Posted on 07/15/2006 10:54:26 AM PDT by Dark Skies
Although I appreciate your thoughtful insights, I must take exception with the above statement.
Although I accept that those with something in common tend to relate to each other better than those without common beliefs and/or backgrounds, (left to their own devices Shiites and Sunnis will kill each other off, but will unite to kill non-Muslims), I believe Christians as a rule have not historically supported, either overtly or covertly, those who act in violent, hateful ways in the name of their faith. [--And before you ask the standard "Have you ever heard of the Crusades?", I must point out the the Crusades were undertaken as a desperate response to Muslims having overrun the regions considered the birthplace of Christianity, and were a relatively brief portion of the two millenia of Christendom.]
In fact I'd go so far as to say that those who impose their will on others through force in the name of Christianity are MORE susceptible to criticism by Christians. Those who take their faith seriously wish to distance themselves from such heretical behavior MORE than anyone else because to act in such a manner clearly goes against the tenets of the faith.
In Islam, on the other hand, it is part and parcel of the faith, as even most nominal Muslims can not deny--and if they do they are either lying or ignorant of what their faith in fact teaches.
THIS is the reason there is tacit approval among the vast majority of Muslims of jihad. There would NOT be such deafening silence on the part of millions who identify themselves as Christians if similar acts of barbarism were being perpetrated in the name of the one true God.
The nature of the God of the Bible, as contrasted to Allah, clearly does not condone such behavior, let alone reward it-- and despite the fact that most in the world today who identify themselves as Christian are every bit as poorly grounded in their faith as are most Muslims, I am confident that the there would be a far different response from Christians than there is from Muslims to the same actions. The ONLY time anything is heard from most Muslim groups is in condemning some mistreatment of Muslims or "demanding" that President Bush condemn anyone who responds to any of the myriad groups committing murder in the name of Allah.
I can personally assure you that if anyone were doing such things in the name of my faith I would not be "pro-Jihadist".
Easy for him to write when he lives in the safety and security of the United States. Try writing that in the Middle East and they'd kill him.
I respect your steadfast refusal to be dismissed as a run-of-the-mill "bigot".
After having spent considerable time studying--and praying-- on the subject over the past five years, I must agree with your conclusion.
Unfortunately, the person with whom you've been debating seems disproportionately influenced by personal history than that of his ethnic heritage at large.
His family lore is inspiring. And it is true that there are millions of "nice" Muslims--ALL of them nominal in terms of their commitment to the teachings of the Qur'an, Hadith and the "perfect" example of Mohammad.
Perhaps he needs to talk to some other Jews whose family lore includes going-along-to-get-along in Germany or Poland during the middle of the last century, certain that, even though they were rounding up some of the undesirables, their friends and neighbors would not bother them and their family.
A few more replies are over here - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1664172/posts
It's a lot less these days than it used to be, but there are still traces of it, in terms of the strife in Northern Ireland.
Historically, there have been any number of violent wars and struggles within Christianity. There were a number of wars and battles between Protestants and Catholics -- the 30 Years war comes to mind, as does the French religions wars with the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
Even before Luther, there were also various wars against off-shoots of Christianity, deemed heretical, in suppression of the Cathars (Albigensians) in the 12 century. For that matter, the 4th Crusade never made it to fighting Muslims and ended up with the Crusaders turning on and sacking Constantinople -- which weakened the Byzantine Empire so much, as to lead to Southeastern Europe being captured by Islamic forces several centuries later.
Christians have turned on other religions in their midst. "Pogrom" is a 19th century term, but even before that, there various massacres of Jews -- The York massacre in the 12th Century England and the Chmielnicki massacres in 17th Century Urkraine come to mind.
The remarkable thing about Christianity is that, over the last few centuries, most of these struggles have stopped, particularly in Western Europe and America. Northern Ireland has been the exception, not the rule. (The Holocaust was founded more on racial lines (albeit false ones) than religious; Communism's suppression was based more on politics than anything else.) This is a large part of what has allowed the Western world to pull ahead of the Islamic. But on the larger scale of history, it is a relatively recent phenomenon.
bttt
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