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Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?
http://www.meforum.org/2159/are-judaism-and-christianity-as-violent-as-islam ^ | Raymond Ibrahim

Posted on 06/08/2009 11:04:36 AM PDT by ventanax5

“There is far more violence in the Bible than in the Qur’an; the idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the Crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam.” So announces former nun and self-professed “freelance monotheist,” Karen Armstrong. This quote sums up the single most influential argument currently serving to deflect the accusation that Islam is inherently violent and intolerant: All monotheistic religions, proponents of such an argument say, and not just Islam, have their fair share of violent and intolerant scriptures, as well as bloody histories. Thus, whenever Islam’s sacred scriptures — the Qur’an first, followed by the reports on the words and deeds of Muhammad (the Hadith) — are highlighted as demonstrative of the religion’s innate bellicosity, the immediate rejoinder is that other scriptures, specifically those of Judeo-Christianity, are as riddled with violent passages. …

(Excerpt) Read more at meforum.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bible; christian; hebrews; islam; israel; jihad; judaism; oldtestament; religion; violence
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Atheism is a religious belief that there is no God. There is no way to prove atheism, one must accept it on faith. The existence of God could theoretically be proved, but it can never be disproved.


81 posted on 06/08/2009 12:47:17 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: ventanax5

the greatest genocide was the muslim conquest of India


82 posted on 06/08/2009 12:49:23 PM PDT by hecht
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To: agere_contra
You are completely free.

Wrong.

If you have to be bribed with imaginary things like "paradise" and "hell", you are not free when you make choices.

83 posted on 06/08/2009 12:50:14 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
The existence of God could theoretically be proved, but it can never be disproved.

Prove it, and win the world!

84 posted on 06/08/2009 12:51:04 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: ventanax5
Yeah, haven't you seen all those videos of Christian missionaries beheading Muslims? And, of course, it's a crime punishable by death for a Christian to convert to something else...

Pffft. Moral equivalence hogwash.

85 posted on 06/08/2009 12:51:30 PM PDT by TChris (There is no freedom without the possiblity of failure.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

There is a SCHISM between Catholicism and Protestantism. I do not see “Reformed” Hindu churches.

Now, maybe you can consider the Hare Krisnas as a separate religion from Hinduism (and they seem to think so) but I have yet to see the equivalent of a Protestant Hindu Temple.

And from what I’ve been taught, the entire Universe is Maya or an illusion — and that we are merely thoughts in the mind of the Supreme God according to Hinduism. Now perhaps I have to find a copy of the Vedas and borrow my parents’ Bhagavad-Gita, but that concept is what my Hindu friends keep telling me about.

But regardless ... I should not have made this a focus on Hinduism vs. Christianity — so pardon me for this tangent.

As far as the product of Man’s imagination — that’s quite a leap — given that no atheist knows can know the reason or source of the Creation of the Universe.


86 posted on 06/08/2009 12:51:56 PM PDT by rom (Obama '12 slogan: Let's keep on hopin'!)
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To: Jewbacca

Well, facts are sometimes seen as “hatred”.


87 posted on 06/08/2009 12:52:47 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

“Make me believe”

humorous.


88 posted on 06/08/2009 12:55:01 PM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

I would challenge you to prove that there is no God, but I know that is impossible by definition. So you believe in something that there is no evidence to support and which can never be proved.


89 posted on 06/08/2009 12:56:39 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

I’m a Bible believing Christian — non-denominational. But not Catholic.

And some of us have enough love for our Catholic brothers that we do not call them names. At the core of their religion they see the truth, we just believe that man-made tradition has added to God’s Word. They do not believe in scripture alone.

But I think either tradition would love to have an atheist come to the Lord. Christians rejoice when someone finds the Lord, and not through the cold steel of a blade — but through the brokenness that comes from the realization how how we have rebelled against our Creator who gave us life, and then sacrificed Himself for us even as we continued to spit at Him.

I think therein lies the difference between Islam and Christianity — which I think is where this thread originally started.


90 posted on 06/08/2009 12:57:11 PM PDT by rom (Obama '12 slogan: Let's keep on hopin'!)
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To: rom
If you were in the 1100s, you wouldn't have known of Protestants, either, let alone the Post-Enlightenment, Deism-tamed Christianity of today. So let's not make faulty arguments based on an on-going timeline.

Hinduism is not an organized religion. Salvation here is completely up to the individual. It is not a mass-movement, and it was never designed to harvest souls. It is one of the most sincerest idea of a soul being accountable to its Creator, by its own deeds alone. It is not a popularity contest.

But like I said before, all figments of Man's imagination.

No theist knows the origin of his God either. But I can explain it: Man's imagination.

:^)

91 posted on 06/08/2009 12:58:51 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

If you sight an oasis in the desert, the onus is upon you to prove that it really exists. It is not upto me to prove that it doesn’t exist.


92 posted on 06/08/2009 12:59:40 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: rom
There is a SCHISM between Catholicism and Protestantism.

Hahahaha!

That's a PC-tamed word to describe the ideological antagonism between the two. Ireland continues to burn for this idiocy, to this day. Face it, to one, the other is a heretic or a heathen idolator, respectively.

93 posted on 06/08/2009 1:01:58 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

There is plenty of evidence of God’s existence, and no evidence that He doesn’t exist.


94 posted on 06/08/2009 1:02:25 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: rom

For someone to not be able to force himself to believe in imaginary creations does not mean that he rebels against them.

For example, your belief in winged pigs, and my lack of the same, doesn’t mean I hate or rebel against winged pigs.

Your illogic is hilariously faulty.


95 posted on 06/08/2009 1:05:46 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Then prove it. It shouldn’t be hard for you...

Prove it, and win the world!


96 posted on 06/08/2009 1:06:49 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
But you see God doesn't need an origin -- he's above Creation. And therefore, the rules of Creation do not apply, much less than the rules I make for the world of a video game apply to me -- the Creator of that world.

And as for Protestantism -- to me it was a movement to restore what the Reformers felt were the ORIGINAL teachings of the Church as we find in the writings of the Apostles.

I would also say that salvation being up to the individual is a selfish thing if you yourself knew the keys to salvation.

But you know -- we can go around and around in our arguments. Since I have some work to do that doesn't involve religion, I'm going to leave with this humorous image:


97 posted on 06/08/2009 1:08:10 PM PDT by rom (Obama '12 slogan: Let's keep on hopin'!)
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To: rom

Christianity is not a cafeteria.


98 posted on 06/08/2009 1:08:18 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Faith is part of my system, but your faith is stronger than mine because you believe in something that can’t possibly ever be proved.


99 posted on 06/08/2009 1:09:25 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

I was not clear. All of us rebel against God in that we are incapable of following His commandments. Doesn’t matter if you believe that He exists or not.

We’ve all had anger, we’ve all stolen something, we’ve all lied, etc...

And we all know that those things are wrong.


100 posted on 06/08/2009 1:10:31 PM PDT by rom (Obama '12 slogan: Let's keep on hopin'!)
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