http://www.faithfreedom.org/testimonials.htm

God is true to each of us , individually, in Monotheist religion. He who starts saying, the TRUE God of "whoever" is wrong. Religion is a matter of inner belief. If killing in the name of politics is totally unacceptable , spreading hatred and terror in the name of a religion is even worse. Unfortunately there is one thing in common between 9/11 , Madrid bombing, London explosions, Deprivation of Liberty in Iran, executions on Syria, creation of racist and antisemite extremist websites in europe especially in Holland, blowing up civilians around the globe from Yemen to Indonesia..... All of it for a certain cause : ( )

Violent intolerance does not equal more 'Muslims take their religion more seriously than Christians.' I find your reasoning flawed at the most superfluous level. You would imply that the western consumers represent Christianity when in fact most devout Christians live in poverty thruout Latin America Philippines and Africa and they take their religion extremely seriously. The reality is that those who live in poverty are frequently the most devout as they have little or no education and so for them divine intervention is their one true hope in turning their lives around. I have been to the Gulf states, as I am fairly sure you have, where I have seen a level of consumerism that can rarely be equalled in the West. I understand that Saudi Arabia is on a par with these states so frankly I find little correlation between consumerism and religious devotion. People with money spend it and people with a lot of money spend even more is really the only observation and conclusion I would make. My family comes from both the Arab world and Central Asia and the difference they characterise the societies is significant. Central Asia is remembered as tolerant. Contrast to a recurring theme of an undercurrent of fear that something at any moment something can erupt and set off a violent mob in their remembrances of the Arab world. Now Petro Dollars are flowing into the Muslim world building Mosques and schools preaching Wahabi/Salafi (ala Hamas) to the new generations corrupting local versions of Islam. We see the results today with 'radical Islam' all across the world. All or most these institutions built and sponsored with Saudi money enjoy the protection of the Saudi Embassy and so local governments are loathe to act. The reality is that Islam gets more deference in the media than any other religion without exception! A very big Double Standard exists in today's media. Routinely the media refers to the 'Holy Koran' or 'The Prophet Mohamed'. As if it is an established fact that Mohamed is not only 'A Prophet' but 'The Prophet'. That is a fine and respectable position for a Muslim commentator but not for objective media. You use the exact same reference 'The Prophet Mohamed'. Yet you didn't say the Holy Crucifix or Jesus God's only son or Jesus the Christ or Jesus the Messiah in your op/ed, nor does anyone else in the mainstream Media use these or any other titles as to any other religions or religious Figures when they report on events in the world, with the notable exception to Islam. Why not Mohamed and if a further delineation is needed something neutral like 'founder of Islam'. And it doesn't stop there. Who else in the world gets the weekly Puff Piece journalism of Eye on Middle East or Middle East Report on the BBC and CNN? These programs have no other purpose other than to inform viewers that not all Muslim Arabs are terrorists and religious fanatics which is the way Arabs are otherwise generally seen the news headlines. Nobody but nobody else, without exception, gets that kid gloves treatment and deference in the 2 largest International media outlets. And Ray ask yourself how much of this deference is motivated by fear and the influence of oil money as opposed to genuine respect? For consideration, Josef Cohen

"In A.D. 130, the Romans, who had destroyed Jerusalem 60 years before, rebuilt it as a pagan city with a temple to Jupiter on temple mount. An uprising of the Jews in protest was finally quelled in A.D. 135 at the cost of about 500,000 Jewish lives, with thousands sold into slavery and many thousands driven into exile. To spite the Jews, the Roman conquerors angrily renamed Israel, 'Provincia Syria-Palaestina' after the Philistines. From the time, those living there were known as 'Palestinians.' Who lived there? Jews! It is they who became known as 'Palestinians.' Yet Bibles by major publishers have maps with such labels as 'Palestine Under the Maccabees,' or 'Palestine in the Time of Christ.' Such maps promote a grave error. In World War II, the British Army had a volunteer brigade called 'The Palestinian Brigade.' It was made up of Jews; the Arabs were fighting on Hitler's side. There was the Palestinian Post, a Jewish newspaper, and the Palestinian Symphony Orchestra, a Jewish orchestra. In fact, Arabs refused to be called 'Palestinians.' For example, to the 1946 Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, Arab historian Philip Hitti declared, 'There is no such thing as Palestine in history, absolutely not...' E) WHO IS TO BLAME? In 1956, Ahmed Shukairy testified to the UN Security Council, 'It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria.' Eight years later, in 1964, Shukairy, an Egyptian, became the first leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization later headed by Arafat. He is also not a 'Palestinian' but was born in Cairo on August 4, 1929. What was the PLO going to 'liberate' in 1964? East Jerusalem and the West Bank were held by Jordan, while Egypt held the Gaza Strip. In fact, the PLO was not formed to liberate 'Palestinians' but to destroy Israel - and without any of the fundamental causes it now claims." http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/palestine.htm#ID

