Rational Thinking about Islam by an Ex-Believer

Rational Thinking ^ | October 2000 | Ali Sina

[AppyPappy]

Don't confuse the Church with Christianity. Christianity had no such things. The actions of the Church in the Crusades and Inquisition are prime examples of government excesses.

[Mercat]

website for quran browser... easy to use and to look up the cites.

http://www.stg.brown.edu/webs/quran_browser/pqeasy.shtml

[Tribune7]

If you follow the Lord Jesus perfectly you are going to be someone like Mother Teresa, giving of yourself to help the poorest of poor and the most helpless of the helpless.

If you follow Mohemmad perfectly will you be someone like Bin Ladin? That's the significant question.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

bump

[meadsjn]

No way. He's got it all wrong -- he must have.

Does anyone really expect him to know more about Islam than our esteemed left-wing academics, politicians, actors, and media spokespersons?

[hope]

"In fact, the Old Testament does not advocate the killing of gays by individuals"

Thank You, ArGee! It's amazing the amount of false or maybe just ignorant statements being made here regarding the Bible..

[ArGee]

Thank You, ArGee!

You are most humbly welcome. My opinions are free, which gives a strong connotation as to their worth.

Shalom.

[WyldKard]

I always thought of Islam as a religion more like Buddhism.

No offense, but you must know almost nothing about Buddhism to make a statement like that.

[FR_addict]

Bump.

This is a good site to visit.
There is also a link somewhere on Free Republic to a 1995 documentary on the Jihad movement in America.

[Anamensis]

The Koran bids Muslims to kill atheists and pagans right off the bat, but Christians and Jews are "merely" to be conquered, subdued, and tolerated as long as they pay tribute to Islam. The whole tone seems to be "they are People of the Book so they have the POTENTIAL to be decent Muslims. Therefore, tolerate them, give them a chance to convert, but don't make friends with them and if they try to fight you or get free of Muslim rule, kill 'em all and let Allah sort 'em out."

[Anamensis]

Countless other religions are also false, but do not threaten anyone.

I don't know about that... even so-called peaceful Buddhists go on murderous rampages in India in the name of Buddhism. If you can find justification to kill in Buddhism, which seems to be built around a fat, stoned-looking guy, I'd say there's probably no religion that can't be hammered into a sword. And socialism and communism are religions of a sort, they have prophets, manifestos, primary texts...

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

If I want to know about Catholicism, I talk to the Catholics.  If I want to know about Baptists, I talk to Baptists.  If I want to know about Islam, I talkt to Islamics.  Trying to learn about the religious beliefs of a people by turning to their enemies for information is dishonest - and yes, stupid.

[FR_addict]

There are Moslems on this forum that have said their religion has been hijacked.

You can go to history books and find out the same thing about the life of Mohammed. This was just a good site that condensed a lot of the information that I have learned from multiple sources including history books.

Did you see the link to the 1995 PBS documentary on the Jihad in America?

There are many sites out there including Moslems sites that actually say the same thing as this site.

If you want to learn about terrorist, do you go to talk to the terrorist or the people that study terorists?

This was not the only site. There are many excellent sites you can use, but the information is the same. Being in the technical field we have known many Moslems and foreigners from various countries. We have Christian friends from Mayalsia and Indonesia, Moslems from Pakistan, etc. The Moslems we know will not talk about the attack.

[YaYa123]

I'll wade through as much of this as I can, but girl, it IS Christmas. (Very distasteful subject for this time of year). Besides, the debate reminds me of talking head atheists, Bill Mahre, (or other heretics), quoting out of context, and oft obscure, OT scripture in order to portray Christians in the worst possible light. The following is but one example of Koran contradiction:

"Sura 9: 5. But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful."

Cracks me up! Like after I'm fought and slayed, seized, and beleagered, I would have time to repent and practice charity?

But let's be fair and rational in this discussion. Most Moslems in the world today, probably can't even read, much less wade through, comprehend, or live by the flowery intricacies of the Koran. They're just Moslems because their parents were Moslems. Half the Moslem population, women, probably don't know as much about the Koran as you do. Vilifying them because of Koran contents, would be like doing the same to us because of "eye for an eye" Biblical justice.

And remember too, those alcohol drinking, prostitute hiring terrorists weren't even strict followers of the Koran.

Viva, I appreciate civility in this discussion. Maligning each other, or our President, because we differ on the way he's handling this quandry wouldn't be helpful at all.

[Jack Barbara]

We need to call it for what it is. Cult(klt) n. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. The followers of such a religion or sect.

And while we're at it, we should consistantly refer to all muslim homes as "compounds".