There is not one verse in the New Testament, not one, that advocates violence.
"There's junk like this in every religious book --- and probably worst of all in the Hebrew Bible."
Ahhh, what a telling statement. Interesting...the Hebrew Bible.
There are more Quranic verses that preach hate, intolerance and violence. You have no desire to acknowledge this fact, as I originally suspected. It is clear who we are dealing with.
Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists are not responsible for the bloody and murderous conflicts in the world today. Muslims are. Reconcile that fact with yourself.
If Muhammad had said, "I did not come to send peace on the earth, but the sword," you'd be gleefully quoting that verse as evidence of the depravity of the Muslim religion. Or the condemnations of the unbelieving cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, which seem to me no different in kind than some of the Koranic verses you chose to cite. Revelation is filled with blood. The number of people here who profess to be Christians applauding Tancredo's remarks about nuking Mecca certainly show that some of it still rubs off.
Like I said, there's stuff like that in all religious books (including the Koran), which will always be used by the thugs of the day to justify killing whomever they want to kill. But in the Koran, as in the Bible, there are also stuff which appeals for a more peaceful, less judgmental order. That's the kind of Islam which needs to assert itself. The actions of the Muslims I mentioned in my last post give hope that it could.
Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists are not responsible for the bloody and murderous conflicts in the world today. Muslims are. Reconcile that fact with yourself.
Christians were killing Muslims in Bosnia not too long ago. In what way did their acts condemn Christians elsewhere? Or even Bosnian Christians uninvolved in the actual killings?
Not too long ago in the scheme of things Christians --- a LOT of them --- were killing each other as well as killing Jews and Muslims and various other infidels in the name of their religion. Did that condemn Christianity? Or just a particular kind, and a particular sort of adherent?
It's much the same situation today. A violent brand of Islam has asserted itself, and has gained an unhealthy amount of support and sympathy because of current conditions in the world. It doesn't represent all Islam, anymore than the nuttiness of the 16th century represented all Christianity. Times will change, and I applaud all those people who are trying to steer Islam towards a more peaceful order.