"Mateen’s attitude is not fringe. It can be found everywhere from Mecca to my own mosque in New York City."

Individual Christians, Muslims and Jews can all be good people.  But to the extent any *culture* adheres to and abides by the teachings of the inerrant "holy" books dictated by an infallible god, it is a poorer culture and worthy of greater disregard.  The Torah, the Bible and the Koran are all based in primitive, ridiculous and often brutal and hateful superstitions.  The words and teachings of all those books condemn homosexuals to death for their "sin."  

Most, if they're not completely mental, in the 21st century have chosen to ignore the admonitions of punishment as set forth in their tomes while remaining steadfast in their belief that apparently some folks are simply born [or are choosing to be] extra-sinful, doomed to a life of suffering because "God only knows."  While they may not carry out the execution of sinners as commanded by their god,  those who would leave the judging up to their deity are actually few and far between.

Western society is, quite literally, bathed in the blood of Christianity.  But to the extent that the West has made progress is to the extent it has thrown off the teachings of the Church.  To the extent is has rationalized, "reinterpreted" and wholesale ignored the Bible is to the degree that the West has become a better place.  You can cherry pick any religious text to find the "good" but at this point shouldn't we be well past the notion that these books are magic?

Cultural relativism is a slippery slope.  Yes, there are certainly and often many things to learn from many cultures around the world.  And a myopic belief that the culture in which you were born is the best is exactly that, myopic.  But isn't it time we were well past this notion that all cultures are created equal?  This idea that religion, because it is religion, should have this exemption carved out for it?  The right to freedom of religion in the U.S. should work the same as all the other rights you have - the right to swing my fist ends at the tip of your nose.  Some cultures are simply better at some things than others.  

Western Civilization, for all its faults, when it's working right, works towards ideas like a universal concept of human rights, women's suffrage and rights, and LGBT rights and protections.  All of these things are antithetical to the books, texts and teachings Abrahamic faiths.  We'll all be better off when we discard these archaic relics.

Here's Everything I Wanted To Say About Islam Yesterday, But Couldn't - Breitbart: "Large scale Muslim immigration from Turkey and other Muslim countries will introduce more fundamentalist opinions to the country. Turkey, you’ll keep in mind, is the country whose reaction to the Orlando shooting included the newspaper headline “50 perverts killed in bar.”   In other words, the Muslims pouring into Europe and the UK, and America if your current government democrat AND republican has its way, are not kind easygoing Muslims, they are hardliners..

The Left won’t blame Islam. Alarmingly, prominent liberals and homosexuals have fallen right in line.  They are blaming rifles, the NRA, masculinity, video games — anything but Islam. Dan Savage blames toxic homophobia and toxic gun culture. Well Dan, I have news for you: toxic homophobia has a name, and the name is Islam. Many will say that what I just said is an Islamophobic statement. Islamophobia, the irrational fear of muslims, is a nonsense term. Fear of Islam is entirely rational. I can tell you specifically that for gay people, “Allahu Ackbar” is the scariest words we could ever hear. Gun Panic Liberals always wait to determine the race and sex of a shooter before deciding how they will attack gun rights.  Let me give you a clue,  liberals — Muslims don’t just use rifles, they use bombs, airplanes and knives, they like did in Paris Monday night. They will use anything to kill the hated “infidels.”  

Fewer than 300 people were murdered in 2013 with rifles. Nearly 1500 were murdered with knives to put that in perspective.  In fact more than double that number were murdered by hand and fist."

Here's Everything I Wanted To Say About Islam Yesterday, But Couldn't - Breitbart:  "There is one more thing. It is clear at this point that Omar was himself a gay man. The very latest information is that Omar himself was a regular at the club, some witnesses saw him there a dozen times. His own ex-wife, who as a good muslim he beat, has come out with the fact he was gay. This is what Islam does to its own gays. If they are clever enough to not be killed in a middle eastern country, they must develop the most intense self-loathing imaginable. It is beyond my powers to picture a lifestyle in which your religious leaders, your family, and your larger culture not only disapprove of your lifestyle which is normal for many gays, but actively call for the killing of those that share your lifestyle...

With all of this information implicating Islam, a reasonable question to ask is why the government and liberal media refuse to speak the plain truth.   Beyond all complicating factors, the root cause of this mysterious lack of assigning blame to Muslims is that they are now seen as the apex victims in our culture. Liberals consider everyone that is not a straight white male to be on a pyramid of victimhood. 

...liberals have put Muslims at the very top of this pyramid. That is why Muslims can act and speak with impunity against others groups like gays, Jews, and women– they have been placed at the pinnacle of the victim pyramid. The major flaw of liberal logic, with apologies to the term logic, is that in this case the top of the victim pyramid is intent on murdering and abusing the entire rest of the pyramid! When we examine liberal thinking, we find that the already shaky logic doesn’t hold up when juxtaposed with other similar cases. Let me provide you with some examples: When supporters of Donald Trump are violently attacked and his rallies interfered with, the liberal response is that the Donald provoked these attacks. But when Muslims attack gays, there is no outcry that the gays provoked Islam by being Fabulous. Which is it liberals, were they asking for it, or weren’t they? When a christian bakery chooses not to bake a gay wedding cake due to religious beliefs, they are decried as religious bigots and driven out of business, the target of a national religious shaming. When Muslims call for the murder of homosexuals in the months leading up to the largest mass shooting in American history, they will receive absolutely no blowback whatsoever, as we are told this was due to assault rifles and toxic masculinity. When a single picture emerges of Dylann Roof, the Charleston church shooter, posing with a confederate flag, the media and the government attempted to erase the entire history of the South by removing flags, renaming buildings, and destroying monuments. 

