In fact, she explains, she liked the way "Islam demands a closeness to God. Islam is simpler, more rigorous, and it's easier because it is explicit. I was looking for a framework; man needs rules and behavior to follow. Christianity did not give me the same reference points."I guess no one ever bothered to tell her about:
MatthewOr even just:
Mark
Luke
John
Sermon on the Mount, IAbout as "simple", "rigorous" and "explicit" a "framework" for "rules" and "behavior" as one could possibly imagine. Or hope for.
Sermon on the Mount, II
Sermon on the Mount, III
Well, she was Catholic at first. That is probably why she never heard of that stuff.
Well Islam's got rules, I guess... murder infidels, no pork, beat your wife at will...
Your post nailed it.
Reminds me of hearing Shaq explaining his conversion to Islam due to
(in so many words) Christianity being more about various forms of
dissipation and partying.
I was saying "heck, I must have fallen asleep at my conservative
Christian undergrad college when they covered 'Hedonism For Christians'".
Oh well, folks sometimes convert to religions or "-isms" for the
flimsiest of pretexts.
Close but not quite. Even in the passages you cite there is room for doubt, questioning, and spiritual growth. I truly believe what the muslims like is the ritual. Islam simply lays it all out for you: do this, do this, don't do that, don't do that, pray facing east, pray 5 times a day, give X% of income to charity, etc, etc. It doesn't require a lot of thinking or soul-searching. And that is the problem. It's perfect for modern Europe.