"I am a 'practicing' Muslim." Rosey

I beg your pardon Rosey.
I did not know that.
Congratulations. I wish you very, very well in your journey of faith.
And I apologize to you, and to anyone else that I have wrongly offended. Offense was not my intention.
"I know now what it feels like to have my personal faith lumped in with the idiot radicals." Rosey

Why not stand up to them? Why not openly condemn them?
When this Bush administration announced its intentions to invade Iraq, I stridently and vociferously objected.
I thought I was right then.
I believe history has validated my position. I sincerely believe the U.S. was better off with Saddam in power. Gasoline cost ~half as much. Our economy was doing better. The Middle East was more politically stable. Terrorism was on the run.
We'll pay over a $Trillion, only to have made matters worse.
"Sear, if you choose to lump us all together, so be it." Rosey

Have I?
Rosey, I tried to be clear. That's why I used phrases such as:
"... those few violent radicals of Islam are the tail that wags the dog" sear

But I sincerely would like to know; why if the majority of Muslims oppose the extremists in the minority, why doesn't the Muslim majority make their objections prominent and clear?
If they are, why is it that this important news hasn't reached a news junkie like sear?
"True Islam is NOT what the media is showing you..." Rosey

Rosey,
Let us please make a distinction here.
I don't think the news of the radical Islamist extremists is intended to represent all of Islam. Instead I think the message is, this is what has happened, and it seems some radical Muslims were involved.
See the difference?
Bottom line, I suspect the reports are essentially true. I believe the Sumara mosque really was bombed. Perhaps you infer a misjudgment that I do not make.
"if you really want to know what true Islam is, pick up the Qu`ran and read it. Not the 'extra' books....just the Qu`ran." Rosey

Excellent point Rosey.
And the fact is, I undertook to do precisely that. And when I did, I encountered an alarming caveat.
And that caveat warned that no English translation of the Qur'an is regarded as authentic.
The Qur'an was not originally written in English. I've forgotten which language the caveats cited; Arabic perhaps. But it warned, if you want to study the Qur'an, the only authentic version of it is written in that original language, not English.

The truth is Rosey, I'm not likely to become fluent in Arabic, or in Aramaic for that matter.

Anyway, when I look for an authoritative Bible, I usually turn to the King James version. I realize the vulnerabilities.
But what English translation of the Qur'an can I turn to? I welcome your guidance. And in particular, I seek a Qur'an, perhaps on CD or DVD, or some other way so that I can get it on my computer. I find that best suited to the type of study I'm interested in.
"But apparently you have already made up your mind..." Rosey

I'm fairly confident Muslims are killing Muslims (and others). If that's what you're referring to in my mind being made up, I plead guilty.
But if you mean to insinuate that I am unfairly, and or unreasonably prejudiced, then I hope you will at least extend to me the courtesy of quoting anything I've posted which supports your hurtful accusation.
"These [Biblical] books existed in the oral tradition for hundreds of thousands of years. They finally wrote them down in Aramaic, later translated into Greek, & then Latin, and finally English, hundreds and hundreds of revisions: and this is supposed to be absolute direct word of God. ... Jesus said love your enemies, Rush Limbaugh heard kill the fags." actor John Fugelsang

"when the bigots of this world have been privileged for as long as they have, to them equality feels like discrimination." shiftless2