your global version of Islam is pretty strict but you have a vast majority of people who choose to follow it. Some follow it correctly and others subvert it for their own cause, also not unlike other religions. A leading difference I would say is that at least in Islam, their language very clearly dictates the lengths their followers must go for the cause. It's not so much like Christianity where we've had revisions upon revisions so now we can just brush them away as old mythology.

You also have to consider that in France, the Islamic people's religious freedom has already been downsized and treated as irrelevant; and this is in regard to innocuous things as simple as religious dress. Now add a tasteless newspaper while they had all the right, I'm pretty sure they received more than one warning from offended extremist parties. But they kept at it.

One of our favorite expressions is "show 'em better than you can tell 'em" and unfortunately one group finally did. If this wasn't an opportunity for a mutual respect of religious differences and perhaps one day, tolerance. I don't know what is.

As far as my feelings go however, when you have a large group of people with a long history of oppression that goes unheeded, how can you not give dissenting voices and actions any kind of credence?

*shrug*

"i wanna hug all u idiotic bastards & then set you all on fire" -Bin

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