Is Judaism the only non-violent Abrahamic religion?

Question

I realize that Israel, as a country, has battles with other countries, but I've never heard of a Jewish inquisition or a Jewish "jihadist." In fact, they appear to be the victims of Christianity and Islam the majority of the time. Even Hitler claimed some Christian affiliation, and I don't recall the Catholic church speaking out against him.

So maybe people ought to ask themselves what makes Judaism more peaceful. My guess is because they are scholarly and regularly debate every issue they come across in their scriptures (Old Testament and Talmud.) They respect rational analysis and people don't freak out about questions.

Answer 1

Isreal is not really a non-violent state, and it is a Jewish state. Most religions, especially the Abrahamic religions, promote an "us versus them" attitude. While most people are basically non-violent, religion spurs them on to such acts.

Most religions purport to be non-violent, but even Buddhists have been known to be oppresive in their villages.

Answer 2

Their revolt started in Cyrene, where one Lukuas -sometimes called Andreas- ordered the Jews to destroy the pagan temples of Apollo, Artemis, Hecate, Demeter, Isis and Pluto, and to assail the worshippers. The latter fled to Alexandria, where they captured and killed many Jews. (With a population of some 150,000 Jews, Alexandria was Judaism's largest city.) In 116, the Jews organized themselves and had their revenge. The temples of gods like Nemesis, Hecate and Apollo were destroyed; the same fate befell the tomb of Pompey, the Roman general who had captured Jerusalem almost two centuries before.

Meanwhile, the Cyrenaican Jews plundered the Egyptian countryside, reaching Thebes, six hundred kilometers upstream. The future historian Appian of Alexandria records that he made a providential escape from a party of Jews pursuing him in the Nile marshes (more...). There was nothing the Roman governor Marcus Rutilius Lupus could do, although he sent a legion (III Cyrenaica or XXII Deiotariana) to protect the inhabitants of Memphis.

At this time, the Jews started a war because they were forbidden to mutilate their genitals.
[Historia Augusta, Hadrian 14.2]

Answer 3

I think Judaism has just been around longer and had more time to mature. If you read the OT and Talmud, its just as nasty as the other two, but like you said you don't see fanatics running around and doing this nonsense. Note that you also don't see alot of inquisitors running around these days either. My explanation: Judaism is mature, Christianity is getting there (slowly) Islam is a petulant 9 year old that needs to be spanked.

Answer 4

Well the fact is that there is 2 billion plus Christians in this world and 1.5 billion Muslims. That's already like 20% of the world population each, while Judaism is just 2.2% if you see the statistics.

It's all statistics.

Answer 5

Another factor, and I think the major factor, is that Judaism holds that one need not be a Jew to attain their portion in the next world (or as christians would say, 'saved'). Therefore, there's no tension to make everyone a Jew....unlike christianity and Islam.

Answer 6

Most of the religions seem violent because people use them in a violent way. The same people would still be violent even without the respective religions, and they would simply find different justifications for their acts. It's just that religious justifications come in quite handy, when it comes to violence.

Answer 7

You must not have read the first 2 books of the Old Testament/Talmud.

Answer 8

If you're going to judge Christianity authentically, judge it based on the teachings of Jesus Christ - not those who claimed His name and committed horrible atrocities that violated His very teachings about love & mercy.

Answer 9

Ask the dead Palestinians. Take an honest, unbiased look at the Middle East.

http://www.ifamericansknew.org

Answer 10

Yes, you are right to a certain degree. But in biblical times their numbers were great and so were their ambitions