Its just that our religion teaches love and forgiveness, so when we are insulted, we get mad, but we forgive. Unlike, say Islam which teaches murder and violence. I guess you could say we both our serious. Us about forgiveness and them about hatred.

With all due respect AK, It is poverty and lack of education that makes people uncivilized! NOT Islam. Have some respect! This something that the world has to understand!! The fact that Arab countries are predominantly Muslim and the fact that they are plauged by civil conflict and war is not the fault of the Islam nor the fault of the people. It is the fault of the Arab dictators that have done nothing but increase their riches and spread corruption at the expense of their peoples. And guess what?? Whether you like it or not...most of these dictatorships were put in power by the west also for western interests!! Who gave power to the ruling family in Saudi Arabia? Who has been supporting King Abdallah of Jordan for so many years?? Who has been a strong ally and supporter of the dictator Husni Mubarak of Egypt since the start?? Who even strengthened and supported Saddam Hussein before the Iraq-Kuwait war??? (and i'm not saying that the other dictatorships that haven't been supported by the West are good either!!) Please people stop mixing the facts up. I'm saying this with all due respect. Although at first glance it may seem right to blame the 'uncivilized muslims' ....please understand and try to think of the root cause and not what you see on tv. Realize that many in the arab world (and i am not saying all cause there are those are that are very educated and nevertheless have very evil intentions), especially those that you see destroying and ravaging the embassies haven't recieved the eduation you have and the same chance at life you have!! I'm not trying to turn this into a sob story but just try to understand and not to generalize. Most these people really are not educated and because of this really do think that what they are doing is right! GUESS WHAT? I'M AN ARAB AND A MUSLIM AND THINK THAT THE VIOLENCE GOING ON IS WRONG!! JUST LIKE MANY OTHER MUSLIMS THINK!! Peace...

You want to say there are no Palestinians... Well, I believe there are no Palestinians too. You do not like to call the several millions of human beings living on the Land that was called Palestine for almost 2000 years as Palestinians. It is your problem. Why do we call Americans americans!! When poor America started to exist..!!! 400 years back! There are no Americans. They are just spanish or British etc...... Give me a break...! Let us stop using this stupid logic and move on. Palestinians call themselves Palestinians meaning they are the Arabs coming from the Land which is Palstine. Simple.... No need to make a lot of phylosophy about it! Now, your prophecies are the same as Islamic prophecies for some reasons. All the world came to occupy Jerusalem. The Britain EU, and Ameirca etc... Armed with high tech weapons etc. Stole it from poort Arabs. According to your bible. God will fight with Jerusalem. this is exactly what muslims say too. Basicly take the bible, and replace the belivers with Today muslims you will get The Quranic prophecies...! The sons of Abraham in the Holy Land. This is true Arabs. People gather in Jerusalem and got defeated. Crusades In quran, Jews will be gathered in the Holy Land before the Day of judgment. This is in Quran mentioend no surprise to muslims. But check after that, when Quran talks about the greatest defeat of them....

I think it is amusing that muslim people want everybody else to be tolerant of them and then they go and burn down embassies and what not, you can't have one without the other

http://www.faithfreedom.org/gallery.htm

Thier religion is the youngest of the three major western ones, and from an archeaological standpoint, there is much less evidence for the stories in the Koran, than there is for the Tanach, or even for the christian bible. Their religious leaders know this and therfor try to keep the masses dumb enough, leading them to believe that the west are evil sinners, under the assumption that western progress will lead to religious moderation. Moderation would only lead to a loss of power for these same leaders. So really the problem is their leaders (not surprisingly) whose religious inferiority complex fuels their fire. I mean really, 1400 years compared to 2000 or to 3500 , its easy to see why they feel insecure...

