Yes, actually I have. There is a large Muslim community where I grew up. Mostly Persian and Arab. Not so much with the eastern Europeans. Some, but a drop in the bucket in comparison. Some were lip service Muslims, some were devout muslims. Most were nice people who minded their own and treated me with the same courtesy and respect that I gave them.

If you wanna get down to it, all 3 books from that "region" are horrible when followed literally to the letter.

Are Christians who don't murder adulterers just lip service Christians? Or are they people of faith who understand that today's world is not the same world we had 2000 years ago?


IMO the Boston bombings are more about alienation and disenfranchisement than it is about Islam. This is exactly what people mean when they talk about the consequences of Islamophobia and racial profiling. And it's not just with Islamic immigrants, you can apply it to African Americans joining street gangs and stuff like that too. When people are treated noticeably differently in a negative way we tend to have negative consequences. Inclusion and respect go a long way. I have seen you write it a bunch of times, love and acceptance will get you a lot further than hatred and animosity.

And don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying we shouldn't be aware of extremists of any type and deal with them accordingly. I'm just saying it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy when you treat people this way.