Interesting point. I'm having trouble finding data from non-Muslims. Here's one chart on Muslim attitudes toward violence against civilians:
It's pretty depressing. I don't think many Americans or Europeans would advocate intentional violence against civilians. I mean, actually targeting civilians, as opposed to civilian casualties in war.
Targeting civilians in particular yes probably not as much as those who simply are okay with casualties, they still exist though. But still, being okay with civilian casualties is horrible. Also, not all muslims who think suicide bombings are understandable advocate it, there position from it varies. Some view it as 100% valid way, others view as a bad thing, but kind of justified,....
This is interesting. I think there's a shred of truth there--countries at war are going to have more violence, more positive attitudes toward violence, and so forth. We see non-Muslim terrorists too, Tamil Tigers, Irish nationalists, etc. However,
That's what i meant.
(1) I don't think this is the main reason. It's a bit of a cop-out. "Oh, we Muslims can't help becoming terrorists, we have so many social problems." There are many countries with worse social problems than other Muslims countries, that don't have or sponsor terrorism. Also, in general, if say--actually I'm having trouble thinking of a non-Muslim country that's in a war right now. Anyway, say hypothetically Israel, for example. YOu don't see American Jews strapping explosives to their chests. Why not?
Well, i didn't intend to make it sound like that, i'm just saying that these horrible social problems (they are not trivial problems, i think these are very important things) play a great factor.
As for the Israel example, for so many reasons you are not seeing that. One of them, is the fact that not all jews endorse Israel nor it's actions. Another, is that Israel is the more powerful, they are not being oppressed, why would american jews who support Israel even begin to think about resorting to such things. I see this as the defining point, the fact that all these Muslim countries at war are weaker, and some of them don't even have an official military defense representing them, and the incapability of those civilians to compete with highly trained army personal with all the tanks and planes and so on, makes it easier to justify their actions.
And that raises the big question--it's just the same question pushed down the road. Why do so many Muslim countries have these problems, much more than secular countries? Why isn't Sweden at war? Why doesn't Canada have oppressive, totalitarian leaders? Why is education so much better in South Korea than in Yemen? Why do so many Islamic scholars publish such horrible ideas, and what is it about Muslims that causes them to blindly accept them? Why is Islam more vulnerable to these horrible ideas than western secular people? Why don't modern non-Muslims in Ohio murder their daughters for wearing short skirts?
That can be answered by the fact that in certain time in history, the middle east was excelling at multiple fields, i don't know when exactly, but i think there are many members here who can shed more light about this part (like i said, i'm horrible in history). Not all countries remain in the same position, things change. Europe was in a much worse position a couple of hundreds of years ago. Also, there are other crimes that is seen more in other societies than Islamic ones, does this mean that which ever religion in majority is to blame, no. Or that secularism is to blame, no. I just think it's understandable that throughout history many countries and societies and civilizations seen their share of downfalls.
It just feels like you do everything you can to avoid the obvious culprit, the single common element: Islam.
Well, sure Islam is a common element between Islam extremists, but not the only one. So, when we look at the bigger picture, and find extremists from other religions and belief systems as well, there's got to be something else in common between them.
To put it another way, I can't think of any positive attribute at which Muslim people or countries excel. Not science, athletics, prosperity (unless they happen to be sitting on oil), art, freedom, music, peace, getting along with neighbors, tolerance, equal rights--what good does Islam accomplish for its people?
I think this part like i said earlier can be answered through the history part.
