But what is it that drives haters crazy with rage? Many times, it’s being ignored. To a person with pride, being ignored is often worse than out-and-out hate; it’s that much more of an insult, that you’re not even worth noticing.

If only we could have the Prophet Muhammad back to correct all these extreme beliefs that bring more harm than good to fellow Muslims and non-Muslims.It really makes me sad knowing that extremism was not endorsed by the Holy Quran and if a Muslim must stand up to defend himself, only when he is directly...

The 2 extremes, neither one worse than the other: the result of bad religion is self-loathing and violence; the result of bad spirituality is self-worship and narcissism.

Hvis du tar til orde for at Europa en gang skal bli fritt for muslimer, tar du samtidig til orde, i beste fall, for en tvangsdeportering av mer enn femti millioner mennesker vekk fra det europeiske kontinentet. I verste fall tar du til orde for voldshandlinger mot en religiøs gruppering som allerede er sterkt utsatt...

All extreme opinions consume themselves.

They” hate us because they feel–and “they” are not wrong–that it is within our power to do so much more, and that we practice a kind of passive-aggressive violence on the Third World. We do this by, for example, demonizing tobacco as poison here while promoting cigarettes in Asia; inflating produce prices by paying farmers...

I am no Muslim scholar proclaimed by any institution, but I can think and command myself with discerning mental ability.What you will read on my page has no praises for intellectual manipulation of any Mullah whose view is to instill hate in your heart.My source is the Holy Quran and my instrument is not MY...

A mature heart for Christ would much rather spend its time praising him than condemning his fanatics.

it’s only Muslims who use the term ‘innovation’ to mean something bad.

There can be no religious discourse which is in conflict with its environment and with the world and therefore, we Muslims need to modify this religious discourse. And this has nothing to do with conviction and with religious beliefs, because those are immutable. But we need a new discourse that will be adapted to a...

There’s no evidence from decades of Pew Research surveys that public opinion, in the aggregate, is more extreme now than in the past. But what has changed — and pretty dramatically — is the growing tendency of people to sort themselves into political parties based on their ideological differences.

If I were a Palestinian at the right age, I would have joined one of the terrorist organizations at a certain stage.

This division is not one by religious affiliation, rather it separates the extremists and the peace-loving people.Therefor I’m optimistic: now a humanistic Islam is getting shaken awake. Moderate Islam needs now to finally break cover and explain how to deal with the violence-glorifying parts of the Quran. The (psychological) repression that this has nothing to...

Until one nation ceases its attempts to dominate another, there will never be true freedom. Until one religion relinquishes its quest to prove its god superior to that of another, there shall never be world peace. We will never truly prosper or experience lasting harmony, until we refrain from preaching the gospel of our own...

The take-home message is that we should blame religion itself, not religious extremism – as though that were some kind of terrible perversion of real, decent religion. Voltaire got it right long ago: ‘Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.’ So did Bertrand Russell: ‘Many people would sooner die than...

How did you get back?’ asked Vautrin. ‘I walked,’ replied Eugene.’I wouldn’t like half-pleasures, myself,’ observed the tempter. ‘I’d want to go there in my own carriage, have my own box, and come back in comfort. All or nothing, that’s my motto.”And a very good one,’ said Madame Vauquer.

I had no knowledge of divine help, and all the world lost faith in gradual progress.

The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.

From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.

We know Jesus taught that if someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to the left. We know that Mohammed was sacked from his village and stoned at Ta’if, but he quietly left for Medina.If both of these men, beaten, and bloodied—the incarnations of their respective faiths—asked God to forgive their aggressors, then who...

Looking at Great-Great Grandpa Baldwin’s photograph, I think to myself: You’ve finally done it. It took four generations, but you’ve finally goddamned done it. Gotten that war against reason and uppity secularists you always wanted. Gotten even for the Scopes trial, which they say was one of many burrs under your saddle until your last...

