I have some questions for the Christians who like to bash Islam?

Question

First, please don't assume I'm taking sides here. I'm an atheist. However, I can't help but notice the abuse that Islam takes on this board, all day and night long, every day and night. Here are my questions:

Why is it that, when anyone quotes one of the many violent verses found in the Bible, they're "taking it out of context' - but when someone does the same with a verse from the Quran, it proves that Islam equals violence and hate?
Why do you allow Christianity the 'not a true Christian' defense, but never allow that extremists within Islam might be just that - extremists?
Why do you complain that Muslims aren't speaking out against the terrorists, but when they do and cite relevant Quran verses to show that the extremists are wrong, you say they're making excuses for them?

Finally: Do you ever wonder if maybe all the abuse the Muslims are taking now isn't the persecution your god spoke of that was to come in the last days? Maybe Islam is the correct religion?

jamustrip: I wonder if you also so easily spout about all the meddling we've done in the Middle East, and the humans right abuses perpetrated on the Palestinians by the Israeli Zionists, that our tax dollars pay for?

Michael R: First, that would be madam. Second, I clearly stated that I am an atheist. Third, you shouldn't let the media spoon-feed you :)

Answer 1

I honestly don't see any difference between this kind of behaviour and that of a school yard bully.
When I discovered R&S I was shocked by the number of people who seem to get a kind of perverse pleasure in putting others down and making themselves look superiour.
In the eyes of many, Muslims can do no right. As you said, even when they do speak out against terrorism, they are criticised. As a matter of fact, Muslims DO openly protest against terrorism, it just doesn't get any media coverage.
Christians and anyone else who acts in this 'holier than thou' manner need to remember that hatred begets hatred. Their actions cause many Muslims to see westerners in a negative light, thus promoting racism and bias, and indirectly - terrorism.
I think it's a pity more people didn't see the movie "Kingdom of Heaven". It was a brilliant example of how pointless all this Western vs Muslim hatred is.
Thank you for speaking out...

Answer 2

It's not a comparison of books - what happened a bazillion years ago is of not much consequence today. It's how these doctrines are practiced TODAY. On 9-16-2010 a Buddhist man and his son were shot to death in Thailand by Islamic terrorists. Same day in Mogadishu, Somalia Islamic militia sent mortars into a government complex, killing at least three. 8 other people were murdered in 3 other incidents that day at the hands of Islamissts. Haven't seen a seen a Baptist Death Squad in a while, have you? Seen any Methodist rockets landing in a Catholic church lately? How about radicalized Quakers flying airplanes into government buildings? Any Methodists parking explosive laden SUVs on New York streets these days? So quit comparing the books themselves and take a look at the folks that read them.

Answer 3

Its all the MEDIA!

The Western Media has caused the west to believe in their point of view, and only giving one side of the story blinds the people viewing: that is almost everybody. The Media has forced its viewers to believe that Islam is a violent, bloody, intolerant religion, but in reality this is actually the opposite. If people would stop accepting their television sets as their teachers, more people would know the actual truth about Islam. The Media reports misleading stories, gross exaggerations, inaccurate information, and false statements about Islams and Muslims to undermine the religion, and unfortunately, this propaganda is a success--many many Americans believe everything they hear on the news or read in the newspaper. What they fail to realize is that what they read/hear is only one point of view of a bias Media that has been criticizing Muslims with false information vigorously since 9/11.

Terrorism is CONDEMNED in Islam; it is not allowed. Neither is innocent murder, or forced conversions. These are all misleading fabrications composed by the Media. You can't always believe what you hear.

Terrorists are not true Muslims; they use Islam as a mask to cover up their dirty work, and give Islam a bad name. It is not fair for the majority of Muslims, who oppose terrorism and denounce violence that is occurring. Unfortunately, the Media will never let this be known, making it look like Muslims support these radical actions, when in reality they absolutely do not.

