Huh? You appear to have mis-read my post. I named three extremist Christian groups -- the extreme Catholic Right to Lifers who demonize abortion, the fundies who do the same, and the groups I called 'Christianist' because they claim they are Christian but use their faith to justify hatred in a way despised by most Christians. That I reserve the right to object to any Muslim groups which are similarly extreme in no way indicates that I believe that all Muslim groups are extreme any more than my objections to some Christian groups indicates that I believe all Christian groups are extreme.

I do object to religions generally because they entail a fundamental dishonesty in requiring people to believe in make believe -- they are a form of Santa Claus for grown ups. As far as basic morality goes, for most humans, that's instinctive.

Bluebell, I think that with a little reflection you might reconsider your first sentence in your comment.
I am hardly a cheerleader for the armed forces or how they are used. Further, I often make disparaging remarks about what some of the soldiers become, but my criticism isn't that that was what the soldier always was but that that is what the situation does to some people, what it makes of them.

So, we know that a nineteen year old that joins the military to "be all that he can be" is not actually yet a fully developed person. He will change over time with maturity and experience. We can hope that this change will be for the better. We can hope that if a soldier who joined up for completely honorable reasons comes to see that a war started by his own country, one that was not defensive in nature but was in fact politics by other means, one that he sees as wrong in its reasons and wrong in its execution to an extent that his conscience tells him he cannot participate, that he will then have the strength to follow his conscience and not participate.

I don't mean to sound nobler than thou or in any way personally courageous. My own life reminds me of some lyrics in Dylan's song, "Brownsville Girl", co-written by Sam Sheppard, where at one point the narrator in the song who is talking to his lost true love or maybe to his current girlfriend or maybe to God, hell, I don't know, says, "You always say that people don't do what they believe in, they just do what is most convenient and then they repent. And I always say, Hang on baby and let's hope the roof stays on".

I agree, Des. And after I sent my comment, I realized I had probably misinterpreted your blog.