is a dangerous thing when its only in the hands of the few.

Jerry Falwell made a mind boggling gaffe in his zeal to keep the flock in order. By equating the destruction of the World Trade Center with God's wrath at the US for treating Wiccans, Abortionists, Gays, Lesbians and other "Sinners" with acceptance, he showed the world that extremist thinking by Christians is just as stupid as the action of the idiots that committed the actual deed. Pat Robertson, by nodding his approval and not challenging the remark, proved he is about as far out of touch with reality as Falwell. That these morons have such a huge following is frightening. Would your God condemn over 6,000 innocent people to such a brutal public death because he doesn't like the way the US treats other religions, abortionists, and its Gay and Lesbian population? No, idiots following orders from the lunatic fringe of religious zealotry, and nothing more brought this tragedy upon us. Falwell's comments represent another kind of threat to this country, one that could destroy this country from within because all religious fanatics are capable of being blinded by their faith to the point of doing extremely stupid acts.

Wouldn't the Imams better serve Islam if all its followers understood the Koran, instead of having it interpreted for them? Wouldn't Christianity be better off if its followers understood the Bible without relying upon Priests and Ministers acting as a go between for them? I could continue asking this question substituting the leaders of every other religion ad nauseum, and the answer would be the same YES! Would the leaders of the religions like their new kind of congregation, probably not. The educated congregation would be less likely to give the current leaders very much power or wealth. They probably wouldn't give too much power to their political leaders either.

Then again, perhaps the problem also arises from a lack of older and wiser clerics. Years of warfare and a practice of killing off leaders of the opposition forces tends to destroy the very people that ordinarily would be voices of moderation. Younger minds tend to seek physical solutions to spiritual problems and consider outside influences to be too distracting for the religious mind to handle. The glimpse of even the smallest part of a woman's skin is too much for the average Taliban man. Great works of art were destroyed and music, dancing, and sports were banned lest they distract the enslaved minds of the taliban followers.

Most people want to be allowed to enjoy the life they have with as little stress as possible. When faced with a tragedy of this magnitude, we trust the people close to us (whether by blood, race, age, sex, religious persuasion or any other factor we choose). The well educated weigh the filters we apply to the world with a greater emphasis upon facts and logic. Action is taken after an analysis of information and the action taken is not always the same action our immediate, emotional response would have been. I am very grateful our President is placing emphasis on the long range goal and on the planning that is needed to eliminate lunatic extremists. I hope we are successful.

The destruction of the World Trade Center and Pentagon require action. My first response based upon the emotions felt upon seeing the drama unfold, was to want the heartless idiots that dreamed up that plan to be brought into the nuclear age in as little time as possible. My second thought was much the same (without the use of nuclear weapons), because I don't know enough about their thought processes to come up with a counter measure. I don't see any way to stop an idiot that is hell bent on taking as many people as possible to meet his God, that wouldn't kill him with as little loss of additional lives as possible. That's the real tragedy, people must die because the world's religious and government leaders have more to gain from an ignorant population in terms of their power and wealth than they have from people that can accept and tolerate others who are different

As much as I don't like the idea, we must wage war against the extremists in all faiths. This war requires educating people on all sides, including ours, so that we don't make the mistake our forefathers made by locking up innocent people, just because they are the "wrong" religion. It's bad enough some of our poorly educated, self serving, "patriots" have started shooting their guns. We owe it to the vast majority of Moslems in this country that had no part in the acts done by the dumber minority of terrorists, to make our citizens smart enough to know the difference.

The first blows against us have been delivered. We now must join together and win as many battles as it takes to eliminate terrorism and the stupidity that drives it, from the face of the Earth. Our weapons are ready. Our will to act is ready. Now lets focus on the weak points of our enemies and win this war on all its fronts, physical and mental.