Please refer to the following video. It is very true, and will provide valuable insight; I strongly recommend watching it:


http://youtube.com/watch?v=vqmmdpkw378


And jamustrip: Media frenzy against the Jews?? Look it up anywhere, the JEWS own the MEDIA!! Obviously they're going to make Muslims and Islam look bad, so if anything, the Jews will attempt to make a "media-frenzy" on Muslims and Islam! And you will never hear on the news or read in the newspaper that Israel is purposely provoking Palestine and Lebanon. And when they expectedly retaliate, its all big news! Bombs, terrorism, murder, etc.! The Jews control what you watch on the news, what you read in the newspaper, etc. Its called PROPOGANDA! Obviously if Israel is at war with "Islam", then it will do anything to undermine it, as they have the power! And the USA are fully supporting Israel! "Way to show your anti-Islamic colors!"

Answer 4

You are right and I am a muslim so thank u 4 understanding my religion so well, I think coz ever since the incidents of 9/11 things have became really weird for muslims

Answer 5

Good question! To me there isn't any difference, sociologically speaking. Extremism is extremism. After all it was the Catholic church's "crusade" against the Albigensian heretics that spawned the phrase "kill them all and let God sort them out" (literally "Kill them all, God will know his own.")
Muslims invaded North Africa and Spain in the 8th century and forced people to convert or suffer the consequences. Christians invaded the "Holy Land", retook Jerusalem, and killed everyone in the city. In Deuteronomy, the Jews are supposedly told by God to kill the inhabitants of a number of cities, to "put every one unto the sword". Religion is a wonderful propaganda tool to get people to do what they want to do anyway.....
People want to kill and loot and steal; telling them God said to do it is a wonderful "out" for them, makes them think they are right.
Of course, those who practice the secular humanist faith have their extremists too. Lenin, Mao, Pol-pot and Stalin slaughtered people in the name of the people, or the "cultural revolution" in numbers that make all the wars of religion seem paltry indeed!
Best wishes, Arthur

Answer 6

Great stuff now let's get stuck into another lot. Jews, Catholics , Buddhists, Hindus or Taoists. Let's start with the ones that have been killing people the longest or killed the most people in the name of there religion.
I think you're right there is no one who should be pointing the finger.

Answer 7

It is a great quality one can have as to see what is right as right and bad as bad. Even if the bad comes from his own kins or community. Yes, we all need this way of thinking to make this world a better place. We shouldn't be hyprocrites in Judging the people. I am a Muslim and I believe in One God. Yes Majority of the Muslims did speak against what is happening at the hands of few ignorants and did explain clearly what Holy Quran meant when people mis-interpret its verses.

Answer 8

While I appreciate and get your point you must realize that everyone saw the entire middle eastern muslim community on the tele cheering for 9/11.

I was actually in arabia and saw OUR ALLIES cheering 9/11

No quarter. PERIOD

And do you really want to get into a historical debate over the merits of these various cultures? Both are equally evil in their own right. I merely refferenced a rebuttal to your comment that muslims are anti terroist. Quite simply the majority in the middle east ARE NOT. Take this last lil tif between israel and lebbonon. Hamas funded and staffed BY IRAN kidnaps israeli soldiers in an effort to start a war. They park missle behind hospitals simply to cause a media frenzy against the jews and people like you buy it hook line and sinker. Think what you will RELIGION is the enemy of man. To think otherwise is ignorance and folly.
Furthermore, do you really think the govts of the middle east have proved themselves competent of self rule? No since the end of the old middle eastern empires have these people shown that they were capable of not being interferred with.

You talk a good game but in my opinion you are flat wrong.

Any instance you throw out there are the abuses of the west against the middle east I can match with a tale of barbarity of those people. So bring your debate if you will but...


Good to see you show your true anti semite colors with that last comment, kudos bigot.

Answer 9

Can't I just bash them both? In Islam you can kill with the hand of God: "It is not ye who slew them; it was God." (Sura 8:13). But Jesus doesn't give us that directly when he asked: "But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them - bring them here and kill them in front of me." (Luke 19:27). You have to later ask for forgiveness, so in that regard, Islam is better in that you have immediate forgiveness for killing someone "you" think is evil.

Answer 10

And I have a question for Muslims out there: Why aren't you bashing more on atheists? Then the religion and spirituality forum could sort of be like a rock, paper, scissors game. Ok, so Christians, stop bashing anyone except Muslims (since that is en vogue), children of Islam, you must now bash only upon atheists, and finally atheists now only may continue to bash Christians to express that hatred that formed during childhood while the hypocrisy of the church made you so blind you rage that you could no longer see the beginnings of your own hypocrisy.

