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A week after the underwear bomber attempted to bring down an airplane, Obama clarifies that the terrorist traveled to Yemen, a "poor" country. Is poverty to blame? Or are the teachings of Islam to blame? Why mention poverty in Yemen?

President Obama says he wants to work closely with Yemen to combat terrorism. The Nigerian bomber has confirmed al-Qaeda is using Yemen to train militants. Obama said: "we know he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with poverty..."

Response to comment [from an agnostic]: "Does it not make sense to you that somebody from a poor country, with less access to education, opportunity and a political voice, would feel more powerless and frustrated and thus be more easily swayed toward extremism?"

The terrorists on 9-11 were well off. Poverty is not the cause of evil behavior. The teachings of Islam are evil (Mt 7:20).

Response to comment [from a Christian]: "[I]f they weren't so poor they could afford missiles instead of tighty-whitey munitions."

And no doubt they'd use them. Is that Obama's concern? Is he here to equal the playing field? This terrorist will be tried as a U.S. citizen with all rights and privileges rather than the enemy combatant he is. Who does Obama work for? The terrorists or us?

Flashback: Obama said "Islam is not part of the problem...it is an important part in promoting peace." Pieces, yes (Savage). Peace, no.

Obama praises their buildings after they take ours down. In Cairo, he said, "Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation..." link

Contemplate this--you were elected President of the United States not President of the World. The underwear bomber is not a world citizen. He is a Nigerian and an enemy combatant who tried to kill Americans on Christmas Day.

It's not a "war on terror". It is an "overseas operation". "America is not and never will be at war with Islam (Obama)." Not on his watch.

Response to comment [from an agnostic]: "Poverty or a feeling of helplessness (for example the economic and therefore cultural expansionism of what they see as an immoral country) can lead people to desperation, and desperation can make them more prone to extremity. What's more, the 9/11 bombers might not have been poor themselves, but many people in that part of the world are, and thus there is a prevailing feeling of resentment and powerlessness that affects many."

"Money. Money and greed are so widely regarded as causes of evil that the phrase "Money is the root of all evil" has become a cliche. And there is no doubt that people seeking what money can buy -- luxury, status, women and excitement, to name but a few things -- have engaged in much evil. But flawed human nature and a lack of self-control, not money per se, are the causes of evil in these instances...

Victimhood. A lifelong study of good and evil has led to me conclude that the greatest single cause of evil is people perceiving of themselves or their group as victims. Nazism arose from Germans' sense of victimhood -- as a result of the Versailles Treaty, of the "stab in the back" that led to Germany's loss in World War I and of a world Jewish conspiracy. Communism was predicated on workers regarding themselves as victims of the bourgeoisie. Much of Islamic evil today emanates from a belief that the Muslim world has been victimized by Christians and Jews. Many prisoners, including those imprisoned for horrible crimes, regard themselves as victims of society or of their upbringing. The list of those attributing their evil acts to their being victims is as long as the list of evildoers. Full text: Why Do People Do Evil? Dennis Prager Offers Reasons For The Existence Of Evil Alert Townhall.com

Response to comment [from a Christian]: "We should apologize to Yemen for being richer than they are."

Why do you call a good Muslim a fanatic? He is merely following the teachings of Islam. Why don't you just say "practicing" Muslim. :idunno:

Bad roots, bad fruits (Mt 7:20).

As usual JW', your mouth is up and running but your brain still needs a jump start. Lies cause evil in the world. When you believe a lie (e.g. Islam), you follow a path of evil. Hope, truth, and life are found in Christ (Jn 14:6).

"...folks who started the American revolution? Folks who felt victimized by a distant, out-of-touch monarchy..."

Our founders did not have a victim mentality. They had a determination to change things. Do Muslims build their own great cities? No, they take down ours. They hate our success. They are a covetous and rebellious people (Ge 16:12). Covetousness leads to bad things (1Ti 6:10).

Fighting tyranny and oppression? That's a good thing. Governments are to function as God said they should after the flood. When they don't, change is necessary. Our founders knew this.

