Posted on 04/20/2006 6:26:16 AM PDT by Marechal
The Problem With Christianity by Jared Sax The Daily Northwestern
The face of Islam at this point in history is bad. Riots over cartoons, Sunnis and Shiites killing each other in Iraq, a Palestinian parliament lead by the terrorist group Hamas (motto: destruction of Israel), and Sept. 11 evil mastermind Osama bin Laden are what we think of when we think about Islam.
Many claim that Islam is just a violent religion that advances the idea of holy war and violence throughout the world and has done so since its inception.
They are right, except for the last part. Only in the last 125 years or so has Islam been a religion prone to violence and extremism.
Since its inception in 610 up to the 1880’s, Islam was a tolerant and peaceful religion. Under the Islamic empires of that time, only a small head tax was placed on non-Muslims living there by its religious rulers. Otherwise, Jews, Christians and any others were free to worship as they pleased.
In fact, Islamic scholars contributed greatly to the fields of mathematics, astronomy, medicine and philosophy centuries before Western scientists reached that level of intelligence. Jews and Muslims often had to unify to fight a common enemy: Christianity.
I hate Christianity. There, I said it. Since its creation, it has mostly caused violence and death, despite espousing the doctrine of compassion and love.
The list of Christian persecutions of other faiths and peoples is painfully long: nine major crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the spread of Christianity throughout Europe (involving massacres of pagan peoples), the colonization of the Americas (involving even more massacres of native populations) and the Salem Witch trials, just to name a few.
The number of deaths cause by Christian persecution far exceeds the number of innocents killed in Islamic terrorist bombings and Sept. 11 combined.
As a Jew, I have always been taught to respect and tolerate other religious beliefs. And for the most part, I do. But I draw the line at Christianity.
First of all, the concept of Jesus dying for “the sins of humanity” is ridiculous. I am responsible for my own actions, and I am angered at the thought of someone being killed for them before I was born.
Second, any religion that tries to convert others to “save them,” whether by force or by passive means is not a real religion. Worry about yourself and your family, but leave everyone else alone. If they want to convert, fine. But don’t come knock on my door and explain to me that I’m going to hell because I don’t believe in Jesus.
Last, those who practice the religion disregard its principles at every turn. Christianity preaches “love thy enemy as thyself” and “turn the other cheek.” Someone must have forgotten that when the Crusades happened.
As for modern times, what ever happened to “judge not lest ye be judged?” The modern Christian Right obsesses over telling people how to live: Whether they should have abortions, take an elderly person off of life support or teach that evolution is only “unproven theory.”
I do not hate those who practice Christianity. Most were born into it and are decent people. Only Christian extremists who attempt to impose their religion on others and forget one vital fact: before there was the scourge of Islam, there was the wrath of Christianity.
Jared Sax is a McCormick freshman. He can be reached at
j-sax@northwestern.edu.
hey sax, go pop a zit and shutup
I wonder what would have happened if this young fool had written "I hate Islam."
What a piece of bull excrement. This ninny obviously is such a blatant apologist for Islam that he should with great humility withdraw from college and become a MSM reporter.
His ignorance of history is shameful but I fear typical.
Islam only became violent in the last 125 years? Good to know. Now we can amend history to reflect this great truth. So here goes some needed changes:
1. The enslavement of people of all races and creeds by Arab slave traders can be viewed as their commitment to multiculturalism. And their generous offer of travel opportunities to the disenfranchised.
2. We can now rest assured that Thomas Jefferson's actions against the Barbary Pirates was an act of American agression against a simple sea faring folk.
3. The blood thirsty battles between The Ottoman Turks and Eastern Europe were no doubt early versions of soccer matches. Yes things got out of hand. But why blame a few hooligans on an entire religion.
4. The Moorish conquest of parts of Spain. They were simply immigrants trying to find work.
5. The persecution of Jews and Christians in the Holy Land during the Middle Ages, an attempt to clear up blatant zoning violations.
I hope whoever is paying this student's tuition demands a refund pronto.
Oh please say it ain't so. This person may one day be responsible for the safe design of a building or item of infrastructure. Scary thought.
Kids say the darndest things.
Wow, can one person really be that ignorant?
The Turks deny the Armenian Massacres and the Aztecs deny that their priests committed human sacrifice. The Spanish were able to overthrow the Mexica only because the other tribes were fed up with sending human and other tribute to the Aztecs.
Nice post.
Please ping us if you hear back from Mr. Sax.
The idiot cites crimes committed hundreds of years ago and forgets modern crimes. Oh, but we should not judge.
Just who does this little whippersnapper think he is. He claims to be Jewish but apparently is total oblivious to Jewish history. Read about The conquest of the "Promised Land" By the Jews under Joshua. That is contained in the book of the Old Testament which carries his name.
The nation of Israel, under Joshua, slaughtered all the inhabitants of the land before they were fully able to inherit it. The entire Muslim world hates Israel and is dedicated to "wiping it off the map." The only thing that prevents the Muslims from obtaining that goal is the protection of the United States of America. Thats right, America, that evil Christian nation for which this young idiot professes so much hatred.
I hope you sent that to the newspaper who published his diatribe. Yours is a worthy and factual disputation. It deserves to be disseminated to as an 'au contraire'.
There, I said it.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
The Christian forces that pushed the Muslims out of Spain, then proceeded to give the Jews the choice of death, conversion, or exile. It was the Muslim Ottoman Empire that rescued the bulk of the Jews.
I seriously disagree with the author's dislike of Christianity. I'd say it's closer to 1800 that Christian nations became generally as safe as Muslim ones for Jews. And he'd be surprised at the possibility that part of Columbus's motivation to find the New World was to find safe haven for Jews (Columbus was friendly to Jews, may have been descended from a Jewish family, and sailed on the day after the expulsion). On the whole though, he has his history correct.
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Can't wait to see what he writes as a sophmore.
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