This recalls to mind the Islamic reaction when Pope Benedict XVI said at the University of Regensburg that violence in the service of evangelization is unreasonable and therefore against God, and that a conception of God without reason leads to that very violence.
He was actually making a plea that Islamic scholars and theologians affirm reason as a basis for relating to people of other cultures and religious convictions.
The result was, as I remember it, rioting on three continents and 19 dead, including a 65-year-old Italian nun / pediatric nurse shot four times in the back as she entered the Mogadishu Children's Hospital.
Yet Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi just said the same thing:
In Al-Sisi’s own words (Link) “It’s inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire umma (multinational community of Muslim believers) to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world. Impossible! … That thinking — I am not saying ‘religion’ but ‘thinking’ — that corpus of texts and ideas that we have sacralized over the years, to the point that departing from them has become almost impossible, is antagonizing the entire world. It’s antagonizing the entire world!"
Can Sisi's view get any traction?
I pray.
Al-Sisi, the guy the whitehouse hates...
He’s got the right enemies.
There’s 4 (surviving) schools of Sunni Jurisprudence (schools of thought), 4 Shiite.
All of them affirm “abrogation”.
“Abrogation” is the key to understanding Islamic theology.
Abrogation means that when there are conflicting passages in the Koran, the chronologically later one always wins.
The passages affirming peace and tolerance are the chronologically earlier ones, which by the principle of Abrogation no longer apply...
So someone can point at those passages as claims that Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion, without realizing that none of the major branches view those passages as having any weight today.
It’s interesting the way socialists approach theological concepts but when it comes to Islam they are not the only ones who refuse to approach the issue. That even includes leading Christian clergy including Pope Francis.
Followers of Mohammed not only claim, but truly believe that God has authorized them to kill those who refuse to submit to their version of God’s will. That is a basic tenet of that religion. A claim which goes unchallanged. While it’s understandable for atheists which most socialists are, not to approach that claim on a theological basis. It’s bewildering why any Christian clergy refuse to admit it even exists and is a basic part of Islam creed and worse yet are unable to condem it.
The Koran and its enforcement of sharia law is a pseudo religious concoction using monotheistic selected texts taken and misconstrued from the new and old testaments. Both of which cite the Almighty has granted free will to accept or obey his laws and is the final judge not man. Sodom and Gahmora is a glaring example.
Yet followers of Mohammed under the severest of penalties are forbidden to read either which would refute that assertion in a creed which institutionalizes disgusting arab tribal views, observances,and customs. Claiming adhearants are authorized by our Creator to demand submission to it or suffer an ignominious death administered by followers of Islam.
http://www.theusmat.com/islamandfreewill.htm
So Muslims, like democrats, are 50 IQ apes. I get that.
Good post. Thank you.
The Muslim mind has always been closed, and as Islam tightened its grip on conquered cultures, it stamped out all of their creativity, art and intellect. No Islamic culture has ever produced anything after the initial period of about a generation before it crushed the minds of the conquered people.
If you reject reason, which Islam does, you’re not going to be able to go very far.
I thought I should read this after hearing this guy on John Batchelor a few years ago but you know what? I don't give a rat's backside about what these people believe and I'm to busy trying to lead a genuine Catholic life without learning all about heresies.
According to Jewish and Christian tradition, God is omnipotent, but He can be trusted. When he makes a promise, he keeps it.
Regarding the Mu'tazilites and Ash'arites: One of the prominent Ash'arites was al Ghazali who was influential in turning Islam against Aristotle and Plato, and ending the Islamic golden age.
I heard the author in an interview yesterday. He was very straightforward in his discussion and seemed pretty reliable.
Knowing a bit about demonic possession is the key to understanding Mohammed and Islam.
“The Closing Of The Muslim Mind.’’ When was it ever opened?
It's a bad comparison. The 'slamists idea of martyrdom is by killing a bunch of innocents and perhaps dying in the process. In Christianity, martyrdom comes about from turning the other cheek while proclaiming faith in Our Lord, even to the point of death.
mohamhead tells his wolves to slaughter as many lambs as they can while Jesus tells his lambs to turn the other cheek. The footsteps we are asked to walk in are impossibly difficult to follow, and yet, as sinners seeking redemption, we must. I wouldn't be too quick to judge Christians for their failure to die.
The God of Aristotle, Jews and Christians is One/Good/True/Beautiful/Being.