Islam not only religion marred by violence

Christian Science Monitor ^ | 5-26-05 | Tom Regan

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

The author suffered oxygen deprivation as a young monitor. Be careful how you handle them, some grow up and learn how the write.

[Bombardier]

Geeze, a piece slamming Christianity coming from a liberal, supposedly Christian magazine. Who'd'a thunk it? /sarc

[Alouette]

I just love how he links to "objective sources" like the Guardian, Haaretz, and Electronicintifada.

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel ping list.

WARNING: This is a high volume ping list

[visualops]

Somehow I doubt that all the "religion induced" death comes close to athiest-inspired killing.
Not making excuses for unChristian behavior, just making a point.
The fallen nature of man coupled with Satan is responsible for the evil perpetrated in the name of religion.

[hlmencken3]

Jeff Jacoby is, I believe, the only orthodox Jew writing a regular column for a major daily newspaper. Which does not excuse his wimpy liberal 'moral equivalence' falsehoods here, LOL.

[Alouette]

Not to mention washington-report.org, a Saudi-funded pro-jihad rag.

Gosh, Tom really did his homework.

[muawiyah]

The writer confounds criticism with threats of violence, and that's only the beginning. He also clearly identifies himself as an anti-semite.

If I didn't know better I'd think he was trying to stir up sectarian violence.

[eleni121]

The author has made the fallacious assumption that islam is a religion..it is not. Mohamed's objective was conquest - political and economic - Islam is an ideology...one that shares so much violence with its wicked first cousin - Communism.

After all, if Mohamed were simply interested in in monotheism for idol -worshiping desert rats of the time he would have been content to adopt the religion of monotheism of the Jews...he did not because it was not about religion.

[Guillermo]

Coming from the same paper that opined that the filibuster deal would launch McCain as the GOP Presidential nominee.

[SJackson]

Jacoby didn't write this. The author is commenting on an article of Jacoby's, linked above, which criticizes Islam for it's violent reaction to the Koran incident.

Speaking of the Koran incident, you might find Newsweek's explanation to the Arab press interesting. Not a denial, just a we can't prove it didn't happen.

Al-Jazeera Interviews Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief on Allegations of Koran Desecration

[redgolum]

They are tunneling under the Temple Mount? I would love to sift through the debris field! Some real treasures there I imagine!

Man, I think this guy is smoking something.

[King Prout]

from my archives (old, but still useful):

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oh, joy: yet another round of the moral-equivalency tango.

Christianity and Islam are not significantly different in their holy texts, eh?

OK, try this on for size:
You tried to equate Christianity with Islam. This is why I ask you to find even one passage, relating to religion and treatment of others, which fulfills the following requirements:

1. in the "catholic" post-Nicaea Christian testament (but I'll gladly throw it open to the Jewish book)
2. a literal...
3. plain-text...
4. indisputable...
5. ongoing present-tense (as opposed to a one-shot past-tense record of history/folklore - ie: Joshua)...
6. commandment from God (not a pope or a bishop or some >a-hem!< televangelist)...
7. as a directive to the believer to take literally and actively in the temporal realm
8. to do any or all of the following:
-a. to slay the heretic and non-believer,
-b. to forcibly convert the heretic and non-believer,
-c. to enslave the heretic and non-believer,
-d. to persecute the heretic and non-believer,
-e. to wage holy war upon the heretic and non-believer
9. Directly analogous to the dozens thereof in the Koran.

(so you know, things like II Thessalonians 1:8,9 don't count - that is God kicking ass, not his faithful doing so for him. An important distinction equivocators seem to like to sweep under the rug.)

Now, turnabout:
Find JUST ONE passage in either the Koran or the Sunnah which is the direct analogue of the Parable of the Samaritan, or the directive to the witness to leave an unbeliever in peace - to "knock the dust of his home from their soles as they leave" - rather than butcher him in zealous fury, or to the believer contained in I Cor 7:12-17, or I Cor 10:32, or II Cor 6:14-18, or Ephesians 6:10-12, or... do you get the point?
Find JUST ONE comparable passage in the Koran or the Sunnah.
Good luck - I have been looking for over a year and have not found any such analogues.

As to my tagline - you are incorrect. It is only recently that they have enough wealth to acquire sufficient numbers and weapons and mobility to be able to significantly annoy us. They have been trying to do so since the inception of this odious creed.

Which brings us to the one-line statement of my support for the current military action in the Middle East:
"This is the latest round of World War Zero, and I am all for taking the battle to the aggressors' home turf and at long last defeating them permanently." It's an oversimplification of my stance, and of the issues, but it serves as the skeleton for both.

[muawiyah]

BTW, according to what we know of Mohammad, which is unfortunately entirely from Islamic sources, he sought to reform Judaism as it was practiced in that region of the world.

As far as "conquest" is concerned, the Arab Empire did not start forming until after Mohammad's death. We have absolutely no idea what he would have thought of the Islamic Caliphate ~ his own thoughts recorded in the Koran (in the non-revelatory chapters) pretty much reflect a small-town point of view on matters.

He'd gotten lost crossing the street in Modern Cairo or Baghdad FUR SHUR.

[softwarecreator]

Geeze, a piece slamming Christianity coming from a liberal, supposedly Christian magazine.

Slamming Islam takes more balls than the libbies have.

Much easier to denegrade a religion that won't cut your head off if you dare say anything about it.

[SJackson]

They are tunneling under the Temple Mount? I would love to sift through the debris field! Some real treasures there I imagine!

So would a great many Israeli archaeologists. They've made some great finds at the Wakf's trash dump. If the author can find the tunnel, maybe he'll invite some professionals to visit with him.

[Sender]

...why are we so upset with reports that Newsweek printed a short piece about the desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo, but not at the reaction in Afghanistan that led to the deaths of at least 16 people?

We ARE upset at the reaction of the Muslim street, especially so since Muslims have desecrated every holy place they claim as their own.

[TapTap]

But like the 'Force' in George Lucas's "Star Wars" trilogy, there can be a dark side to the expression of religious belief that can manifest itself in violence, particularly between those who hold differing beliefs about the nature of God or the divine.

I hope I don't offend anyone's religious sensibilities by pointing this out, but the "Force" thing in the Star Wars movies? That's made up. And that stuff about the emperor executing all the evil (relativistically speaking) Jedi? That's made up too. Sorry to break it to you.

Just in case Jacobi didn't know...

[Shermy]

Premise:

"Christians, Jews, and Buddhists don't lash out in homicidal rage when their religion is insulted."

Which the writer does nothing to disprove by siting riots and violence for other reasons religious or religious tinged but are not fueled by outsiders insulting the religion.

[ReadyNow]

Now that we all agree that many religions are involved in violence. Let's get on with the business of destroying our enemies.