Originally Posted by WarMachine

Funny, all the muslims i've known at school have none of those beliefs. One of them is from Algeria and the other is from Pakistan, they're both pretty smart and i've never known them to be fanatical to any extent. Unless you count going to friday prayer and respecting the traditions of ramadan as fanatical.

I suppose they listen to what their imams have to say out of respect, i've heard of some conservative christian preachers that aren't very nice either. What both those groups need is to think for themselves rather than have someone else tell them what to do and what to think. That was our opinion of the communists in the cold war and for some reason you can't apply that to religion? You give people education and a chance to live better lives than i think those imam's influence will die down. Of course they'll always be around telling people to hate america, that's just the way society is sometimes.

I'm sorry that there are those who hate america but then there are those kinds in every continent, from catholics to hindus they have America haters. Islam historically has been much more peaceful than christianity, if you go by body count then the muslims have a tremendous way to go in order to match the death toll that europeans and other christians have accumulated over the centuries. However, you give them a peaceful alternative then they'll calm down.