greg stephens has made the point. It is not that they 'happened' to be Muslims, but that extremists are USING religion to inflame young people .The fact is, when their religion IS a major component of their drive to do harm to innocent people, it is no longer irrelevant.

I am quite aware that most Muslims would not do this, and that moderate clerics have condemned the violence...but extremist clerics are exacerbating the problem and using impressionable young people to further complex political/religious ends!

One further point...there has been cruelty and violence perpetrated in the name of other religions also, including Christianity, but Islam seems to have this concept, whether these extremists are interpreting it correctly or not, of 'immediate access to Paradise' for dying while fighting for the 'cause'. You get violent folks in many religions, but the idea of using suicide to destroy the enemy is NOT a common factor in all religions.

Now...before you flame me for seeming to just blindly agree with 'interested', READ my points over again, and note why I say what I do.....