His Name is Gilad Shalit

Eitam is a wise man with wise words. I wish more Americans can adopt that attitude. Sure would make the world a safer place. Unfortunately when people say this "scorch and burn the terrorists" they gets heeps of scorn from the left. The left is so stupid they are blinded by Chomsky and his ilk.

I think she's referring to a deeper meaning behind avenge - a world where you think in terms of an eye-for-an-eye instead of trying to getting to the root of the issue and solving problems that created this situation in this first place. Personally, I do not see the situation getting resolved anywhere in the next 50 years and both parties are to blame.

Indeed the biblical an-eye-for-an-eye came to mind. And literally an-eye-for-an-eye wouldn't have been too bad, except that this is a life-for-a-life, and even more, seeing that Yaakov suggested also killing those that sent and trained them. If I took your eye, you could take mine, and we could continue to live our lives. If you took my life, perhaps someone in my family could take yours, and just perhaps, but probably not, your family would see that this was done precisely because you took my life. If instead e.g. my brother, would, to avenge my death, take the life of your sister, I'm sure your family would have a lot more trouble in seeing why this was done, and they might opt to kill my sister.

I know the analogy isn't perfect but I do know that lives of innocents keep being taken with this endless chain of strike / counterstrike, and to me, to give the most obvious of examples, both the death of a Jewish child, and the death of a Palestinian child, are both to be intensely regretted.

(It reminds me of a time where I was posting a lot on a forum for the Moroccan community in the Netherlands, where most of them were supportive of the Palestinians. There was a thread where they would post pictures of Palestinian children that got killed due to actions by the Israeli military. The name of the thread was something like how children are innocent victims, but when I posted images of Israeli children that got killed in a suicide bomber attack, I almost was virtually lynched. Perhaps the same would have happened though, were I to post on a forum that was mostly frequented by Jewish, or Israeli cybercitizens, and a similar thread existed there, but only showing the tragic deaths of Israeli children.)

I do not have a solution for the situation, otherwise I would probably not be sitting here, but getting ready to receive my Nobel prize or something.

Yes, "active" terrorists--activists--when I look at some of the political "activists" trying so hard to see the Palestinians succeed (and, let me add, the allied troops fail in Iraq and Afganistan) I think maybe the definition of activist is changing to just that--active terrorists I.e., people hiding behind first amendment rights of free speech to achieve the injury and defeat of innocents to further political aims.

Palestinians are entitled to precisely the same rights under God as I enjoy. But, I hate what they do--murder, extortion, etc. And, I hate even more that they do it claiming that their god justifies it. If their idolic god justifies these acts, can they not see it is unworthy of worship. This allah is not the living Lord. He is not Jehovah.

It is maddening that so-called "moderate" Muslims refuse to condem these senseless acts. Their silence is the definitive proof that the Muslim religion, itself, is bogus and unworthy of belief. It has no sanctity whatsoever if it has no sanctity for life. It is but another human political organization bent on power and control, not salvation and love.

Totally agree with you jnearen, any religion that doesnot express love compassion wisdom and that forces its way in the world doenot qualify as religion and should not be termed that. Also a terrorist is a terrorist and Hamas Hezzbollah are terrorists. Some people do not get the picture correct.

the Muslim religion, itself, is bogus and unworthy of belief

jnearen, maybe you should meet some Muslims before saying things like this. The Muslims I know are some of the nicest, peace-loving people I know and it is not fair to ridicule the entire religion like this because of the violent ones.

However I do agree that it is sad that the media doesn't label Hamas as a terrorist group. If the United States has them on a list of international groups that pose a direct threat to the United States and her allies, they are a terrorist group. The media is afraid to say the truth because they don't want to upset the people that avoid the truth.

I know a little bit of how it feels, because I am from Sri Lanka, and the media won't call the terrorists there anything but rebels. As if they were fighting some corrupt government in an attempt to help their people, when the truth is they don't care at all and have even harassed the people in attempts to gain power. Terrorists are terrorists. There's no way around that.

any religion that doesnot express love compassion wisdom and that forces its way in the world doe(s) not qualify as religion and should not be termed that.

While the teachings of Christ taught love and compassion for humanity the churches themselves were run by men, as motivated and power hungry as any political official in the history of Rome. Catholicism not only established strict laws and religious doctrine but it wiped out 'heretic' and divergent thoughts, sometimes through violence, and other times through subtle adoption of pre-existing religious concepts; the Catholic church virtually destroyed these other sects and Paganism along with it. The Pagans, with so many different ideas and traditions, were unable to put up any sort of unified resistance, particularly when Christian churches were intentionally built upon their sacred sites and their holy days were intentionally usurped by Christian holidays. Historical documents of an incalculable number were destroyed or edited in order to prevent anti-Christian, or perceived anti-Christian thought. It is hard to imagine how much written history, and archaeological and documentary evidence of the ancient world, was lost forever due to this religious manipulation.

But getting back to the bit I quoted above... Still want to call Christianity a religion? Heh.

Like so many, Aine, you confuse religion with Christianity, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and simply lump the two together. It's a common, albeit regretable, error.

By comparison, the teachings of Mohammed emphasizes the use of force to "strike the heads" and "kill" infidels.

I do not call Christianity--meaning the teachings of Christ and the practice of those teachings--a religion. I call it truth.

I do call Catholicism, Baptists, etc. religions. They are guilty as charged, being human inventions.

Like so many, Aine, you confuse religion with Christianity, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and simply lump the two together. It's a common, albeit regretable, error.

Explain the difference, I'd like to read it. I should think most people who follow the teachings of Christ think they are part of a religion that they call Christianity.

I agree that the Muslim community could do more to denounce the violence, but I still don't think it's an excuse to ridicule the entire religion.

They are there, but they aren't as sexy in the news as their radical bretheren.

Try muslim-refusenik.com, caircan.ca, masnet.org (I'd link, but I'm a newbie here and can't).

Another reason is because Islam doesn't have the hierarchy that Christianity does. So you can't see someone like the Pope saying "this is wrong". I think you would find that most Muslims in the West condemn the actions, they just don't have a voice to express this through.