Response to comment [from an agnostic]: "Deuteronomy 22:20-21
Titus 2:9
1 Samuel 15:2-3
The end of Psalm 137
Exodus 21:15
Leviticus 20:9
2 Chronicles 15:12-13
Deuteronomy 13:13-19
2 Kings 2:23-24
Isaiah 14:21
Exodus 12:29-30
Isaiah 13:15-18

For a start. Now I'm not saying that these make the whole Bible worthless..."

Response to comment: [from a Christian]: "If Yemen is poor, maybe Obama and his sorceress Oprah should give them some of their millions."

He hasn't helped his brother who lives in a hut, but you and I are supposed to redistribute our incomes. Forget that whole "You shall not steal" thing. (Ex 20:15).

"Fanatics occur in all religions...as you so competently demonstrate here repeatedly."

A Christian fanatic shares the love of Christ. A Muslim pours hot oil down your throat. These things are the same? They admit this. Why won't you?

We know.

If you cannot recognize patterns in this world, you will lack wisdom. I wouldn't wear your avoidance of generalizations and stereotypes as some kind of righteous banner.

Were you still speaking? :yawn:

I'm sorry, I was just sitting here being so thankful that I'm not you.

"This poverty comment may be a "trial balloon" to see if people would be open to helping Yemen financially."

"No one says that lack of opportunity and wrenching poverty is the cause of fanaticism...only that those conditions help create the hopelessness that helps fanatic viewpoints gain a foothold."

Islam has nothing to do with the hopelessness in the Middle East? Too bad Muhammad was not put to death (Deut. 13:1-18). Nice legacy. Bad roots, bad fruits (Mt 7:20).

"If it wasn't for all the "victims" of fanatic capitalism, we'd still have child labor and unsafe work conditions."

Do you see Muslims in the Middle East fighting for the rights of women and children? In Islam, women are subjugated and treated as chattel. In Christianity, women are honored and revered (Prov 31).

"In order:

Deuteronomy 22:20-21
Proscribes the Draconian measure of executing a woman for not being a virgin on her wedding day - something which if enforced today would involve the extermination of over half the population. This commandment also carries in its phrasing rather unpleasant notions of ownership, wherein the punishment takes place if the husband is displeased.

Titus 2:9
Tells slaves not to resist their owners, and that it's moral to be entirely submissive to them. There are several other verses to this effect, also.

1 Samuel 15:2-3
Encourages the genocidal massacre of Amalek's people, including tiny children, as a punishment for a command given my their leader.

The end of Psalm 137
Again, encourages the painful murder of children.

Exodus 21:15
Leviticus 20:9
I'm not saying striking or cursing one's parents is to be encouraged - although there are circumstances in which it would be justified, I feel, such as in cases of abuse - but to execute someone for doing so is absurd.

2 Chronicles 15:12-13
Commands the murder of all those who aren't a member of your religion (sound familiar?)

Deuteronomy 13:13-19
Not only commands execution of advocates of other religion, but also commands the wholesale slaughter of the entire population of the city.

2 Kings 2:23-24
Forty-two children die for being rude.

Isaiah 14:21
Advocates killing people for the sins of their ancestors. This entirely violates the concept of justice and God's punishment being a result of one's own decisions.

Exodus 12:29-30
Again, wholesale murder of a people for the decisions of their leader (whom they didn't choose for themselves).

Isaiah 13:15-18
To protect His followers, God is causing people to commit rape and mass murder..."

Response to comment [from other]: "LOL...[W]hy did they seek change if they weren't, at one level or another, victims of undesirable conditions?"

Read slowly so you can understand: The founders may have been victimized but they did not have a victim mentality. They had determination.

"Ahhh...so it's a good thing to fight tyranny and oppression? Lol. And those who fight against it aren't motivated by their own victimhood of it? Do you ever really think about the things you say?"

It's a good thing to fight tyranny and oppression. The founders of our country saw themselves as more than helpless victims. With courage and determination, they overcame injustice.

I reject the lies of Islam, you don't. I reject false religion, you don't (Jn 14:6).

Response to comment [from an atheist]: "You're trying to blame an entire religion for the actions of people that probably don't even make up .01% of Islam's representation in the world."

