The number of Muslims in the world is somewhere between 1.6 bil. and 2 bil. That’s a really hard number to fathom. Too many to assimilate through conversion. Too many to kill with bombs. And certainly too many to paint with one broad brush.
By comparison, at it’s height the number of active ISIS fighters was around 30,000. That number is easier to understand. Let’s say it’s the number of people at a Major League Baseball game.
If you created a bar graph where 1.6 bil. were represented by a 6 inch bar, the bar representing 30,000 would be imperceptible. Try to let that sink in.
The extremists claiming to represent Islam are, no doubt, extremely dangerous. When they strike, it gets magnified by ubiquitous media. It’s a scary thing.
But here’s the deal. There is a war of recruitment going on.
You really, really don’t want to piss off 1.6 bil. otherwise benign citizens. Angry, unenlightened, fearful rhetoric against Islam is a very dangerous thing. When this gets spouted by your leader, it increases the chance that you will become a target for the bad guys. It lessens the chance that the good Muslims will cooperate with you.
That’s just stupid talking.
We have to live together on this planet until we die. There are passages in the Quran and the Bible that, when wielded by the wrong people, are extremely intolerant and inhumane. Over time we must decipher, evaluate and, ultimately, evolve into compatible communities.
I have faith that all people are generally good, but easily manipulated by angry rhetoric and hidden agendas.
Love your neighbor.
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I recently took some grief for saying I felt safer in Indonesia than walking the streets of New Orleans at night. People were quick to point out that I was a man in a misogynistic culture.
True.
However, one thing I will point out is that there are over 340 mil. guns in the private sector of the United States. If properly organized, that fire power could conquer much of the world without using our military.
In Indonesia it is almost impossible to get a license to own a weapon. Just something to think about.
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