Iraqi Christians more afraid than ever

I think that it is, perhaps true that there are more Muslim terrorists than non-Muslim, however there are a few things to keep in mind.

1) Islam is about 500 years younger than Christianity. Think about the things that Christianity was doing 500 years ago. Inquisition, crusades, witchhunts, etc. Christianity was not a particularly tolerant religion until a protestant movement came through and helped "secularize" it. That is, remove the dogma from the religion. Islam hasn't had that yet and desperately needs it, I think, in order to advance. See: Egypt, Pakistan, the soon-to-be Iranian reformation.

2) Islamic nations are, by and large, poor nations. Hopeless conditions with no "valid" way out is what breeds terrorism. These two things combined are what make up a larger percentage of Muslim terrorists.

3) Each religion is subtly different than the next. If I had to pin each down to its main theme I would say that the theme of Islam is Justice, whereas Christianity is Forgiveness and Buddhism is Compassion. A great deal of the Quran deals with laws and many Quranic scholars are also legal scholars for obvious reasons. I think that this emphasis on Justice, especially when perverted into "retribution" is part of the problem.

 

Christianity actually started out as a tolerant movement, reaching out to all kinds of peoples. It became intolerant much later. Agree, though, that the protestant movement stripped away a lot of "add-ons" that transpired after the Roman empire converted.

Wouldn't disagree. Ignorance is a big factor as well in that equation.

Interesting hypothesis. I definitely agree that Forgiveness is the main theme of Christianity, and from what I've seen so far, compassion is probably the main theme of Buddhism (although I'm not that familiar with its teachings yet). The Justice theme seems plausible for Islam, but law is the core of Judaism as well. If I were to hazard to guess, I'd probably say the theme of Judaism is Purity (Holiness might even be a better word). If you agree, what would you say distinguishes the two?

Excellent post, Isaac.

 

Show me a christian leader who has called for the murder of abortion doctors. I think there might be a special place in hell for them but it is not my place to put them there. Muslims take a more hands on approach.

 

There is a directy relationship between terrorism and a certain portion of the muslim faith. A portion of that religion believes it is ok to kill innocent people. We have all heard the story about the 72 virgins awaiting them. That portion of Islam that believes these things is evil with out a doubt. It needs to be erradicated. If the Muslim community is unwilling or unable to root them out then we may be forced to do it. The problem I have with "mainstream" muslims is that they are not willing to side against these radical muslims.

 

It's interesting that you would bring up Judaism. From what I've studied of both you could make a case that Muslims are more "jewish" than many Jews are. Certainly more Jewish than Christians are. They adhere to the same dietary standards (adding a ban on alcohol), adhere to many of the same religious laws (including no work on the holy day and fasting for certain periods for ritual purification) and even consider the Bible and the Pentateuch (sp?) whatever the first five books of the Torah are called, to be sacred. They also share many beliefs with Judaism that Christianity discarded. Not to mention that Jews and Arabs are very closely related linguistically. Hebrew is only very slightly removed from Arabic.

I agree that Christianity started as a tolerant religion but power got the better of many leaders and kings and it was used as a tool to oppress and wage war on others. Chrstianity of 2000 years ago was tolerant and the teachings of Jesus are certainly predominantly tolerant, however, Christianity of 1500 years ago was not. I don't think we have to wait another 500 years for Islam to reform though. I think you can see what a modern Islamic state can be in the form of Turkey or Pakistan and, to a lesser degree, Malaysia or Indonesia.

 

Neal Horsley for one.

 

Never heard of him

 

Look him up.

Paul Hill is another.

 

Here's a useful site....

http://www.armyofgod.com/

WARNING: GRAPHIC ABORTION PHOTOS ON THE MAIN PAGE.

 

i think the nuremberg files qualifies. a website list of abortion clinic workers and their personal contact information. names crossed out when they're assassinated.

google "paul hill" and tell me there aren't people that admire him for killing a doctor and another person.