Kane said:
Islam (like Christianity) has many contradictions. There are peaceful quotes that do say killing is wrong, while there are other verses that support the Jihad and say that you must cut the throat of the infidel.
I think in general religious fundie conservatives and rad politically correct liberals have the wrong impression about Islam. Religious conservatives believe that Islam is a religion of death and destruction that is far more barbaric than Christianity, when in fact Christianity and Islam have about the same violence in it (maybe Islam a little bit more). Politically correct liberals believe Islam is a religion of peace, similar to something like Buddhism when in fact the religion is far more, if not more violent the Christianity!
Let me preface this by saying that i'm agnostic, so I don't have a theological horse in this race. I'm merely pointing out the obvious.
Islam explicitly states it's the duty of Muslims to engage in Jihad against the abode of War, in order to bring everyone under Islamic law, and bring "peace" to the world. That's the only interpretation possible if you take every verse of Islamic teachings literally. Fortunately, most muslims are a little more selective, many aren't.
When we talk about violence in Christianity, we are really being a bit disingenuous because we are lumping things in to Christianty that aren't explicitly in Christianity.
The only violence referenced as doctrine in the bible, is in the old testament, which Christ expressly stated was no longer the law in the same sense it was formerly interpreted.
The second lumping we are doing is lumping in to christianity what the Popes did to gain and maintain power. The reason they were able to usurp christianity, is that there weren't very many bibles, all of them were in latin and only the church was allowed to interpret doctrine anyway, so the Laity had to take the word of the Popes for what was doctrine.
Now, we all have access to the New Testament. Taking the literal word of Christianity and the literal word of Islam, I defy anyone to find one single command of Christ that would be intereted by any reasonable person as inciting anyone to violence.
Christ stated specifically: "John 13:34-A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."
It seems very clear what Christ's stance on violence was. What's furthermore, christianity in the first years was one of pacifism and forgiveness in the face of violence. It was by peaceful martyrdom and non-violence that christianity slowly took over the Roman empire. What ultimately brought violence in to the church was the "Romanification" of the church.
In contrast, from the very beginning Islam was violently expansionist. Mohammad himself was a warlord, who spread Islam as much by the sword as the word. Many pagans died under the sword of Mohammad and his followers.
Again, I say this not to defend Christianity, but to point out what should be obvious with any honest examination of the differences. I just have to wonder why it's considered "enlightened" to ignore painful truths.
Ultimately I agree with the idea that dogmatic religious belief of any sort is often a source of human misery. But the attempt to paint Christianity as just as violent as Islam at it's core is a bit disingenuous and ignores certain clear realities.
When we say Islam is a religion of peace, we are correct from a certain point of view...Islam is tolerant and peaceful under ideal conditions. The problem is the idea that "Peace" is only for the abode of Islam, not the abode of War.
I know it's heresy in the modern day to point out the obvious, but the evidence is overwhelming. The problem is that we have been indoctrinated in to believing that any negative assertion about another religion automatically makes us "intolerant" and "bigoted" no matter how obvious that conclusion is based on the evidence. We have a cultural blind spot that could be fatal.
That isn't to say that millions of Muslims aren't peace loving people. Many have turned a literal interpretation of Islam in to a very uplifting spiritual message. It is to say that literal interpretation of Islamic teachings by large numbers of people can lead to violence and war.
. A lot of genocide has been commited under the name of the Christian God, from the crusades to the Native Americans. Columbus himself viewed Native Americans as "heathens" because they did not follow the Holy Trinity. There are also verses in the Bible that, that although do not encourage violence, do teach intollerance of people who follow other religions.