"Far fewer people believed in Nazism or in communism than believe in Islam generally or in authoritarian Islam specifically. There are one billion Muslims in the world. If just 10 percent believe in the Islam of Hamas, the Taliban, the Sudanese regime, Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism, bin Ladin, Islamic Jihad, the Finley Park Mosque in London or Hizbollah -- and it is inconceivable that only one of 10 Muslims supports any of these groups' ideologies -- that means a true believing enemy of at least 100 million people. Outside of Germany, how many people believed in Nazism? Outside of Japan, who believed in Japanese imperialism and militarism? And outside of universities, the arts world or Hollywood, how many people believed in Soviet-style totalitarianism?

A far larger number of people believe in Islamic authoritarianism than ever believed in Marxism." Full text: The Islamic Threat Is Greater Than German And Soviet Threats Were (Dennis Prager Alert) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1604453/posts

Not according to Obama (liberals resort to quoting an earlier speech of his as they flail for direction). There is no war on global terror. Now there is now an "Overseas Contingency Operation".

"I personally know religious Islamic people who are some of the most respectful and genuinely nice people you'll ever meet."

Are there individual exceptions of men who will repent and love their neighbor? Sure. I never said there weren't.

"Though Shem would be the means of mankind’s receiving God’s great spiritual promises, Japheth also would appropriate these blessings to himself by enjoying fellowship with Shem. As Shem and Japheth had unitedly shown respect to their father and their father’s God, so they would unitedly worship “the Lord God of Shem.” The Hamites, on the other hand, by implication would not do so, but would presumably follow other gods of their own devising. Nevertheless, Ham’s “service” would contribute to the purpose of the true God for all men.

Although Noah’s threefold prophecy has been abundantly fulfilled in general and in principle throughout history, it surely allows for individual exceptions. That is, a particular descendant of Ham may be very spiritually minded and become a fruitful servant of the true God. A particular descendant of Japheth may be dull of mind while skilled in technological devices. A particular Semite may be an atheist.

In general, however, it has been true throughout history that the Semites have been dominated by religious motivations centered in monotheism (the Jews, the Moslems, the Zoroastrians, etc.). The Japhethites (especially the Greeks, Romans, and later the other Europeans and the Americans) have stressed science and philosophy in their development. The Hamites (Egyptians, Phoenicians, Sumerians, Orientals, Africans, etc.) have been the great pioneers that opened up the world to settlement, to cultivation, and to technology.

Each stream of nations has influenced the others, of course, and there has been much mixing of peoples from different tribes and nations; so there may well be many apparent exceptions to the general trends. But it is possible to discern these general trends, and they do follow the prophetic pattern outlined thousands of years ago by father Noah. The Semites have been predominant in theology, the Japhethites in science and philosophy, the Hamites in technology."

Morris, H. M. (1976). The Genesis record : A scientific and devotional commentary on the book of beginnings. Includes indexes. (243). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Believers in Jesus were murdered during the Crusades. When men follow the Bible, they don't murder.

"[T]he crusades should not be referred to as the “Christian crusades.” Most of the people involved in the crusades were not truly Christians, even though they claimed to be. The name of Christ was abused, misused, and blasphemed by the actions of many of the crusaders. Second, the crusades took place from approximately A.D. 1095 to 1230. Should the unbiblical actions of supposed Christians hundreds of years ago still be held against Christians today?

Third, not that this is an adequate excuse, but Christianity is not the only religion with a violent past. In actuality, the crusades were responses to Muslim invasions on what was once land occupied primarily by Christians. From approximately A.D. 200 to 900, the land of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey was inhabited primarily by Christians. Once Islam became powerful, Muslims invaded these lands and brutally oppressed, enslaved, deported, and even murdered the Christians living in those lands. In response, the Roman Catholic Church and “Christian” kings/emperors from Europe ordered the crusades to reclaim the land the Muslims had taken. The actions that many so-called Christians took in the crusades were still deplorable." Full text: What Were the Crusades? http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-crusades.html

"...and you have the nerve to try and claim that Christian fanatics are not at all comparable to Islamic fanatics?"

I have the nerve to remind Roman Catholics that they have done and continue to do damage to the body of Christ because they refuse to submit to the authority of the word of God.

"...[I]t's the people like you that perpetuate that mentality in the world that it would be better of without Christianity."