We are all aware of Ray's right for freedom of speach,but ,really,he is taking his blown up ego a little too far.WHO IN HEAVENS NAME ,ACCORDED THIS MAN AN AWARD FOR JOURNALISM?I am astounded at his lack of intelligence,on this sensitive matter.and his lack of research and knowledge,concerning the Israelo-palestinian situation .Does the fact that he is Palestinian,make him an expert on this subject?I think we just have to look at the amount of people ,on this talkback,who are awed at his lack of insight,and don't tell me that its because most of these talkbackers are jewish.This Man is not doing his JOB as a "JOURNALIST"correctly;and i can only suggest he change jobs.

Dipping a crucifix in urine is not incitement. Dipping an identifiable Xian would be. Frankly, I really don't care why the Muslims are angry. They'll have to learn to respect froom of opinion and freedom of speech. No-one is attacking them. Rather, it's their religion (philosophy) that's being critiqued (in this case, ridiculed). Does ridicule of a philosophy in any way mean an assault on its adherents? Not more so that laughing at someone who wears two different colored socks or questioning their sense of esthetics. #21: It doesn't. You're perfectly able, indeed welcome, in Europe to criticize Judaism, derideTorannical prescriptions, laugh at Jews wearing fur hats (shtreimels) or peiot, etc. What you're talking about are Shoah and slavery. Attacking or seeking to debate these is done with the express purpose to hurt individually and collectively members or a nation or ethnic group. And that is NOT acceptable.

the same reason as cartoons in Denmark, and that is to sell newspapers. There is no moral equivalence between Islam and the West, no matter how many mistakes you cite by Western governments. Excuses for Islam are self-hating, apologist and appeasing. Like an abused and battered wife we, must realize that it is not our fault that we are abused unless we continue to allow the beatings.

Dear Ray, i read your article with full interest and I should say it made sense and atleast cleared a very important thing about Muslims that they take their religion very seriously. Im a muslim and this is how I was brought up, not to tolerant any thing which humilates our God, Prophets, be it Muhammed (PBUH) or Jesus Christ and over all the religion. I totally agree its purely the misunderstanding betwen the west and the muslims. Im against the cartoons but I would never protest in the way other muslims are doing it. These are minor part of the Islamic community who I would say are illetrates and they dont know the basic meaning of Islam. We will defend our rights by boycotting Danish products.

YOUR ARTICLE IS BASICALLY LIES AND DISTORTIONS, AT FIRST I THOUGHT IT WAS 1 OR 2 POINTS, BUT THEN IT BECAME GLARINGLY MORE AND MORE DISTORTIONS. YOU SAY ARABS CANT HANDLE THE FREEDOM ,..SO THEY RIOT.?Well then you are AS stupid as they IF that is your defence , The world is not willing to wait another 1500 years for the arabs to MAYBE become civilized. YOU SAY THE XTIANS AND THE JEWS , you seem to say jews are not emotionally involved in religious persecutions and we dismiss it, then you say jews shrug it off.... then you would complain that jews attack arabs in responce and jews shouldnt respond as kofi anon said yesterday. . you twist it to write rewrite arab history IF THE TORAH JEWS march & peacefully protest, you call them fundamentalist if they if they shrug it off you say they are SHRUGGING IT OFF AND NOT INVOVLED. that is HOW YOU VALIDATE THE ARABS KILLING RIOTING DESTROYING? YOU SAY USA IS READING EMAILS. YOUR FORMER GOVERNMENT NEVER READ EMAILS, THEY KILLED YOU FIRST, IF THEY WERE SUSPICIOUS OF YOUR BEHAVIOR, THEN they will fact find after the fact of your death to substantiate your execution, same as your mohammed prophet story and koran.YOU KNOW MANY ''ARAB SCHOLARS' DOUBT THE MOHAMMED PROPHET STORY. AL JEZEERA IN ARABIC NOT TRANSLATED, I SAID STRAIGHT OFF THE TV IS A LYING SCUM FILLED MEDIA. YOU KNOW AND I KNOW IT .well i know it and maybe you believe it. YOU JUSTIFY THE ARAB LEADERS STEALING THE FORIEGN AID MONEY FROM THE ARAB PEOPLE, WITH CORRUPTION WORLD WIDE. THE DIFFERENCE IS THE WORLD GENERALLY DOESNT GO ON SUICIDE RAMPAGES BECAUSE OF POVERTY CAUSED BY POLITICIANS AND BLAMING IT ON ANOTHER CULTURE AS YOUR ARAB LEADER DO BLAME ISRAEL, AND THE JEWS AND USA... I CAN GO ON AND ON TO TEAR YOU APART. BUT THIS IS ENOUGH NOW .. . EVERYTHING YOU SAY EXPOSES THAT YOU ARE AS FILTHY AND CORRUPT AND ANY CAMEL HEARDER . YNET PUBLISHES YOUR WRITINGS FOR PUBLICITY, AND TO EXPOSE YOU. DONT BE TO ELATED

