Christi - I certainly won't argue with you either regarding what is required, according to the Bible, to get into heaven.  I'm hoping we are having a discussion.  I am of the understanding that Christains believe you have to be Christain, which means you require baptism, cristening, confirmation, etc. in order to reach the kingdom of heaven.  My point, however, it that if you read the Bible in its entirety and believe what is written there, which along with "Love They Neighbor" also includes, and I paraphase, "kill thy neighbor if he is a non-believer," you could understand where the extremists (or crazies) come from.

No Christain I know thinks you should kill anyone in the name of God.  Again, my point is, that any extremist, Christain, Muslin or Jew - could read their holy books and receive God's "OK" into killing the non-believers.  Most Christians, Muslims and Jews do not read that into their words from God.   

What I think we agree on, and this is hugh, is that making grandiouse statements against any particular religion because there are some "crazies" out there, is just wrong.  I certainly was NOT making that point.  I used Christains as my base, because unfortunately, they appear to be the majority who want to portray Muslims as murdering crazies.  That absolutely does not mean that all Christains think a Muslim will kill them on a religious basis.  Lots of Christains are sensative, loving and intelligent people and know, just like them, most Muslims believe in religious freedom and respect the differences between them.

I hope you read my response from the stand point in which I am trying to come.  NO particular religion is bad.  However, EVERY religion has the potential to go bad when bad individuals start making interpretations of what they consider "holy words." 

All this is in response to our "deleter" who wrote the article against Muslims and thought he had the high ground because he is "christian" (lower case intended).  I don't think a bigot can take the high ground on the subject of nationality or religion. 

In response to part of LoriMorales' comment:

I think you have a very good point about SOME so-called "Christians" and their actions that are very much opposite of the way God tells us to treat other people.  I do wish that you would not generalize, though, as those squeaky wheels don't represent all Christians.

I think it's awful that the some people judge Christians based on a few hard-to-ignore crazies (or even just the few Christians they've personally interacted with), just like I think it's awful that some people judge Muslims based on a few hard-to-ignore crazies.  It's an incredible double standard, yet it seems to be either ignored completely, or accepted.

I also wanted to clarify something for you, for your edification.  You wrote:

"As we all know, unless you have been baptized, cristened, confirmed (and all the varying cerimonies aligned with all the different secs of Christianity)  - you cannot get into heaven.  This is the same exclusionist tactics being used by all your organized religions."

Any Christian who takes the Bible in it's entirety into account when figuring out what God says about how to get into heaven would whole-heartedly disagree with that statement.  I am one of those.  Jesus said, "No one can come to the Father but through me."  It is also written, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith [in Christ]; not by works so that no man can boast."

No ceremonies will save you, and only one of those that you listed is commanded by God.  We are called to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  That all is God's doing, not ours.

The Bible doesn't say that Christ is the only way to Heaven in order to be exclusionist.  It says that because it's the truth.  (I'm not going to get into an argument about that sentence: You can believe whatever you want about it.)  But, we are also called to love and forgive one another, even our enemies!  No Christian who truly believes in and follows Christ's teachings would ever hate anyone.

To anyone who reads this:  I'm not here to get into an argument, but I am open for discussion.  You can message me if you'd like to talk respectfully about any of this.

"I will not read or respond" - that's my stance regarding our prolific deleter - and I'm sticking to it.  This is not a "mind" with which we can reason, so why bother? 

I've had many animated dicussions with individuals on this site and it has been great fun and very interesting.  There are some very well read and informed people giving their opinions on all manner of subjects.  To my knowledge, we have only one deleter and all others welcome responses in both agreement and disagreement.  Well, maybe not 100% welcome - but open enough to allow responses to remain on their site.

If you don't want any dissent, then have people in agreement over for dinner and everyone can nod their heads to the tune being played.  Otherwise, open your mind and see what else, besides yourself, is out there.

Not only is he openly prejudiced against Muslims, he consistantly demeans Mexicans as well proven by quotes such as this one from the latest edition of the weedpatch gazette: "...a preponderance of non-English speaking people that cannot make any contribution to raising the standards of culture in places like Bakersfield and Fresno..." as well as these from a previous post: "...And Spanish being the language of slaves is part of the process of Balkanizing America and enslaving all Americans..." "...The servants of Caesar [Bush] are all the dogs feeding at his table that are doing all in their power to propagandize We the People into believing the third-world illiterate castoffs from Mexico are really good for America..." By all means these are just a few examples. I don't know why this is tolerated...

You have hit both the subject and our "deleter" on the head.  I think I have finally come thru my anger to simply be amused at our American Christians talking about the horrible Muslims and a religion that promotes murder. 

I can't figure out whether the Christian Bible is their source of wisdom and believe what is written there - or they simply have not really read their Biblebecause, the Christian Bible is full of hatred and the idea that murdering non-believers is a just cause and actually, the faithful should take it very seriously.  If you are looking for that message, it is there for Christian extremists to use.  If you are looking for the "God is love" message, you'll find that too. 

Why is anyone surprised at religious extremists and the lengths they will go to promote their particular slant?  I really don't think Christians have the high ground on this subject.  As we all know, unless you have been baptized, cristened, confirmed (and all the varying cerimonies aligned with all the different secs of Christianity)  - you cannot get into heaven.  This is the same exclusionist tactics being used by all your organized religions.  They are empowered by this message. 

I think the religious stanch against Islum is racist and bigoted.  Maybe, I haven't gotten over my anger.  Seems to have come thru loud and clear here. 

yeah...i had a whole blog post regarding deleting comments, it seems that certain bloggers DO NOT LIKE ANY OPPOSING comments, they take it as a personal attack.  The blog i commented on was the 1st blog i actually got through without losing interest or being confused.  The blogger felt like i was personally attacking him blah blah blah.  He wont answer you or comment when it comes to anyone with a different opinion then his.  I have chosen not to read or comment on ANY of his blogs.  Close mindedness and prejudice is an awful thing and certain bloggers (at least one) are full of these character defects, quite sad i think. Or if i want to comment on any said blogs, i will repost as a new blog so it will not be erased.  Personally it drains me and its not even worth it.