When Omar Mateen shoots some 100 people in a gay nightclub, the initial reaction of the government and media was to stumble over each other trying to be the first ones to say Islam is a religion of peace and had nothing to do with the attack Despite the terrorist’s own cries of “Allahu Ackbar,” his call of allegiance to ISIS during a 911 call, and the fact he was acting within the murderous tenets of his religion as preached in the very city of Orlando. When Eliott Rodger killed six and wounded quite a few people in California, the media called it an act of misogyny and violence against women, despite the fact that he killed more men than women. Compare that with how they have handled the terror acts of Major Nidal Hassan and Omar Mateen. Nidal Hassan killed 13 unarmed soldiers and wounded 30 while screaming “Allahu Ackbar.” This case was called workplace violence, and in fact his victims have been denied special benefits due to the victims of a terror attack. Omar Mateen’s Muslim terror attack has already run the gamut from ‘the rifle did it’ to ‘video games’ and everything in between. Everything except his religion of death..."

America must not become a country in which people are afraid to kiss. It must not become a country in which artists and satirists are afraid a drawing might get them killed...

It is time for the LGBT community to take up arms in order to defend itself from further muslim attacks. Guns are not icky, gross, or scary. In the next Muslim terror attack on gays, a gun will save your life and those of the people around you. If you are uncomfortable with guns or associate them with the Christian right, find one of the many LGBT-friendly shooting instructors spread throughout the entire country.   If you think carrying a concealed pistol will ruin how cute you look in your new jeans, honey get over yourself you aren’t all that anyways. Remember, as the saying goes, “Armed Gays don’t get bashed” The Religious right are not your worst enemies. They don’t want to bake your cakes and will not fly rainbow flags, but they want you alive and free. In fact the religious right can now be seen as allies. While liberals were crying and hashtagging, the notoriously christian chick-fil-a, which is normally closed on Sunday, opened up to feed those donating blood to keep LGBT victims alive. The LGBT allies of the past might call you brave and like your social media posts, but the christian right are men and women that will fight for your rights, and more importantly, teach you how to fight and shoot on your own. Gays and Lesbians must have the mindset of the Jews that fought so many hard conflicts against muslim aggressors in the past. They realized they had sat and watched while Germany committed unspeakable atrocities against their people. They said Never Again and meant it. Today is the LGBT community’s chance to say Never Again. Never Again will we allow Muslims to slaughter us, and never again will we support politicians who enable despicable terrorists to commit these senseless crimes. "

Gay Muslim: Islam Is No Religion of Peace - The Daily Beast:  "The carnage in Orlando has shaken my very core, but after my experiences traveling throughout the Middle East as a gay man (open in some countries, fully closeted in others), I cannot say I am surprised. Any identity I have ever claimed now lies exposed as a wound that will never heal. Saying “gay Muslim” seems like a reason for damnation. I’ve spent the last decade of my life making two films. The first, A Jihad For Love, is about the lives of gay Muslims throughout the world. The second, A Sinner In Mecca, dealt with my own personal journey and my effort to reconcile my faith and my sexuality in Islam’s holiest places, surrounded by people who would sooner see me publicly beaten, thrown off a cliff or beheaded. These are strange times. It is a season of Islamophobia in America, where Donald Trump whips up xenophobia with a tweet. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s attacking a religion that’s already at war with itself. Muslims like me have fought hard not to become casualties. We have always had our Omar Mateens. In the U.S., they manifest as lone crazed gunmen. But in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, they are on the royal payroll. A cursory look at the pages of ISIS’s glossy magazine, Dabiq, reveals the group’s ideology. They gloat—and show high-res photos—about throwing homosexuals off the tallest buildings that somehow remain standing in the wastelands they’ve created...

Mateen, the homophobic gay Muslim, is not a new phenomenon. The Muslim religious elite is directly responsible for inspiring the guilt and self-hatred that this man must have felt, needlessly struggling with his sexuality. And then he became a mass murderer, whose actions can never be condoned. What I do know is this. As a devout gay Muslim I am not going to make a claim that “Islam is a religion of peace.” Growing up in a small Indian town with a large Muslim population, I heard young men talking about jihad in Kashmir and Palestine. I have even heard such matters discussed in hushed whispers at Manhattan’s 96th St. mosque, where I sometimes go and pray on Fridays and where subjugation of women is discussed in the open without the blink of an eye. The mosque was built largely with Saudi money, and its Imams often come equipped with the perversions of Wahhabi ideology...

Mateen’s attitude is not fringe. It can be found everywhere from Mecca to my own mosque in New York City. The vast canon of Islam that emerged after the Prophet Muhammad’s life has enough sanction for violence, if you know what you are looking for. And there is no lack of homophobic condemnation either. The Quran itself remains vague on the matter, lazily regurgitating the Old and New Testament’s story of the Nation of Lot. And for the majority of 1.6 billion Muslims, many of them plagued by poverty and illiteracy, the debates going on amongst the Western Muslim pundits, will make no sense. What they listen to is Khutba (Friday sermon) after Khutba that talks about homosexuality as a sin amongst other matters of religious import. Yes, most Muslims are muddling through life, putting food on their families’ tables just like everyone else. There are countless sectarian divisions within the vast faith. But if even a fraction of a percentage of this population believes gays should be put to death, we have a problem that cannot be dismissed so easily. I, too, fear backlash from a fearful conservative America. I finally won an American passport last year and am officially an American citizen. Will I be singled out at the airport with increasing frequency? Will Muslims like me, desperate to get into the United States, be able to taste freedom here? I went to my first gay bar almost 20 years ago in New York City. I had just landed in the United States. My cousin who hosted me on my visit swears that I kissed the ground (though I suspect he’s embellishing). I lost myself in the music, the dance, and most importantly the love. There are millions of other gay Muslims in the world, desperate to experience such love..."