they were forced at gunpoint to convert to Islam on videotape to become free. Some Muslims are just ridiculous in how they conduct themselves.
This is just stupid.......Allah Akbar baby !!!! Another black eye for a reeling religion !! Great ! DD
honestly Outside of America, Isreal and Maybe Britian I think Christianity is Reeling more than Islam Rocket River
I think they are all reeling as science marches forward and exposes the mythos that is religion. Of course that doesn't stop the senseless killing over "Who is holier than thou" DD
I would not say Islam totally, but a large faction of it. Which is causing the rest of the world to have a very poor view of Islam in general. DD
If by "rest of the world" you mean US and Western Eurpoe then sure. Personally I think the United States is taking a bigger hit then Islam.
Which is why exactly we have A_3PO here to enlighten us with his real world, worldly knowlege. Onward Christian soldier, marching as to war. Teach us. LOL
Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world. It's shrinking in the US and UK. It's growing big time in South/Central America, Asia and Africa.
isn't it ironic that islamic scholars helped preserve science, engineering, math, and literature during the christian dark ages?
Not true. It's the largest religion in the world (if you don't count all those athiests in China and Russia) but Islam is the fastest growing. Had this discussion as an undergrad, but i went a'googling to find: http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9704/14/egypt.islam/ and to be fair, an explanation as to why http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/4220 Daniel Pipes is pretty biased (his "support" of Israel often does more harm than good , IMHO), but I think he makes some good points.
I t wasn't so dark in Spain until the Inquisition. I had to take a year long class on "Medieval Religious Philosophy." I expected it to be a bunch of dry Jewish theology, but most of it were actually Muslims (and a few Christians, St. Thomas Aquinas in particular). The odd thing was all of them stole ideas from each other, in regards to reconciling faith and science, but they never gave credit to each other, because they would be ridiculed (and maybe even killed). The Muslim philosophers were really keen on this since most of them were physicians as well, and were constantly at odds with their faith vs. greek science that was saving lives. Most of it was in Spain, and most (if not all) of the Jewish theologians actually wrote in Arabic (many were from places like Morocco). Were it not for guys like Aviciena and Alghazli (sp), we would never have had St. Thomas Aquinas (no Catholic Church, and no Protestant reformation) and no Spinoza (and no Decartes and Modern Philosophy!).
Depends on what study you read, I suppose. My understanding is Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West. In the US, in particular. But not in the rest of the world. http://www.danielpipes.org/article/979 "For obvious reasons, news reports today are filled with material about the influence of a resurgent and sometimes angry Islam. But in its variety and vitality, in its global reach, in its association with the world's fastest-growing societies, in its shifting centers of gravity, in the way its values and practices vary from place to place - in these and other ways it is Christianity that will leave the deepest mark on the twenty-first century... As the media have striven in recent years to present Islam in a more sympathetic light, they have teneded to suggest that Islam, not Chrisianity, is the rising faith of Africa and Asia, the authentic or default religion of the world's huddled masses. But Christianity is not only surviving in the global South, it is enjoying a radical revival, a return to scriptural roots." - Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State [from The Atlantic Monthly, The Next Christianity, October 2002, p. 54, 68] HONESTLY, I DO NOT WISH TO TURN THIS INTO A "WHO'S GROWING FASTER" COMPETITION!! I truly don't know the answer to the question!!!
