OT MM, you may be a lot closer to the truth than I was.
First of all, judging from the postings on CSCO, this is a confusing and controversial issue. You and Victor look at atrocities committed by Muslim extremists and find them repulsive. MHA, New York CityBoy and I find the abuses and atrocities committed by some of the Christians to be repulsive. Both religions have appealing passages of love, tolerance and peace. What is the difference? How can we reconcile this? Is it that the Muslim atrocities are more recent, and therefore they count more than the Christian atrocities. (Sort of like some of the power rating systems in college basketball--recent games count more, and collapse the runaway scores)? It took me a while, but I think I understand why.
<<The Qur'an is a vast, vague book, filled with poetry and contradictions (much like the Bible). You can find in it condemnations of war and incitements to struggle, beautiful expressions of tolerance and stern pictures against unbelievers. Quotations from it usually tell us more about the person who selected the passages than about Islam. Every religion is compatible with the best and the worst of humankind. Through its long history, Christianity has supported inquisitions and anti-Semitism, but also human rights and social welfare.>>
IMHO, it may be that since the Qur'an reflects the turbulent and changing relations between Muslims and other races and religions over time, it has passages that support tolerance and peaceful relationships and it also has passages that support violent intolerance. In contrast, Jesus' message was straight-forward and unequivocal: "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." Mt 5:44 Apparently Ghandi sparked to the peaceful, tolerant parts of the Qur'an and to all of the New Testament. The Old Testament is, of course, very problematic, but Jesus replaced the old laws with new laws and teachings.
This allows us to make the following distinction: When Christians supported inquisitions and anti-Semitism, they were acting in fundamental opposition to the teachings of their religious leader. Christians really had to distort and corrupt their teachings in order to justify hateful behavior. In contrast, while many passages in the Qur'an support tolerance and peace, when Muslims behave at their worst, they can use many other passages in the Qur'an, without verbal gymnastics, to justify atrocities.
answering-islam.org
answering-islam.org
This is my newest, best, tentative understanding of this particular issue. As you can tell, initially I was reluctant to disrespect the most popular religion in the world. But thats the way it appears to me today. If there are some Muslims or anybody else on the thread who can teach me a better understanding, I am happy to listen.
Thanks for your postings,
Tom
P.S. Since I am still a member of the Catholic Church, with all of its problems of abuse of power by its leadership, I only may comments about other religions with great humility.
<<Christians have and continue to do many shameful things in the name of Christ, BUT the issue is this: Christians who use violence in the name of God to destroy their enemies have no justification for their actions from Jesus Christ, his life and teachings as found in the New Testament. Whereas, Muslims who are engaged in violence and destruction of anyone who opposes Islam, have ample justification for their actions from the Qur'an and the life and sayings of prophet Muhammad. It is beyond doubt that the prophet of Islam did encourage the killing and intimidation of his enemies, not just in self defense as it is commonly reported by Muslims, but in the promotion of the cause of God and the spread of Islam. Needless to say, the actions of the prophet were in direct contradiction to the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ and his disciples. So the point is not that Christians have never resorted to violence and other horrible atrocities. They have indeed committed many horrible acts, but when they have done this, they have betrayed the very person that they claim to follow. But when Muslims commit such acts, they can in fact claim that they are following the example of their prophet and thus fulfilling the will of God and promoting His cause.>> |