Oh, Hindu, Buddhists and Jainists you can start your own triangle of idiotic hatred because you're not allowed in our western and middle-eastern triangle, so there!

And both triangles can continue to irrationally hate and persecute minority groups like Jews or Kurds or Tibetans etc without good reasons instead of doing what we all should do and taking the time to get to know these people and find valid reasons to not like them as individuals who are different from us.

Oh... wait... OR

(And as attractive as everything above looks, I'm going to say that this is a much better option I'm going to give now...)

We could use to religion and spirituality section to--get this--learn about religion and spirituality.

Don't get me wrong, cynicism, feigned ignorance (or I guess real in the case of some people), and expression of irrational fears and hatred are all good funs times. But shouldn't all the easily misled Muslim, Christian or other religious bigots and fanatics as well as the atheists who mostly could stand to have a little therapy to resolve some childhood "issues"...shouldn't they have their own section called the "irrational hate-mongering and whiny pretentious philosophizing" section... yeah I think that would do the world a whole lot of good, at least the world of Yahoo Answers and similar answer boards online or in communities of discourse around the world.

Then, we could ignore such nonsense and better spend our time learning to be good people, live together, and learn amazing and interesting things like:

*Martin Luther opposed the designation of his name for the religion. (In reference to the Lutheran church...)

*Eusebius was an indefatigable scholar. In his numerous writings he resolved to reflect and to give an up-to-date report on the three centuries of Christianity, three centuries lived under persecution, drawing abundantly on the Christian and pagan sources preserved in particular in the great library of Caesarea.

*The four holy sites as places of pilgrimage for Buddhists are Lumbini, where the Buddha was born, Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha was enlightened under the Bodhi tree; Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first teaching of the Dharma; and Kusinagara, where the Buddha passed away.

*The Ancient Record of the Tang Dynasty describes a landmark visit to China by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas (ra), one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (s) in 650 C.E. This event is considered to be the birth of Islam in China. The Chinese emperor Yung-Wei respected the teachings of Islam and considered it to be compatible with the teachings of Confucius. To show his admiration for Islam, the emperor approved the establishment of China's first mosque at Ch'ang-an. That mosque still stands today after fourteen centuries.

*Hindus call the sacred places to which they travel tirthas, and the action of going on a pilgrimage tirtha-yatra. The Vedic word tirtha means river ford, steps to a river, or place of pilgrimage.

* During the Enlightenment, emprical knowledge, reason, and the scientific method all had an impact on society. Mankind came to trust only those things that could be tested and studied. Without evidence, a theory was useless. Mankind first applied these processes to science and mathematics. Eventually, people began to use the same processes to posit the question of God's existence. When this eventually occurred, many people decided that not enough evidence existed to support the idea of the existence of a god or supreme being. These people were the first modern atheists. (6

*The Digamabaras depict Mahavira in complete nudity, without any ornamentation, with downcast eyes. They also believe that Mahavira led a completely celibate life and never married. They refuse to recognize the eleven angas of the Jain canon, which form part of the 41 Sutras. The Svetambaras on the other hand accept the 11 angas, wear white robes, are not averse to admitting women into the Order and show Mahavira wearing white robes.

All that not exciting enough for you?

Well, what about these fun facts I'll quote mostly from my hazy memory?--
--
*Within the short span of a few hundred years, Christianity went from being considered by Rome as a cult to becoming the empire's official religion, mostly thanks to a dream that Emperor Constantine had.

*In 2005 the Haj (Muslim pilgrimage) had over 2 million participants.

*In January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims from around the world gathered at Hindu holy city of Prayaga (also known as Allahabad) in India for the Ardh Kumbh Mela, the world's largest religious festival and also the world's largest gathering.

*Jesus was not Christian, he was a radical zealous Jew; Mohamed was not Muslim but he did see himself later in life as a prophet; Krishna was not Hindu (technically speaking) although his teachings and the belief he was God (Vishnu) would be incorporated into Hinduism; and Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama did not worship himself as a god or make idols of himself but rather became a teacher after attaning enlightenment teaching "the middle path" until he finally died.


There you go, and there is much more even more amazing and interesting things about religions to learn.

Good Day.