The worst of the worst have been roaming the Afghanistan countryside for the last eight years. The worst of the worst has been at large ever since 9-11–Osama bin Laden.

And, if I recall correctly, the torture rationalizer Marc Thiessen (Frenchie? Probably) claimed that torturing one prisoner gave us information about another prisoner we already had in custody.

In the immortal words of the Church Lady: How con-VEEEEEN-ient. Torturing some slob terrorist who gives up somebody who’s ALREADY IN CUSTODY. Wow. In the immortal words of Emil Sitka: I feel safer already.

I hear there’s an unused prison somewhere in Beverly Hills.

I would MUCH rather have a Muslim MOSQUE in my neighborhood than a bigoted moron like YOU.

What I was NOT used to was hearing intelligent, concerned progressives and/or liberals lash out at Christians with such virulence. Most of the posts on these threads make useful suggestions, give relevant statistics, and/or point out flaws which need to be addressed, leveling justified criticism at a variety of targets. However, when I read post after post indicating that Christians are mostly responsible for the mess that has been made of our country, THEN I experience surprise, because the tone and content of those accusations so closely resemble repug/neocon finger-pointing.

The historical horrors which have been committed in the name of religion certainly merit honest condemnation, and Iheartily condemn–have condemned for decades–the “Christian” contribution to such viciousness, rapine, cruelty, etc., in the name of “Christianity.” What those “Christians” did, and what some are still promoting, is sheerest blasphemy.

Almost without exception, however, those “Christian”-caused horrors were perpetrated by POLITICIANS who twisted and wrenched scripture out of all coherence and context. The people who initiated and carried out such criminal policies were NOT Christian in any sense of the word–except by title.
Until recent times, Catholicism did not encourage–and in earlier times, did not even ALLOW–adherents to read or study scripture: obedience to the “inerrant” Pope, to his papal bulls [nice pun there; "bull" is the Latin root of "bulletin"], and to one’s local priest was demanded, and anyone who questioned was branded–sometimes LITERALLY–a heretic, and was punished severely, even to death.

Yes, a lot of the same goes on today, especially among Republicans and right-wingers. I maintain that many of them are Christian IN NAME ONLY; there’s plenty of proof out there; bombing of abortion clinics, misogyny, persecution of gays and immigrants. Those actions do NOT = Christianity.

The genuine Christians? I cannot judge the state of ANYONE’S soul, but I CAN assess their actions. And few of those actions are damaging. Genuine Christians are, by and large, appalled by the deeds, ideas, and words of their supposed coreligionists. Genuine Christians run programs to help unwed mothers instead of railing about abortion or bombing clinics. They run programs to minister to the poor instead of ranting about illegal immigrants. They join the ACLU instead of attacking minorities. They keep their word; they preach and practice peace. They judge themselves rather than judging others. They abominate hypocrisy. Most of what genuine Christians do and advocate, if one observes their actions, is NON-violent.

Even genuine Christians, however, are still human. So they still do stupid things; they still make mistakes; they still have blind spots; they still hold biased points of view. Some of them have exceedingly narrow minds; some of them have a limited perception of reality.

Some of them voted for Bush. Stupid, but human.

Whats the differance between snatching someone in Afgahnistan
or Pakistan, holding them indefinetly on hearsay evidence,
and what we did to American Japanese 65 years ago?

Oh right, we tortured them and put them in solitary
confinement 23 hrs a day.

Why not just round up ALL the moslems and Arab looking people
and put them in prison, then maybe the frightwingers
will be happy.

Oh right, we tortured them and placed them in solitary
confinement 23 hrs a day.

What’s between repugs’ ears.

Of course, since we have so few people who speak arabic, let alone Pashto, the Gitmo crew probably taught them the language.

We’re supposed to be afraid of Muslim terrorists IN PRISON?

Maybe if we keep them in a plastic cell suspended in space so they can’t usee their magnetic powers to escape?

I’ve got it! Put them in the Phantom Zone!

I agree that your religion has been hijacked in America by the American taliban. I also know there are many good Christian and Muslim people of faith in the world.

The problem is that it is often hijacked by powermoners and used as a political tool. Evidence the last 8 years.

This statement by you concerns me though:

The actual separation of church and state mandated in the Constitution actually “protects” the church from the state; there is no reverse protection of the state from the church.

You try to imply that the founders found no value in keeping the church and state affairs seperate. America was not founded as a christain nation:

USA not founded as christian nation

The evidence for this is quite clear.

Your statement that it is not in the constitution seems to somehow justify mixing religion and politics. The truth is that many of the rights you take for granted are not mentioned in the constitution either.

Nowhere in the constitution will you find a reference to “right to privacy” or even “right to a fair trial.”

Do you accept those concepts to be American laws and values? Of course you do.

Understand the opposite view

I am still stymied by your statement that you do not understand why we fear religion……

The remaining Gitmo prisoners who arent suspected terrorists and held without a shred of evidence (+ the hundreds already released) should if possible be sent back home to their home countries, with the US government at the very least giving them a public apology and compensation for the abuse they’ve suffered the last 6-7 years. If they cant be sent back to their home countries they should be allowed to stay in the US. Back in 2001 some of the detainees had actually left their countries to seek a better life in America the land of the free they had heard so many good things about. Ironic isnt it?

The suspected terrorists should be tried like any other suspected criminal or terrorist. Sensitive classified information can be handled just fine without “compromising” the work of the CIA

Sadly, martyrdom will never go out of style

Why do they even bother with reports anymore? Why not just have the following on the screen all the time?

BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!! ARE YOU AFRAID THAT YOU’RE NOT AFRAID ENOUGH? BOO!! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!