Extremists threaten peace, Clinton warns

[ECH1969]

The world is at risk of coming apart unless citizens around the globe address the danger of religious extremists in positions of political power, warns former U.S. president Bill Clinton.

In an address to a conference in Ottawa, he closed his remarks by speaking far more bluntly than the current Republican administration in Washington about the negative impact of religious extremism in the world.

The trouble is whether you believe any flawed human being can be in absolute possession of that truth," he said. "When you see this fellow Zarqawi who runs the al-Qaeda operation out of the Sunni section of Iraq hoping to dominate Jordan, saying his first priority is not to kill Jews, it's not to kill Americans, it's not to kill Westerners -- his first priority is to kill Shiite Muslims and moderate Sunnis who don't agree with him, what he calls the near enemy, you see this carried to its absurd link."

"If you believe anybody can actually completely know the truth and turn it into a political program that is completely true, then what do you need God for?" he asked. "The hope and idea of any religion is that all living human beings have imperfect knowledge and are imperfect by definition and that life is a journey toward the truth. When people short-circuit that and claim they have the truth and have a political program that's absolutely true and if you don't agree with me you're less than human and I can kill you, which is what's going on halfway around the world, that is the problem.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060307.CLINTON07/TPStory/National

[The Witch]

1. I read that headline wrong...

sounded like a memo Rove would write to *... "Those damn extremists down in Crawford are threatening PEACE! We have to smoke 'em out!"

[acmejack]

2. That's what I thought too!

No coffee yet. Tells you quite a lot about the world we are living in though, doesn't it?

[javadu]

4. Me Too, Poorly Written Headline n/t

[The Witch]

7. Nice to know copy editors like me have job security. n/t

:evilgrin:

[Coventina]

9. Another mis-read here.

I was thinking :wtf:

[LaurenG]

3. Well can you get the American Taliban to UNDERSTAND that

They are the biggest threat to peace on earth. Elitist fundamentalism (Falwell, Robertson, Dobson et al)is our biggest problem in that there is no way to reason with them either. :cry:

[no_hypocrisy]

5. What an effin' understatement . . .

Doesn't matter. "Brother" Bush not listening to anybody but God (and Rove -- oh yeah, same thing).

[fearnobush]

6. Don't forget lil Harriet.

[fshrink]

8. Religion theratens peace. Always has,

is everywhere and always will. The hope and idea of any religion is that every human being must entirely submit to something. In addition, religion invented the concept of "perfection" or "purity". No one needs a religion to look at oneself as imperfect and at life as a journey.

[cantstandbush]

10. Well, Bill, what about the American religious zealots and extremeist

who would wage global wars and atrocities to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?