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If ISIS Is Not Islamic, then the Inquisition Was Not Catholic
New Republic.com ^ | 09/15/2014 | Jerry A. Coyne

Posted on 09/15/2014 8:56:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

[SNIP]

Well, if ISIS is not Islamic, then the Inquisition was not Catholic. The fact is that there are no defensible criteria for whether a faith is “true,” since all faiths are man-made and accrete doctrine—said to come from God, but itself man-made—that becomes integral to those faiths. Whatever “true faith” means, it doesn’t mean “the right religion: the one whose God exists and whose doctrines are correct.” If that were so, we wouldn’t see Westerners trying to tell us what “true Islam” is.

No, if “true” means anything, it must mean “true to some principles.” As far as I can see, there are only two such principles: true to scripture or true to some code of conduct that the writer approves. But these definitions often contradict each other, so no “true” religion can be specified.

First, the truest religion could be that which sticks the closest to scripture. In that case the “truest” Christianity and Judaism would be literalist and fundamentalist. They would adhere to the creationism set out in Genesis, as well as to the immoral behaviors sanctioned by God in the Old Testament. These include killing those children who curse their parents, as well as adulterers and those who work on the Sabbath. Although these are clear moral dictates of God, no modern Christians or Jews obey them, for the rules are reprehensible. Nevertheless, there is a case to be made that a fundamentalist Southern Baptist is a “truer Christian” than a liberal Unitarian, and a misogynist Orthodox Jew a truer believer than a modern reform Jew.

You can cherry-pick the Qur’an as easily as you can the Bible, for both are filled with calls for violence and genocide that distress us.

(Excerpt) Read more at newrepublic.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Evangelical Christian; History; Islam; Mainline Protestant; Other Christian; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: catholic; inquisition; isis; islam
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1 posted on 09/15/2014 8:56:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

“The Germans aren’t Nazis” - FDR


2 posted on 09/15/2014 8:58:50 AM PDT by ryan71 (The Partisans)
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To: SeekAndFind

good answer

and the crusades were not Christian


3 posted on 09/15/2014 8:59:31 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: ryan71

Well we can say this with confidence -— some Germans are Nazis.


4 posted on 09/15/2014 8:59:38 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: ryan71

and it was the moderate Germans and moderate Japanese who ended WW2


5 posted on 09/15/2014 9:00:49 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: SeekAndFind

Da pres lied when he said that. Deliberately and intentionally. He desperately doesn’t want us to know that this bunch is violent and sadistic.
Calling it “ISIS” avoids calling it “IS” which would have people asking what the “I” stands for.


6 posted on 09/15/2014 9:01:51 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Media: completely irresponsible. Complicit in the destruction of this country.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, the Crusades certainly weren’t Christian.


7 posted on 09/15/2014 9:02:00 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: ryan71
Well, if ISIS is not Islamic, then the Inquisition was not Catholic

...And our President is not American. Right?

8 posted on 09/15/2014 9:02:46 AM PDT by Tenacious 1 (Tagline deleted at the request of an offended FReeper.)
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To: Paladin2
Well, the Crusades certainly weren’t Christian.

Without the Crusades, we'd all be speaking Arabic.

9 posted on 09/15/2014 9:04:18 AM PDT by aimhigh (1 John 3:23)
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To: SeekAndFind
Bad analogy, and self-defeating.

Jihad is an essential part of the Koran, and a core feature of all Islamic societies from the beginning.

Formal inquisitorial courts only existed in certain places and at certain times, and are not an essential feature of either the Church's Scriptures or its catechetical teaching.

10 posted on 09/15/2014 9:04:20 AM PDT by wideawake
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To: wideawake
Where are all of the Stop Jihad Now! signs?
11 posted on 09/15/2014 9:06:47 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: SeekAndFind

Spanish


12 posted on 09/15/2014 9:07:49 AM PDT by Ray76
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To: silverleaf
and it was the moderate Germans and moderate Japanese who ended WW2

True enough.
Also, many widows and fatherless children.

13 posted on 09/15/2014 9:11:36 AM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: silverleaf

Who were the moderate Germans?


14 posted on 09/15/2014 9:12:04 AM PDT by sakic
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To: Paladin2

The Crusaders weren’t Christian?


15 posted on 09/15/2014 9:12:58 AM PDT by sakic
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To: SeekAndFind
Well we can say this with confidence -— some Germans are Nazis.

TODAY professing nazism puts'em in Gefängnis.

16 posted on 09/15/2014 9:14:24 AM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: Paladin2

“Well, the Crusades certainly weren’t Christian.”

Your screen name “Paladin” makes that particularly ironic. My junior high school (Catholic) was the “Paladins.”

In seriousness, yes, the Crusades got way out of hand and killed a lot of people that didn’t need killing -— innocent Jewish villages, in particular.

But the Crusades really started as a largely defensive war against invading Jihadis.


17 posted on 09/15/2014 9:17:13 AM PDT by TheThirdRuffian (RINOS like Romney, McCain, Christie are sure losers. No more!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Good one but it won’t work. Catholics have revised the history of the Inquisition. Either it wasn’t Catholics that did it (rogue Protestants no doubt), or it wasn’t really bad (Jews should thank Catholics, stealing their property, torturing, forcing conversion, and murder aren’t that bad - after all, they were told to leave Spain! ).


18 posted on 09/15/2014 9:22:31 AM PDT by Tzfat
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To: ryan71
Not all the Germans were Nazis.

And not all the Nazis were Germans.

19 posted on 09/15/2014 9:24:10 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” - Flannery O'Connor)
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To: SeekAndFind; Mr. K; SevenofNine; GraceG

Well, first off, no one was expecting the Spanish Inquisition!


20 posted on 09/15/2014 9:34:38 AM PDT by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.- Sarah Palin)
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