religious persecution question?

Question

the question is here

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AinoDRd9VyrOWWE328_e0bvsy6IX?qid=20060810203448AAMkXRM

DeeZee

Judaism did have the power to persecute when they had power in Israel and their were Jewish kingdoms in history. IE the Kahzars.

the reason why they rarely did it was not the lack of oportunity but rather because their religion states that their is more than one way to God.

if you belive others can acheve salvation you will find very little reason to try to convert or attack them

Answer 1

To the one that said that Pagans killed 70 thousand or more, what about the Christians that killed over 100,000 in the witch burnings? That was in just a few years so there were many more killed. Entire towns were burned because they thought that there were a few witches in the town. They said that God would save the Christians. Guess what? God didn't save them and they died too. Christians are one of the biggest killers there are. Now I am not saying all Christians are killers. There are good people and bad people in every religion. However, Christians have killed people just because the other person wouldn't become a Christian. Pagans don't kill because you won't believe as they believe.

Answer 2

Is there a direct correlation between religious persecution and belief that salvation is only found through one's own religion? I assume you are speaking of those doing the persecuting not the people being persecuted.

For if you are the one being persecuted, and you truly believed in your path to salvation, no outward forces would change the way you live your life. Even unto death. The history of the world and religious martyrdom shows us this.

Persecuting others does not directly correlate with believing you are on the "right side" or knowing the truth. It certainly could play a part, but obviously there are multiple motivating reasons for a religious group (or a small zealous part thereof) to persecute others. Political gain, monetary gain, fear, controlling others through fear, power in general, mental illness, anger, etc.

Since people are inherently flawed, the religious systems created by people are imperfect as well, and greed, zealots, xenophobia, and mob mentality will often rule the day. Obviously people who may not care a whit for a religion or its beliefs, may use that religion as a tool for their own ends (Republican Party anyone). And if those people are in positions of power, the impact of their actions "in the name of (insert religion here)" reflects on that religion to the rest of the world, regardless of whether those actions reflect the belief system and values of said religion.

History repeats itself again and again. King Solomon said is best: there is nothing new under the sun...

The fact that the Jewish nation in history did not persecute others, did not, in fact, have anything whatsoever to do with the belief that people could reach God on other paths. Where did you get that belief? Israel was supposed to convert people to God in the Old Testament, they were supposed to be God's chosen people and set apart, yet they were so impressionable and influenced by the pagan nations around them, they rarely converted anyone, and usually became idolaters who turned their backs on God in the good times, and came crying back to God in the bad times.
After Jesus was rejected by the Jews, Israel was no longer God's people. And the Jewish nation was never a real political power after that. In order to persecute people, you have to be in somewhat of a position of power....
Not a realistic presupposition for a question, IMHO.

Ultimately, when we look to others for motivation, moral compass, ideology, truth, we will be misled and disappointed, religion is man trying to find God. Instead we should be looking at God and the example he gave us, Jesus.

Answer 3

It all started over land. The Crusades, the best example of Christian intolerance in history. Christianity is a zealous religion. There teachings are of a believe or you will burn nature. Most Christians think they are following the teachings of Jesus. WRONG! Jesus was in fact a Jewish rabbi. He was trying to straighten out the Jewish leaders to go back to the practices of Moses and Abraham. That they strayed off of he path. The last supper was the Sater dinner at passover. Did he not ride on a donkey into Jeruselem to celebrate passover. He presided over the dinner, that is done by the leader of the "house" and if there is a Rabbi present then he is to preside over the ceremony. Christians are actually following the teachings of Paul the apostle.

As far as I know we pagan never had a holy war against anyone (where we were the aggressors, we were usually on the defensive because of ignorance of the aggressive side).

Answer 4

The Monotheistic Religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) believe in one God (hens the name).

If there is only one God, but other religions believe in other gods or practice differently it means that the theory of the one true religion is not perfect.

If the one and true religion will convert everybody it will make it perfect and total and true and right.

The proof in their eyes is that all humanity had to be converted to that true and one God.

As appose to the monotheistic religions, there are other ways or philosophies that involve ways of living, or thinking: Taoism, Buddhism. Sometimes its more than one deity: Paganism, Hinduism. When the religion is not that total, it gives more options and freedoms.

The reason why Judaism, although monotheistic, didn’t persecute people for their beliefs is because it was never a big, strong winning religion. It never had an appeal to the masses because it’s too demanding. Since it’s a small group (compared to the others) it never even had the corrupting powers to achieve it.

Answer 5

I think you may be a little confused about the story of the Kuzari (I may be think of something else) From what I remember the king of the Kuzars had a dream where he was told that his thoughts were good but his actions weren't concerning his worship of God, and he ended up converting to Judaism.

But it is true that Judaism does not believe that every one should convert to the religion, in fact I learned that in order to see if the person is sincere about converting you should turn them away. That doesn't mean that there aren't rules for them God gave Noah these rules that must be followed. I think there are Noahides, people who follow these rules.

One of the reasons I could think of people not having to convert was that there are holidays such as passover remembering the exodus of egypt, which non-jews weren't there to experience. He also revealed himself in front of the entire jewish people so it makes sence that he could demand more of them.

Oh an Judism was a powerful religion uinder the rule of king David and Soloman.

Answer 6

Actually, yes, there is. A huge number of religions believe that their path is the only path, and they're willing to wage war to prove it. Everybody does it, and it still goes on today. It's a kind of ethnocentricity that's inherent in human behavior. After all, doesn't every book proclaim their god to be the one true god? Wouldn't you? Our minds are programmed by evolution to think in ways of survival, meaning that anything that isn't for us, is against us. Well, logically then, if it's against us, it must be evil. And if it's evil, then it must be destroyed. See how easy that was?
My beliefs tell me that there is no "one true" path, because ALL paths lead to God in one form or another. If God made us in his image, then wouldn't it stand to reason that he or she would have to look like EVERYONE, and not just caucasian? In truth, God has no form, meaning it can be anything it wants. So why persecute another faith? The facts have nothing to do with God or faith, but the oldest motivation of all - capitalism.

Answer 7

You haven't done your homework, have you? Persecution exists in just about every religion and it's not unheard of in the Hindu religion. Ever heard of the atrocities against the Dalit caste? Sorry, it's just human nature.

Answer 8

Religious persecutions continuously occured in the world. Those who forget the One True God kill people who call them to return to Him.

Answer 9

A redirect? Not a bad idea. Tell the Yahoo staff about it. Maybe they'll put it in their 'power bar'.

Answer 10

well, dont you guys forget about all the Africans that were prosecuted, and their wealth taken by the europeans who came to save them in the name of Christianity.