I am a Christian (Ro 11:5). I follow Christ not the Roman Catholic Church (Rev. 3:14–22). When the church is ruptured, Roman Catholics won't miss anyone in their pews the next week (Eph 1:22; 5:23).

Response to comment [from an agnostic]: [Mr. Radish's Ridiculousness] "Every single one of these arguments could realistically be used by a Muslim to justify the warlike passages in the Qu'ran."

"Muhammad did not question the accuracy of the Bible...The Quran points to the Bible as truth over 120 times (Islam & Christianity http://vananne.com/culttoasters/Islam%20and%20Christianity.PDF)." Yet the Bible says that nothing is to be taken from, or added to scripture (De 4:2; 12:32). One portion of scripture can be compared with another (1Co 2:13).

The Quran is uninspired, false teaching. Everything is to be tried by the scriptures (Isa 8:20; Ac 17:11).

"There are plenty of sections in the Qu'ran in which Muslims are told not to kill..."

"For many Islamists and radical Muslims, abrogation is real and what the West calls terror is, indeed, just..." Full text: Peace or Jihad? Abrogation in Islam

See:

"...[J]ust as the Bible too has its peaceable passages. They both demonstrably have the potential to be peaceable religions, just as they've also shown themselves to create war, too."

Response to comment [from an agnostic]: "[Y]ou appear to either be either too proud, too insecure or too ignorant to consider seeing the world from another's point of view."

Response to comment [from an agnostic]: "[I]t not logical, after examining both Christianity and Islam, to point out that Islam is the fouler of the two."

Muhammad was a rapist pedophile. Jesus is the only man who ever lived who committed no sin. He was brutally murdered for it (Jn 18:28-19:16).

"Spend a few hours reading a Koran. You'll see everything you always hated about Christianity."

The Koran is supposed to look like scripture. All false writings are. You do not counterfeit dirt. You counterfeit something of value (Ga 5:9).

"Islam is a threat to our western way of life, our tolerance and rationality, and doesn't even bother to try to say otherwise...Islam is a growing religion, and is a threat to all you hold dear"

Exactly. The least we can do is believe them. They admit we love life more than they do (Mt 7:16, Jn 14:6).

Response to comment [from other]: "Takes courage and determination for poor folks to fight an enemy as powerful as the U.S...in their effort to overcome injustice."

You're a sick puppy.

Poverty does not cause evil. There are plenty of poor people who do not crash airplanes into buildings. Men who did were upper class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Atta). Osama bin Laden is a multi millionaire. Injustice in their land is the fruit of Islam (Mt 7:16).

Response to comment [from an agnostic]: "Why aren't Muslim countries paradises?...Great resources + Islam = poverty."

"The tendency of many early tribes toward ancestor worship and actual deification of ancestors may be reflected in the frequent use of the name “Sin” in connection with the ancient pantheon of deities. One of the most important Assyrian gods was “Sin.” The particular son of Canaan named Sin, thus, may have been prominent enough in his time not only to give his name to a wide region in the land of Canaan but also to exert great influence in the Sumerian-Assyrian homeland of the Canaanites. The deified “Sin” was said in the monuments found in Ur to have established “laws and justice” among men.

Morris, H. M. (1976). The Genesis record : A scientific and devotional commentary on the book of beginnings. Includes indexes. (255). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Response to comment [from other]: "He's [Serpentdove] at war with the entire world...."

Lil' ol me?

"Whoever is not being a friend of God is being an enemy of mine." --Jim Andrews

"...will I get to be at war with the whole world, too? Wow...I can hardly wait!"

Jn 15:18.

Response to comment [from an atheist]: [Islam] "This isn't despair. It's religious nihilism."

That's right. People are noticing. Radial Christianity and Judaism is a hug. Radical Islam is children's faces removed with piano wire in front of their parents.

Response to comment [from a Christian]: "Radical Islam is to blame, just as radical Christianity was to blame in the crusades. Every religion has two faces."

Talk to the Roman Catholic Church about their two faces (Rev. 3:14–22). Believers in Christ were murdered by them. "The actions that many so-called Christians took in the crusades were...deplorable..." full text: What were the Christian crusades? http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-crusades.html

See:

Reformation Time Line