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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here's a lovely op-ed in the NY Times on this very subject: [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/magazine/my-life-as-a-muslim-in-the-wests-gray-zone.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmagazine&action=click&contentCollection=magazine&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront[/url]

The most striking thing is when she notes that young, white Christian men are not asked to disclaim responsibility for the terrorist acts of other young, white Christian men. Jews in this country are not asked to account (by most people!) for the actions of ultra-orthodox Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers. Yet Muslims who are just going about their lives are asked to speak out against Islamic terrorists. It's somehow assumed that other Muslims are secretly hankering to gun down a theater full of people but have somehow restrained themselves all these years.

I'm sorry, OP and others. The Paris attacks were terrible. All the attacks are terrible. But the vile rhetoric and spewing of hatred in the wake of these attacks is terrible too -- despicable, really. As a Jew, I am ashamed when I hear fellow Jews arguing to keep Syrian refugees out on grounds of ignorance, bigotry, and fear. But no one holds me responsible for the views or actions of my co-religionists, so I am lucky.[/quote]

Yes, it's like demanding Christians to disclaim responsibility for the acts of the KKK or to defend their faith by explaining how their beliefs (which may in fact be rather vague and based on Sunday school classes they occasionally attended as a child) differ from the beliefs of the Branch Davidians, who claim to be Christian.

Christians get to just say such groups are loony fanatic extremists, so why can't normal Muslims--many of whom are as secular as secular Christians are--get the same kind of pass?  They shouldn't have to be held to account for the acts of people whose beliefs and behaviors are so alien to them. [/quote]

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