This is the thing that annoys me a lot too. If you tried to argue that WBC or others like them are representative of Christianity as a whole you'd be laughed out of the room. Do the same with ISIS and Islam and you'd get a lot of head nodding from people who should be smart enough to know better.
I certainly do not lump all Muslims in with ISIS. I'm in favour of accepting Syrian refugees and not just Christian ones. Someone asked for a newslink for my opinion? I don't have one as such. I've formed my opinion after watching CBC, BBC, CNN, PBS TV shows and news reports, as well as personally talking with recent refugees from Syria. ISIS is generally feared and hated by Syrians, whether Muslim, Jewish or Christian. I don't mean at all to be condescending when I say the world is a far more dangerous place today than it was when I grew up in the 50's and 60's. I never said young people today are more greedy or lazy or causing the world's problems. I'm rather wondering where my generation went wrong to create such a mess. I feel sorry that this younger generation has to live in a society where you have to lock your doors, be checked before boarding a plane, or even think about terrorists bombing you while you watch a sports event or shooting at you in a theatre or concert. You think we gave safety and security a single thought when we travelled or watched the Beatles? A few big, burly bouncers at the door... that was security in my day. The only scare I remember was the day Kennedy was shot and for awhile the Cuban missile crisis, but other than that we were happy and carefree. The only way the world has improved IMO is an increase in LGBT and women's rights and more equality for blacks. That's huge, of course! But otherwise, the world is a mess as I see it.
While it is unfortunate, I never really gave it much thought. I'm used to all of this crazy security- especially at airports. School safety is a huge issue now as well. In sixth grade, the shootings of that elementary school happened in December of 2012. I was in my last year of intermediate school at that point (we have a wacky school system. years 5 and 6 are in the intermediate building, 7 & 8 are in the junior high building), so I knew then- even if some crazy guy saw on TV what happened to that elementary school and decided it was a great idea to go shoot up one himself, they wouldn't go after the intermediate school I went to initially. Didn't matter. They came up with all of these "school lock-down" plans, and went crazy. We had lockdown drills every few weeks. Over the course of 6th - 8th grade, this became every few months. When I started high school back in August, one thing I noticed is how crazy secure it was. The doors to the classrooms were designed to resist bullets. There are hall moderators on every floor, and there are two police officers working there, one always walks around during the lunch hours with many other staff doing the same. Backpacks are not allowed to be brought to class. Hell, we're not even allowed to drink bottled water because the staff fear we are drinking vodka instead! We also have lockdown drills about once a month. I remember talking to my mom about it once, and she said, "I just can't believe it. School shootings, y'know. Things like this just didn't happen when I was your age." I totally understand- it must be horrifying sending her son to school everyday knowing something crazy like that could happen. I mean, seriously, kids here are messed up; my science teacher talked about how one of his students tried to stab his goldfish once. What the hell? It's so strange how much can change in 50 years. Things are very different now.
This topic is called "Let's Be Clear" but ofc everybody seems to have slightly differing opinions. And I'm okay with that- as long as we can agree on a few things. 1. ISIS is a horrible terrorist group and deserve no sympathy. 2. We can't just "bomb" countries to get rid of terrorists. 3. Not all Muslims are bad and most disagree with ISIS. I think this pretty much sums up what everyone agrees on right? I haven't read all the comments yet, but from what I've seen on the first page, I think we can all agree on this... Honestly, I find myself disliking anybody who can't at least agree on those three things.
