I understand how tempers get out of hand. My intention is almost always to make a reasonable argument of one sort of another, although I have descended to some sarcasm lately. Like you, I have my beliefs and I try to defend them, but I try to see where everyone else is coming from as well. Thanks for the rep, but I appreciate your comment more.
Re: Christianity vs Islam - evolution. Separate the _belief system_ from the fallible people who profess it. Your post about the history of Christianity shows an evolution, of sorts, in the sanctioned actions of the Christian Church over a period of 1000 years, or so. There has been no such evolution in Islam. Their attempts to forcibly spread their religion - since its founding - have only been limited to their abilities compared to the rest of the world, which, until oil-dollars flowed into the MidEast, was limited to fighting among themselves.
Christians eschewed forcible conversion long ago, but the Muslims have used forcible conversion since Islam's inception. I don't think your comparison is correct, but I see no point in adding any more of my views to that thread.
Well, if you can come, then you're both welcome to try our 10/22s. We've made a couple of modifications to make them better LTRs (liberty training rifles) for Appleseed, so you can play with what we've done if you're thinking of making any changes before going to a 'seed yourself. See you soon!
Thanks for the rep! I have my moments, but generally I like to be optimistic and find the best in everything. Some may call it naive, but I think it makes life way more enjoyable!
I used to get flak for it all the time. I was always structuring sentences wrong. So I just decided to let people know I was not up putting it with anymore.