Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquila
As for Islam... I actually have gotten to know quite a few Muslims and they've impressed me with their conduct and beliefs. As with Christianity you have mainstream Christians and wacko fundamentalists. Most Muslims I know see these extremists as nothing but trouble. The Quran is often difficult to interpret without knowing the historical context of various statements. For example... a lot of people talk about the verse in the Quran wherein Mohammed (PBUH) orders that Jews and infidels be beheaded. The context of this verse was prior to the military engagement of Mohammed and his followers. The Jews and infidels in this verse aren't you and me... these were enemies who had persecuted early Muslims and posed a very real and present threat to their community. It was war.
There are verses in the OT of the Bible wherein the Israelites were ordered to slaughter the inhabitants of the promised land. Knowing the cultural context of these verses helps us understand these statements as they relate to the war that was being engaged in during their generation. The admonition to slaughter the pagan inhabitants doesn't extend to unbelievers today. If the Quran is understood in this manner... it begins to make much more sense and the beauty of the work begins to come to light.
As for Islamic philosophy and theological perspective... I've gained much respect for the Sufis. They strike me as being far more "spiritual" in their approach to Islam than the Sunnis and Shiites. Sufis often focus on a personal relationship with Allah and ecstatic spiritual experiences wherein Allah's presence is felt and ego is vanquished.
However, Islam does have teeth. Here is the danger as I see it... Within Islam, the faith is seen as a community that has a right to defend itself and advance it's cause with deadly force if peace is impossible. Therefore, depending upon circumstance... one could be faced with Muslims using lethal force. Islam doesn't value pacifism in the way Christianity does.
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Here's my grief with Islam and maybe you can help me come to terms with it: Islam has just
over one billion people. It was estimated a few yrs ago that only about ten percent of those are fanatics. I'm not too good at arithmetic, but that's STILL many millions who are more then willing to drop a backpack by a boy at a marathon, so he'll become red mist from the blast, shoot a little girl on a bus, or kidnap whole classrooms of girls, NOT just because they are random psychos, but specifically for their religion. No other religion still has this level of violence.
Also why do they riot like crazy over a video, or caricature of their prophet, but won't make a peep over stoning pregnant women, child brides as young as nine, or killing schoolgirls?
Finally, all the atrocities "Christedom" have committed are at least a few centuries old. This is 2014 yet millions of muslims still support/commit terrible atrocities, and still in the namr of Islam. It is SO passe and common its not even reported much anymore.