Comment

Comment by Joey on April 30, 2009 at 6:17pm

"The bad news is how vocal the hyper-religious minorities are. Since no one wants to be seen as LESS spiritual, or as condemning their own religion, they don't stand up to the fanatics they way they should (on both sides)."

That pretty well describes the US too.
Especially the deep south.
Most people just want to be left alone, but there's always that 20% telling them that if they don't hate gay people and atheists then they clearly don't love Jesus. Then they think "Well, I love Jesus...but I don't actually hate ...". Cognitive dissonance kicks in and because loving Jesus isn't something they're going to let go of, they decide they must hate whoever they're told to hate.

Comment by Angie Jackson on April 30, 2009 at 10:11am

I dual majored in early US History and Middle East Relations, specifically Isreali/Palestinian conflict. The state of Israel has only actually been around the last 60 years, and that's how long they've been illegally occupying the West Bank territories (including Jerusalem). On my wicked days, I say we just bomb and level that city from Manger Square to the Wailing Well and Al'Aqsa Mosque. But then they'd probably just kill each other for the rubble.

The good news is that over 80% of BOTH groups consistently say in polls that they want a peaceful two-state solution. The bad news is how vocal the hyper-religious minorities are. Since no one wants to be seen as LESS spiritual, or as condemning their own religion, they don't stand up to the fanatics they way they should (on both sides).