I know those who defend islam have there hearts in the right place

[Mc Mike]

108. There is a massive structural difference between Islam and Repuglicanism

that makes your analogy not work. There was no campaign or vote where Islam decided to back those few people who commit these atrocities, those terrorists weren't voted in as representatives for all of Islam. The kind and wonderful people who are repubs that you know are watching their leaders promise policies and enact laws that are frankly fascist, then they vote to put them in office, or to give them another term, anyway.

The post I responded to conflates the few terrorists with the entire religion, right in the title. Your response to my reply poorly characterizes the o.p. as 'looking critically at Islam', because it ignores the several factually incorrect ideas contained in the o.p. that I pointed out, incorrect ideas which are anathema to critical thinking. Since you replied to me, though I really was looking to talk to ag102, here are the factually true ideas that you bypassed, which ag and you didn't respond to, obe:

1) The people who slaughtered the Belgians are not "those same people they had there hearts opened up to". The killers are not the refugees who are fleeing from the killers. 2) Those who 'defend Islam' are not defending the few terrorist murderers who falsely claim they represent Islam, they're defending the vast majority of a billion Islamic people. The dead 'defenders of Islam' didn't defend the killers, but defended the killers' intended Islamic victims. and 3) the repug party is trying to attack all adherents to Islam as terrorist murderers, whether or not you believe that there are many kind and wonderful rank and file people in it. All Islamicists aren't terrorist killers, only a tiny number are, despite the repugs' attempt to spin reality to get votes. 4) The people who got killed who may previously have been protesting in favor of refugee immigrants weren't welcoming their own killers, they were welcoming other victims of those same killers. The pro-immigrant victims were helping other victims, and opposing the killers. 5) To use the deaths of those pro-refugee Belgians as a tool to advocate that Western countries do exactly what the killers want -- that use of the victims' deaths is a supreme disservice to those pro-refugee people who were murdered by those killers. Using their deaths to do the opposite of what they want, to do exactly what their murderers want, is a massive inversion in terms of thought and action, and is not critical thinking.

The party that this whole site is here to oppose excoriated the people who demonstrate in favor of helping the refugees, made it very clear they were working as hard as possible with everything they've got against those peoples' correct ideas, and now is trying to take their deaths out for a right wing spin, to justify working against the dead victims' correct, kind, and wonderful ideas.