Their religious leaders know this and therfor try to keep the masses dumb enough HAHAHAHA THEY ARE INHERENTLY DUMB. THEY DONT NEED TO BE KEPT DUMB.

First, thanks #7 for your perceptive comments. I appreciate them, although I can imagine if you identified yourself, you might take a "free speech" beating :) As for the rest, I expect a lot of criticism. That's fair. Some of it is within reason, much is not. But I still believe that the most of the responses here don't really represent the "center" or the moderate voices. Emotion drives everyone to scream and yell and insult. I'm surprised that some Jews and Israelis don't like to hear that criticizing Israel is often denounced as anti-Semitism, as my mild and balanced criticism of Israel in these columns is described as constantly. Shabat Shalom to all of you, including those who sling the hate. I know some people who seek to find a way out of the conflict will see in this a roadmap and one day we will actually be forced to make peace, even if the extremists in both our camps don't want it no how! Thanks Ray Hanania www.hanania.com

The Arab/Muslim culture is the problem here. They are taught, as children, to have very little tolerence to anything negative about their faith or way of life. until this culture "wakes up" and realizes that the whole world is right and that they are wrong, nothing will change. I have two Palestinian friends and i work for a Muslim Doctor here in the US, and they all agree that the arab culture has gone astray and needs to change for the sake of the people. Ray is just denying reality with this article...too bad, he could probably do some good if he only saw the truth.

MAJORITY DOES NOT CONSITUTTE *TRUTH. *OUR FATHER* ABRAHAM AVEINU STOOD *ALONE AGAINST THE WORLD. HE WAS ON ONE SIDE AND THE WORLD WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER. THE MAJORITY REJECTED HIS TEACHING. NOAH WAS REJECTED MOSES WAS REJECTED BY THE MAJORITY OF THE WORLD. 'GD' OFFERED THE PATH TO TRUTH THEY TRIED TO TEACH THE LAWS OF MORALITY. THE MAJORITY REJECTED . AGAIN YOU ARE AN EMPTY HEADED HATEFUL ARAB DECEIVING PEOPLE WHO ARE BLINDED BY HATE TALK PACKAGED IN A BASKET OF LEBAS SWEETS, AND LIVING IN THE CENTER OF THE PALISTINIAN CAMPS, CHICAGO. WHO FUNDS YOUR PROPAGANDA FROM THE MID EAST? HAMAS ,ABBAS, IRAN,, WHO?

Sorry about my grammer. Let me try this again. It's interesting that in his comment, Ray Hanania expresses surprise that many of us who support Israel cast a skeptical eye on the "anyone who criticizes Israel is automatically an anti-Semite" trope that is constantly being regurgitated by those who (usually) unfairly criticize the Jewish state. As Hanania himself suggests in his comment, such sentiments stem only from fringe elements of the pro-Israel community and do not represent the majority of Zionists. I’ve been doing some digging, and I can’t find a single mainstream (a subjective term, I realize, but not extensively so) organization that has referred to Hanania himself as an anti-Semite. CAMERA.org has had a field day correcting errors in his writings but they’ve never said it. Neither has honestreporting.com, the ADL or the Simon Weisenthal center. The bizarre assertion that conventional Judaism automatically condemns anyone with the temerity to criticize Israel is a smokescreen employed to suppress the rights of those Jews who have been hurt or offended and to keep them from expressing those feelings. Hanania is not an anti-Semite and I’ve read nothing in any of his columns that would lead me that conclusion and neither has mainstream Judaism. Still, let us be clear, we must not be afraid to call those who actually are anti-Semites what they are. The “What, can’t I criticize your Nazi, apartheid state and laud those whose seek its destruction without being called an anti-Semite?” excuse simply cannot be used as crutch anymore. I’m not suggesting Hanania has done so, but it’s far from an uncommon occurrence.

