Tom,

I had some conversations last nite in a forum with some people who claimed to be of Persian descent who renounce the islamic faith. They made some very strong statements, which I hope someone can educate me if they are wrong. However, I did do a little research on the net last nite that validated what was said.

The basic claim of the Persians was that there is no such thing as a fundamentalist islamic. It is an oxymoron. The islamics who choose to fit into the rest of society are moderate islamics. They choose not to live their lives to the letter of the koran.

Basically, you can divide the koran into 2 halves. I guess the first halve was written by mohammed when he was first developing the tenants of his new religion. And there was a lot of goodness in his heart.

According to the Persians I talked to last nite, the 2nd halve of the koran was mostly written during a period when mohammed tried to take his new found religion to the masses. As one would expect, he encountered mass rejection by many of the Christian and Jewish faith. This halve of the koran is filled with many passages of hate for followers of other religions.

I searched thru the net to find samples for myself. I found passages spelled out by other former islamics that ADVOCATED DEATH to all those who appose allah. These passages state that there will be no retribution from allah for those who have killed someone who made disparaging remakes about islam.

One of the main websites I visited was http://www.secularislam.org/testimonies/. This explains why people like Salman Rushdie were renounced and hunted like animals. These people, who follow the letter of the law of the koran, will not sleep peacefully until followers of the Christian and Jewish faith are irradicated.

If this is true, please give me a way we can deal with these people on a rational level. Tell me you don't believe that this weeks attack will not motivate others of this faith to attempt other attacks.

>
>Trying to understand the mentality behind the acts which occurred earlier this week, I am wondering if we think differently than the members of cultures, which have bred such individuals. We tend to talk in terms of intellect and emotion and separate the two. Is it possible that it is not emotion that guides such individuals, but intellect? If that is the case we are in trouble.
>
>I cannot comprehend anyone existing on pure emotion especially the many groups with this same attitude. We may never understand.
>
>Tom