Who said that he especially respects other religions? He has criticized Christianity and Judaism before and has actually defended Islam in the past. This idea that someone cannot disagree with or show respect ONLY because it is a religion is foolish. Do you show respect to Heaven's Gate? It was a religion. You judge a religion like you do anything else, the values it holds and what it believes in, coupled with your own experience. Let me ask you, do you respect all forms of government the same? Communist, fascist, democracy, dictatorship?
Exactly. Religion just like humans and other ideologies shall be respected based on merit alone not because it is offending when not respected. Also, it is very possible to not respect religion but respect the follower. Obviously, it is well known that i have severe criticism for Islam but I respect my mother to the highest regard who is a Muslim. I may disagree with one aspect of her life but that one aspect is diluted by the thousands of deeds she has done to make me who I am today. The problem with many individuals in the far right in the west is they don't understand that a human individual is much more than their religious faith.
Your personal attacks reflect anger. I get under your skin, frustrate you, you lose the debate and can't debate and longer so you fire off your old New Yorker angry attack and go on tilt. You are so easy to put on tilt. Your hate for me is obvious. More obvious than your hate for Muslims. You are a hate filled man. These insults you put on me are really about you. You are the attention seeker. You are the one who posts a million times in here about your precious little crusade against Islam. You are the one who derails every thread when someone challenges you with personal attacks. You are the fool. The idiot that needs attention and acts like a little child. Let's just get it straight. You can say what you want, and your playmates nookie and others can come to your defense. But you and Bigtexx have successfully made this place worse than the cesspool it was.
I know plenty of people who grew up Christian and are clueless about the bible and the fundamentals of their religion. You vastly under estimate the ignorance of humanity. Islam is growing, not dying. Its not religion that is the issue. Its the culture.
Why is criticism of religion "bigotry" while criticism of culture not? BTW religion and culture are often the same entity. Islam is basically a freeze frame of social customs and moral standards of 600-700AD Arabia.
Criticism of religion isn't bigotry - quit it with that straw man. Have a biased opinion of people of a religious faith IS bigotry.
If I'm strawmaning then please tell me why you have qualms with posters who are just criticizing Islam. I have not seen anyone attacking individual Muslims or judging individual Muslims who are law abiding citizens.
Jesus taught to turn the other cheek. Every side thinks they are right. Essentially you are stating that Muhammed believe violence was the answer. If we took Muhammed's (your interpretation) teaching to heart, we all would be fighting non-stop. You do realize that Moses and all the kings of Israel had nothing to do with Christianity? Lets break it down for you: Old Testament (before Jesus was born) is the foundation of Judaism. This includes Abraham, all the prophets and the birth of Israel. (and again, Moses had little to do with this). Anything before Abraham is mostly history with God and Man. New Testament: This is the foundation of modern Christianity. Christianity was born through the apostles interpretation of Jesus. In actuality, there is very little of Jesus. He was a philosopher more than anything. Islam: A book dedicated to one mans teaching.
I criticize Islamic practices as well. I think it's awful that the world allows for these barbaric practices to continue in the modern era. Imagine if I said Judaism was the source of business acumen in Jews we see today. That's just criticism right? Or is it bigotry. Do you get the difference?
Christians used to be as neurotic about usury as the Muslims, but since that disincentivized lending they side-stepped it by letting or forcing Jews to be bankers. Anglican Brits modernized their banking laws during Henry VIII which among other things probably helped them (gradually) leapfrog the rest of Europe colonially and economically.
Is not the Bible made up of both? Are not both part of Christianity's belief system? Regardless, Christianity was still very violent whether it was shaped by new or old. As far as I understand the Koran, like the Bible has parts that can be shown to advocate peace and at other times violence. Context and interpretation are key. I don't think the issue is the book. I think the issue is that the Middle East has been backwards for a 1,000 years, left behind by the world in the dark ages, and now we are dealing with a clash of ancient vs. new civilization. Modernizing that part of the world is key.
Why is it so difficult for you to admit that the actual text of the Quran is a significant issue. When the text explicitly states that sex slaves through the spoils of war are allowed it becomes a damn problem.
The Bible isn't a story book to be read front to back, starting with creationism and ending with revelations. Its divided up into subsets such as history, law, poetry, specific prophets, ect ... There are some parts that are great to read, like Proverbs and the gospels. Other parts are a drag and down right depressing. However Christianity is not part of the old testament. Its quite the opposite. This was the whole purpose of Jesus, to bring a new beginning and a new outlook. Instead of hell and brimstone and violence, he advocated for peace, love and tolerance. That said, there are many Christian denominations that love to bring rules and regulation and condemnation that root from the old testament. Westboro Baptist is an extreme example of this. Certain groups of power have certainly used religion as a means to control the masses. Keep in mind in the earlier years, the vast majority of people didn't know how to read and write, so they took the word of their religious overlords. It was when people started to read and write is when the protestant movement began, breaking off from the corrupt Catholic church. Once government got out of religion, then Christianity stopped being so violent. Its no surprise governments that are deeply rooted to religion are very violent.
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/015-slavery.htm Question: Does Islam condone slavery? Does Islamic teaching allow Muslim men to keep women as sex slaves? Summary Answer: Islam neither ignores nor condemns slavery. In fact, a large part of the Sharia is dedicated to the practice. Muslims are encouraged to live in the way of Muhammad, who was a slave owner and trader. He captured slaves in battle. He had sex with his slaves. And he instructed his men to do the same. The Qur'an actually devotes more verses to making sure that Muslim men know they can keep women as sex slaves (4) than it does to telling them to pray five times a day (0). The Qur'an: Qur'an (33:50) - "O Prophet! We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those (slaves) whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to thee" This is one of several personal-sounding verses "from Allah" narrated by Muhammad - in this case allowing himself a virtually unlimited supply of sex partners. Other Muslims are restrained to four wives, but, following the example of their prophet, may also have sex with any number of slaves, as the following verse make clear: Qur'an (23:5-6) - "..who abstain from sex, except with those joined to them in the marriage bond, or (the captives) whom their right hands possess..." This verse permits the slave-owner to have sex with his slaves. See also Qur'an (70:29-30). The Quran is a small book, so if Allah used valuable space to repeat the same point four times, then sex slavery must be very important to him. Qur'an (4:24) - "And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess." Even sex with married slaves is permissible. Qur'an (8:69) - "But (now) enjoy what ye took in war, lawful and good" A reference to war booty, of which slaves were a part. The Muslim slave master may enjoy his "catch" because (according to verse 71) "Allah gave you mastery over them." Qur'an (24:32) - "And marry those among you who are single and those who are fit among your male slaves and your female slaves..." Breeding slaves based on fitness. Qur'an (2:178) - "O ye who believe! Retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the murdered; the freeman for the freeman, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female." The message of this verse, which prescribes the rules of retaliation for murder, is that all humans are not created equal. The human value of a slave is less than that of a free person (and a woman's worth is also distinguished from that of a man's). Qur'an (16:75) - "Allah sets forth the Parable (of two men: one) a slave under the dominion of another; He has no power of any sort; and (the other) a man on whom We have bestowed goodly favours from Ourselves, and he spends thereof (freely), privately and publicly: are the two equal? (By no means praise be to Allah." Yet another confirmation that the slave is is not equal to the master. In this case it is plain that the slave owes his status to Allah's will. (According to 16:71, the owner should be careful about insulting Allah by bestowing Allah's gifts on slaves - those whom the god of Islam has not favored).
You don't need to test me buddy. It took me years to admit that the faith I grew up in is false and morally outdated. I didn't wake up one day and arbitrarily just leave my religion.
