the "US Christian pro-life extremists," as you say, are not terrorists. These people are trying to save humans, not kill them like the terrorists of the middle east. David Ross http://home.attbi.com/~damiross/ > I do not know how you could equate Osama bin Laden, with Jerry Falwell, or > pro life > protesters. Your comparison stretches reality, which shows you argument is > hollow at best. > The next time a Rabbi, Priest, Minister, or Jerry Falwell orders the > Highjacking of an Aircraft, > a suicide bombing, or bombing of an embassy or Temple we'll condemn them. > > TOM > > -----Original Message----- > From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Nick > Laflamme > Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 1:51 PM > To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU > Subject: TAN: What goes around could come around > > If a mosque or Islamic cultural center is ever bombed or shot up, many > posters to this list might be in trouble. > > "Look at these postings," the relatives of any victims might shout, "this > list is full of people who hate our peaceful religion, people who believe > that a few violent extremists are representative of our faith. > > "Look at how they wanted to deny us our human rights. Look how the put > quote-marks around the word 'person' in describing these extremists of our > faith, as if members of our faith must somehow not really be human. Look at > how they see a bogeyman around every corner, trying to link an airport > shooting in Los Angeles to the crash of an airliner off the East Coast > three years earlier. Look how quickly they trust any page on the World Wide > Web, seemingly because it's well formatted and sounds authoritative." > > I'm sure none of you are as violent as you believe these extremists to be. > Just because you think all of your nominal enemies want to kill you doesn't > mean you want to kill them. So what if you want to arm everyone with > handguns "for our protection"; I'm sure that doesn't mean you would wish > the use of deadly force against people just because of their religion or > national origins. > > But if others are as quick to grasp at tenuous connections as some of the > sources you quote, you, too, might be seen as a part of a vast Zionist > conspiracy, a conspiracy that parallels the Christian crusades against this > same faith a millennium ago. > > I'm sure you can convince yourself that, "this is different; we're not like > that." But to the outsiders who don't start by assuming your good will, the > picture you paint frightens others just as much as you are frightened by > what you see when you look at them. > > I believe many of you are scared of what you don't know from first-hand > experience. You know of the vocal, militant extremists. Do you know other > followers of that same religion or from those same countries who aren't > nearly as militant or ready to threaten violence? > > When you think of Osama bin Laden and the Palestinian suicide bombers, > think also about US Christian pro-life extremists, those who shoot abortion > providers in the name of Christ. Think about Jerry Falwell and some of his > spontaneous judgements on the rest of the world, when he sounds so > intolerant. Are these extremists like all the Christians you meet in your > daily life? They may be like many Christians you meet in your daily life, > but they're not like all Christians I meet in my daily life. > > Beware of broad strokes of judgement and of finding vast conspiracies > behind every event. Those same strokes and findings could apply to us as > well. > > Peace, > Nick