Posted on 10/29/2001 4:28:05 PM PST by Utah Girl
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:49:29 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Is it really too much for some of you to understand that Islam, as a religion is not violent at all, but rather there are violent people who are Muslims. Hitler was technically a Christian, does that mean Christianity is a violent religion? Inquisition, crusades, and witch burnings ring a bell? Do the actions of small minded people who supposedly follow a religion make that particular religion itself violent? Obviously the answer here is, no.
Please do not try to use the 9-11 terrorist attacks as a platform to legitimize your bigorty and hate.
And you don't know me at all. Please don't say that I hate Islam. I don't. I'm trying to understand it. And yes, the Crusades were horrendous. But Christianity has changed. Does Islam have the same ability? So far, IMHO, no.
Seriously, the Muslim practice of "Taqiyah" means they can lie, to hide the truth about their religion, in order to advance it.
I don't reaaly understand Islam .I sometimes feel my anger getting the better of me ,but I pray that my Father in Heaven will give strenght to overcome my own prejudices.
How can we convert the Muslims if we hate them.
Hitler was NOT "technically a Christian". Hitler was "technically" nothing, he professed no religion AT ALL as an adult. He was born a Catholic, but never practiced Catholicism, or any other Christian religion, as an adult at all to the very best of my knowledge.
I kind of thought you weren't a hater .Still glad you set the record straight.
Here's a good article on it from the Catholic Encyclopedia concerning the Crusades.
As for Karen Armstrong, I've read two of her books on religions. She's a fine writer, but a typical left/liberal Briton, who claims (at the end of one book) that high crime rates (at a time when they were actually plummeting) , the death penalty, and lack of social welfare programs proved the US a "spiritually unhealthy" society. She also equated the antiabortion movement with terrorism. This, after admitting that there's a "God-shaped" blank at thecore of European societies, where in some cases the majority of the inhabitants deny there's a God or an afterlife.
With a couple million Muslims in the US, I wonder why they chose this bimbo?
As a former nun, who has clearly rejected the Christian theology of Trinity, Karen Armstrong emphasizes and eagerly embraces Islam's monotheism, its universalism and its charity. But that's about it.
You won't find an open discussion of the faith, its history or its faults here. Islam means submission--in other words, making others submit to the will of Allah. Armstrong fails to cover that aspect. You will not read about early Islamic massacres of infidels, which Armstrong glosses over, as if they did not occur.
Nor does she deal with Islam's historic persecution of peoples of myriad other faiths, including, but not limited to, Zoroastrians, Ba'hai, Hindus, Coptic Christians, Sudanese Christians and Middle Eastern Jews. The chauvinism exhibited by Mecca, a city closed to all but Muslims, is similarly avoided in this (mercifully) brief, overly sugared pabulum.
For brief lessons on the faith, one is better off turning to the Internet writings of Muslim believers like the Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, who heads Italy's Muslim community. A holy--and moderate--man, he shares the rich beauties of the faith and discusses the meanings of key passages in the Qu'ran and Hadith. He also openly discusses how badly Islam has been perverted by the Islamic sects and leaders controlling more than 75% of the mosques in the western world.
For history, Bernard Lewis provides work revered by Western students of the faith and Arab and Muslim scholars alike. Islam in History provides a sound basis for understanding the faith and its place in history; Islam and the West and The Muslim Discovery of Europe are equally informative.
For an understanding of Islam's political effect on other peoples, one can turn to the scholarly works of Bat Ye'or-- Islam and Dhimitude: Where Civilizations Collide or The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude. The latter covers the 7th through 12th centuries.
But give Karen Armstrong a pass.
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