During the Bosnian war in the late 1990s, I spent several days traveling around the country with Susan Sontag and her son, my dear friend David Rieff. On one occasion, we made a special detour to the town of Zenica, where there was reported to be a serious infiltration of outside Muslim extremists: a charge...

What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he’s certain he’ll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?

Extremism stifles true progression in all fields of human advancement; it is a detriment to everything but war, tribalism and the personal power of Nietzschean entities, striving only for the narcissistic vindication of their ego and will. The enlightened mind knows that all is challengeable, ergo questions all and thus, learns and grows; progression. The...

There were a lot of gods. Gods always come in handy, they justify almost anything.

Extremism is so easy. You’ve got your position, and that’s it. It doesn’t take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.(Interview, Time Magazine, February 20, 2005)

Generalization is the biggest challenge that must be dealt with if we are to create spaces for constructive dialogue where muslims feel they are welcomed. This is equally true with regards to Westerners! Not all Westerners are against muslims, and not all terrorist attacks in the West are linked to Islamic jihadists.

Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.

The fact is that in any open society people constantly say things that other people don’t like. It’s completely normal that should happen. And in any confident, free society you just shrug it off and you proceed. There is no way of creating a free society where nobody says anything that others don’t like. If...

Now is as good a time as ever to revisit the history of the Crusades, or the sorry history of partition in Kashmir, or the woes of the Chechens and Kosovars. But the bombers of Manhattan represent fascism with an Islamic face, and there’s no point in any euphemism about it. What they abominate about...

The free world cannot afford to accept any form of extremism, whether it is fascism, racism or religious extremism.

They hate us because we don’t even know why they hate us.

eduvstThe fact is that in any open society people constantly say things that other people don’t like. It’s completely normal that should happen. And in any confident, free society you just shrug it off and you proceed. There is no way of creating a free society where nobody says anything that others don’t like. If...

You have to quit confusing a madness with a mission.

Our values were under attacks, in ParisTell them:We stand UNITEDWe’ll defend our valuesWe’ll NOT be DIVIDED

Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.”[My Uncle Sosthenes]

Most Romans believed that their system of government was the finest political invention of the human mind. Change was inconceivable. Indeed, the constitution’s various parts were so mutually interdependent that reform within the rules was next to impossible. As a result, radicals found that they had little choice other than to set themselves beyond and...

The truth, however, is that most Muslims appear to be “fundamental-ist” in the Western sense of the word—in that even “moderate”approaches to Islam generally consider the Koran to be the literal andinerrant word of the one true God. The difference between funda-mentalists and moderates—and certainly the difference between all”extremists” and moderates—is the degree to which...

What I admire about the modern atheist is not at all his logic, but rather his gift of imagination. There will always be the cartoon versions of Christianity further perpetuated by the extremist atheists who do not possess the humility to ask real scholars and theologians its difficult questions. There is little doubt that the...

I Will Follow AnyoneAnd Ask EveryoneTo Stand Together As One Civilisation Against Terrorism

No one can pretend that because a people may be oppressed, every individual member is virtuous and worthy.

The ‘average sensual man’ who is sometimes unfaithful to his wife, sometimes tipsy, always a little selfish, now and then (within the law) a trifle sharp in his deals, is certainly, by ordinary standards, a ‘lower’ type than the man whose soul is filled with some great Cause, to which he will subordinate his appetites,...

Every Muslim is obligated by the Holy Quran to defend his fellow Muslims who are victims of oppression and injustice.Do your effort to help wherever you are and whatever you can do.The Holy Quran decrees as well that we must never support the UNJUST, whether that person is a Muslim or not.

The foundation of morality on the human sentiments of what is acceptable behavior versus repulsive behavior has always made morals susceptible to change. Much of what was repulsive 100 years ago is normal today, and – although it may be a slippery slope – what is repulsive today is possible to be normal 100 years...

I will follow anyone… and invite everyone… too unite and defend the freedom of expression.

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a...