Ray, in your vast knowledge is there ever a case, when a serious moslem will stop for a moment and have to think about not t using violence? Or because the west is too corrupt and indifferent , in your opinion.,that moslems have no responsibility to have a serious dialogue but are justified in using violence ?

The way muslims reacted to the cartoons just shows that the cartoons are right. And in the future muslims will have a lot of occasions to get angry because europeans are not taking the muslims dictats anymore. Ray, get used of being challenged. And yes when israel get criticised by anybody who shuts about the thousands of people get killed in Darfur one can asked why and the only obviour reason is antisemitsm. Is a Palestinian life worth more than a Sudanese life ?

in the last 100 years, the universe was full of human violence. It seems that everyone needs to revise his methodology or approach. However, if we ask ourselves a simple question: Which nation showed most violence?. The answer can be obtained through statistics very easily. Violence through wars which were waged and undertaken by the west is vastly more than those by muslims. World War I and II are only a suggestion. Vietnam. Indians in America. China and Japan against each other. Serbia. Bosneya. Chechneya. Iraq. Afghanistan. Palestine. The list is too long to exhaustively write. The number of deaths caused by Muslims for any reason is fractional compared to those caused by western war machine. It seems that there are many people in this forum prefer not to know, or they have never read a book. Get your facts straight people, shame on you!

Just to remind you Ray, there were times in history when muslim controlled areas were actually more civilised than non muslim controlled ones, like muslim Spain where muslims, jews and some christians did coexist somehow peacefully and where important cultural advancements took place and the rest of Europe at that time langished lagging behind in manners. So, why don't you muslims try to contribute to civilization as then, instead of losing your temper and threatening all of us who CHOSE NOT TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU DO to kill us for that reason of exerting our RIGHT of free will? Be sensitive, take a shower, and write for us a more sober article, please.

what have done ,the loyal readers, to deserve this punishment of your articles? will a pretty please go away work? must we demonstrate in rage against you? please, if we wnat your opinions ,hannaia, we'll give'em to you!

Yes, religion is a great part of what the society is -- something that molds all our moral norms and influences human interactions. It is our moral compass, even for those who do not actively practice it. There isn't one Muslim country that can lay a claim to modernity, tolerance and civility. And please leave Turkey out of it. It is precisely because Islam was being kept by Kamalists in the background, far away from the centers of power, that any semblance of the modernity was possible. You, in Lebanon, are in addition to Islam, strongly influenced by the custom and social norms of Lebanese Christians, whose numbers and thus influence on the society were not long ago much higher, thus far more influential. As to poverty and not Islam being at fault, ALL those who on 9/11 murdered almost 3000 people, and attempted more murder more, were educated, some were from the upper middle class families; Bin Laden is both educated and very rich; his right hand man is a pediatrician, a so is the hamas’ honcho, who sees nothing contradictory in being a physician and the murder of Jewish children. No, not every Muslim is a blood thirsty fanatic, but that is so despite Islam rather than because of it. If you are opposed to violence, you can no longer pretend that all those violent Muslims around the world either directly or indirectly involved in terrorism or violence against non- Muslims, like racially inspired rapes of non- Muslim girls, are a fringe minority, when the most significant and prominent imams and Muslim college professors lend them both moral and legal support. And what about Muslims in the West. Despite all the opportunities, Muslims in the west do not become more tolerant, and their western-born children even less so. Does it mean every single Muslim is so? Of cause not. But how can we tell who is who? Somebody once said that Islam’s borders are bloody. Look around the world – it is true. You cannot constantly blame it on the others. Listen to what your religious leaders teach and preach and realize how much damage they’re inflicting and then think how to go about the change within your own world, before setting out to change ours. Just remember, we will not cut your head off, even if you insult us, but your side is constantly threatening to cut off mine, and everybody else’s like me.