Muslim

When it comes to questions of culture, politics and social norms I am considered a moderate by those who know me and so when I look at the Muslim faith I see a billion people 95% of whom are just ordinary citizens trying to put food on the table. While I have tried to concentrate on the so called moderate Muslims to maintain my claim of moderation in these regards, I am having a difficult time and have decided to release some of my political incorrect thinking.
Let me start with some facts before I enter the more dangerous waters of opinion, not that facts are not dangerous but only slightly less so. As I look around the world today I see Muslims fighting Latino Christians in the Philippians, fighting Buddhist in Thailand, fighting Hindus in India, fighting Russians in Chechnya, fighting Jews in Israel, dark skin Muslims fighting light skin Muslims in Sudan, Suni Muslims fighting Shia Muslims in Iraq, and finally Muslims fighting the US in Afghanistan. This does not include civil unrest caused by Muslims in European countries like France, Germany and England. I most likely missed a few trouble spots but you get the point as to why my tolerance toward Muslims is fading.
First I am aware that many Muslim countries are economically depressed, the exceptions being those who have oil and if it were not for the oil the people in those countries would be living in tents in the desert. I mention this because there are Muslims who live in industrialized countries like Western Europe, Canada and the USA who have adjusted to modern society and they find themselves between a rock and hard place. They have their faith which is more that religion and is called a way of life. Think how different the way of life is for people in Indonesia as opposed to here in the United States. Even in a wealthy oil producing country like Saudia Arabia there are no Christian churches allowed, women are treated as a different class of citizens and the citizens are ruled by a royal family.
Now I will move into the area of opinion and take my licks. I get the distinct feeling that many American Muslims are sympathetic to some terrorist views and others strongly oppose the acts of terrorist but both groups are afraid to speak out. The first group thinks that their thoughts might cause other Americans to distrust them and the second group is afraid some extremist might attack them.
We no longer have any feminist groups since Bill Clinton put them out of business so ordinary citizens have become more concerned about the plight of women and that is one of the main reasons for continuing the fight in Afghanistan. We have recently seen the type of treatment women receive from the Taliban and most Americans would be very uncomfortable knowing we left the country in the hands of these terrorist. Perhaps fighting a war to protect women is more noble that fighting for oil. The fact that I use the word perhaps tells you a lot about modern society.
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