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I know of very few (in fact...I really know of none) Christians that embrace, nor even condone, the Rev. Phelps' idealogy. I would call Phelps an...extremist. Why then, do we assume that because some Muslim extremists step out of the bounds (to put it lightly) of human acceptability, are we so quick to catagorize them as representative of the entire islamic faith?
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This may be a rather simplistic answer, but I think it has something to do with why we put all our socks in the same drawer. It's convenient and alleviates us from having to look for them.
We categorize things to make our lives easier. The kind of thinking that dictates all Muslims are kooky bombers allows us to justify our fears and takes all the work out of having to look at life's little complexities.
I have a friend who DJs at a college radio station here and he is Muslim. The music played on his show is 80s techno/industrial/goth/europop.
Don't you find it zany that a Muslim likes this kind of music and plays it on the radio? He even speaks English! He also likes the Cubs!
We went out one night and I kept thinking the whole time we were out, "why isn't he at home making a bomb and hating me 'cause I'm an infidel? He is a Muslim, after all, and that's what Muslims do is make bombs and hate infidels."
Sorry for the flippant response, but I find people who are unwilling to understand or acknowledge that there are Muslims in this world who aren't terrorists to be a little silly, thus the flippancy of my answer.