Ft Hood

Just as peaceful as the christian religion claims to be. And the same could be said about christianity compatibility -wise.

He did this on a military base so his rights are close to zero, in this case they should be close to zero. He doesn't deserve another breath, let alone an attorney.

Koresh and Jones are anomalies. You can't even compare them to "rotten apples". They are more like wierd, mutant apples in an otherwise normal barrel.

And at least in THIS nominally Christian country, Muslim and Buddhist temples, Jewish synagogues, etc. exist virtually side by side in multi-ethnic neighborhoods. Imagine such an occurrance in one of the Islamic nations! No Christian churches of which I am aware are advocating the total eradication of any other religions. The Crusades are used as an example of the intolerance of Christianity, but the purpose of that benighted mission was to return possession of the Holy Land to the control of those who held it sacred, by wresting it from the hands of those who denied the precepts it symbolized. The destruction of the Muslim faith was not an issue; the destruction of Muslim armies was another matter!

In my view, Hasan is an anomaly in the same sense. I've known Muslims since I was a child and none of them were hostile to anyone including christians. In fact, the families I know around here actually have Christmas trees for their kids, even if they don't sport mangers on their tabletops.

Yes, with varying success. Wasn't there a church defaced multiple times in Anderson this past year? That was probably nominal christian on christian.  I don't think it was a Muslim who shot up and killed the Amish schoolgirls in 2006.  And it is exclusively so-called christians who murder medical personnel who may perform abortions.  November 5th was Guy Fawkes Day in the UK - that was a Catholic-based plot to overthrow the Protestant government by blowing up the Houses of Parliament.  Then there were the Catholic-Protestant wars in Ireland, where there is an uneasy peace today.  The Ku Klux Klan uses its own version of christianity to justify violence, murder and mayhem. 

Wikipedia adds, "Ian Gilmour has cited the historical case of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre as an instance of papal terrorism on par with modern day terrorism, and goes on to write, "That massacre, said Pope Gregory XIII, gave him more pleasure than fifty Battles of Lepanto, and he commissioned Vasari to paint frescoes of it in the Vatican".^[2] It is estimated that ten thousand to possibly one-hundred thousand Huguenots (French Protestants) were killed by Catholic mobs, and it has been called "the worst of the century's religious massacres".^[3] The massacre led to the start of the fourth war of the French Wars of Religion." 

In my view, Christianity isn't justified in having any moral high road in the history of fundamentalist idiocy.

It isn't a problem with the local Muslim populace.  You never heard of this crap during the 20's or 30's or 40's.  There is a radicalization of the various religions for political purposes and it happens everywhere.  Sarah Palin is an example in the US. So is Reverend Wright.

History is always re-written by the victors.  There is always some truth in it, but only to varying degrees, and sometimes it is less rather than more.  I have personally never believed in altruistic motives for the Crusades - there was much more behind it than that.  Another source says, "

When Muslim cities were captured by Christian crusaders, it was standard operating procedure for all inhabitants - no matter what their age - to be summarily killed. It is not an exaggeration to say that the streets ran red with blood as Christians reveled in church-sanctioned horrors. Jews who took refuge in their synagogues would be burned alive, not unlike the treatment they received in Europe.

In his reports about the conquest of Jerusalem, Chronicler Raymond of Aguilers wrote that "It was a just and marvelous judgment of God, that this place [the temple of Solomon] should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers." St. Bernard announced before the Second Crusade that "The Christian glories in the death of a pagan, because thereby Christ himself is glorified."

Sometimes, atrocities were excused as actually being merciful. When a crusader army broke out of Antioch and sent the besieging army into flight, the Christians found that the abandoned Muslim camp was filled with the wives of the enemy soldiers. Chronicler Fulcher of Chartres happily recorded for posterity that "...the Franks did nothing evil to them [the women] except pierce their bellies with their lances."

My point is that Christianity and Islam have equally sordid histories.  No religion exists in a vacuum. It only exists as it is expressed through each person's individual lens and no two are alike:there are rotten apples in EVERY barrel. Hitler used christian bigotry to kill millions of jews and gypsies.  The political use to which religious ferver and justification can be put is one of the primary reasons behind our Founding Father's insistence on separation of Church and State.  Every religion is vulnerable to the crazies within it. Hasan was one of those. 

Islam is the convenient scapegoat for many people in this country, just as christianity is a convenient scapegoat for others in other countries.  Beware of political and religious leaders using this as a tool, for they assuredly will manipulate us with it if we refuse to think for ourselves.

All true enough, Bard. I guess the only ones who really knew what occurred were the ones who lived thru it. For better or worse, what we know of history is what historians chose to tell us. I've studied it most of my life, yet there's very little of it that I'd bet my life was 100% true in EVERY detail.

And I should have included Hasan as one of the anomalies; I'm sure he performed years of valuable service before some unknown factor caused him to lose his rationality.

They believe if they create enough bad things to happen it will make Jesus come back, the only thing is they do not believe in Jesus,

 MAYBE WHAT IS HAPPENING IS PEOPLE HAVE STOPED BELIVEING IN GOD... AND WE NEED TO READ TO THE KIDS AND LET THEM BELIVE IN JESUS...OR THIER GOD  I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY...

The victims

Fort Hood profiles

Sgt. Kim Munley