Te threat of Islam is physical. The threat of Christians is much more ideological. The is just a stone throw away from the former.

For example, in Florida, parents took their kids out of school when they found out that Muslims are studying in that school. They have the option of removing kids from the class when they are being taught about evolution (not to mention our President’s speech). We have crazy politicians like Michele Bachmann that believes that “America should be back in the hands of God.” There are people that cheer the arrival of our dead soldiers because America allows homosexuality to exist and therefore, in their minds, should be punished.

To me, the threat of Islamic terrorism is primary. It can happen any time. Whereas the threat of the crazy Christians is long term and would not harm us yet. Should the threat of Islamic terrorism be compared to forest fires and hurricanes, Christian fundamentalism in US is climate change… Both need to be addressed.

You certianly are right that the attacks that Muslim terrorists have planned and executed have been on a much broader scale.

But the one thing that I would say is that if we allow ourselves to become complacent about the small and isolated attacks of Christian fundamentalist terrorists (and it seems like we agree fully on how they should be addressed under law) we leave ourselves open and unprepared for any such group that may attempt a broader-scale attack a la McVeigh.

My argument is that they’re potentially more dangerous because we don’t address these threats properly and with the credulity of an Islamic threat.

But there is a qualitative difference between murdering someone at a local clinic and the far more devastating and audacious attacks (9/11, 7/7 or the Mumbai massacre) inspired by Al Queda. Very few people are actually “terrorized” across the country when a violent act occurs at some local clinic.

They may even be more dangerous, but not on their own merit alone. They may be more dangerous because many people in the western world don’t take the idea seriously (it seems to be thematic in this post).

Perhaps Jim Adkisson had no political aims when he shot up that church. The man who killed Dr George Tiller, however, did. As does every Christian fundamentalist who kills or threatens an abortion clinic.

I think those people should be charged as terrorists, and convicted to the fullest extent of that particular law. They should be treated no differently than Muslim terrorists, Sikh terrorists, or any other terrorist.