Sorry I hadn't realized that you were Jewish (and if I'm mistaken about your heritage, I apologize again). But the world is just as dangerous for Jews as it is for Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims.

For some reason the words Jew and Jewish very really enters my lexicon, but I am certainly not anti-Semitic.

Actually AKA Smith Religious and ethnic differences are the underlying causes of probably 90% of the world's violence. I'm just throwing out a figure there, but few of the violent disputes you hear about in the news today are politically ideological. The Bible, the Koran, and the Torah are responsible for inspiring more violence, more genocide, more serial killing, more murder, and more rape than other text in history (even "Catcher in the Rye").

I would say eliminate religion, but religion in and of itself isn't so much the problem, and the problem is based on the reality that religious fanatics obtain justification for the evil deeds they commit from the belief that their beliefs are under attack by all the other beliefs out there. And you can't eliminate belief and paranoia.

FDR said it best when he said "what we have to fear the most is fear itself."

I'm more or less Buddhist, so I really see no need to fear Islam or Christianity (though I am really tired of the Mormons knocking on my door).

I live in more or less Democratic America, so I don't fear Sharia Law or the Hijab either (those America fanatical about the 2nd amendment would never let either become a problem).

What I fear is that the paranoia of my American neighbors might cause them to vote the Republicans back into power, and then we will never get health care reform.

"Which came first, religious oppression of women or patriarchal tyranny?"

Sadly I don't think there was ever a time in human history in which neither existed (whether you believe in Creation or Evolution). Both, I think, come from a primal fear of losing what one has. The best way to keep what you have, is to defend it from the prying eyes of others, and the best way to keep that which wants to leave of its own accord, is to oppress it.

Which text inspires more rape than the Bible, Koran, or torah?

I keep hearing all this talk about drugs, or lack of drugs, being the problem behind the higher suicide rate among girls, but not a single comment here has given me the sense that drugs, or decreasing the amount of drugs, is going to solve the problem. Isn't it possible that the elephant in the room is something other than the chemicals at work in the brains of girls?

Might it have something to do with the increasingly unattainable beauty standards that corporate advertising stuffs down our young girl's throat?

Might it have something to do with the abstinence training that gets stuffed down our young girls throats?

Might it have something to do with the frustrating political climate our nation is in (doubtful, but I thought I would throw that one in there)?

Might it be related to global warming (anything's possible I suppose, but this sounds more likely than drugs, or lack of drugs, being the problem)?

I just got done reading raider6704 comments, yes it was a disturbing experience, and I can't figure out what this guy is all about, other than that he fears that Lesbians and Feminists are out to get him.

Dude (raider6704), you suffer from paranoid delusions.

I have been around Feminist and Lesbians my entire life, and if they were out to get the average man, I would have been lynched a long time ago. Lesbians and Feminists are about as dangerous as diet soda, and I haven't drank non-diet soda in over 5 years.

Get with the times bro. The only thing out to get you (or at least your money) is Corporate Big Brother, and their surveillance of everything you do.

Like Diet soda, Lesbians and Feminists are the new thing, and they are a great alternative to the dangerous additions of our past.

Sorry I meant to write "great alternative to the ADDICTIONS of the past?

I don't know Juliebird. If drugs, or lack of drugs, was to blame, then wouldn't the suicide rates go up for both boys and girls?

I Think the problem has to be something that affects girls more so than boys.

I don't need to question it, because I don't fear it. My wife is a feminist (or at least I like to think she is one), and a lot of my neighbors are Lesbians and Feminists (and so are your's raider), and their presence near me hasn't diminished the sanctity of my marriage or my home life at all.

I'm a good parent, so the sexual activities and political ideology of my neighbors does concern me in the least, and in fact I feel comfortable that my neighborhood is considerably less likely to have a pedophile roaming around it.

The things I fear are more realistic; unfairly high health care cost, unfairly high higher education cost, outsourcing to slave labor sweatshops, my over dependence on foreign oil, and the possibility of getting sent to Iraq.

Feminists and their agenda is something I can easily live with, because I want my wife (and later my daughter) to be able to go to work without fear of there being a glass ceiling, or unequal pay, or sexual harassment.

the sexual activities and political ideology of my neighbors DOESN't concern me in the least.