[punster]

I was referring to the Old Testament, which reflected the cultural influences of pre-Christianity. Christianity was a significant change from those earliear cultural influences.

Christianity was a change to compassion. Instead of just, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.", Christianity instructed, "Love your neighbor as yourself." This calls for compassion towards others.

Sometimes, there have been excesses committed by some individuals, who claim to be Christian, such as those of the Spanish Inquisition, Salem Witch Trials, and etc. Those individuals were violating the above mentioned commandment.

We can also exam the history of Judaism. We have seen Judaism progress, from the very early tribal behavior, to a much more compassionate religion.

You can see changes of that nature among some individuals in Islam. I see that it will take many years for Islam to purge itself of the narrowness of the likes of the Ayatollah Ruyollah Khomeini and others (the ones who have committed terrible atrocities).

[samtheman]

We could go round and round on this. You see moral equivalence. I don't.

It's not a question of evolving culture. It's a question of "what are your sources".

[samtheman]

The use of Islam by Islamic terrorists is routinely dismissed by media figures and Islamic advocacy groups with hazy invocations of theological equivalence: There are violent passages in the Bible, too. And it's true: People of all religions have done terrible things. But none of these kinds of objections gets to the heart of the matter: Terrorists on a global scale today are using the Quran, not the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita or the Book of Mormon, to justify violence and to convince others that they should act violently or approve of violence.

---One Explosive Book