It is true that Christians have not always been nice. Many atrocities have been committed throughout church history in the name of Christ. Muslims are fond of referring to the Crusades, the Inquisition and the fighting in Ireland between Protestants and Catholics. "Christians" have done and continue to do many evil things in the name of Christ. However, when "Christians" have engaged in such violence, they have BETRAYED the teachings of Jesus and have turned their back on the examples that He set for us. But when Muslims engage in violence, murder, and other acts of terrorism, they can legitimately claim that they are following the commands of God as found in the Qur'an and in the examples of Muhammad and his teachings. This represents a MAJOR distinction between Christianity and Islam.

Here are some Quranic verses that are used to support the Islamic violence and are passages supposedly direct revelations from God to Muhammad and the Muslims.

"Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you....and slay them whereever you catch them....and fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression and there prevail justice and faith in Allah" Sur 2:190-193. This command is to keep fighting, to keep slaying wherever you catch the enemies of God.

"Fighting is prescribed upon you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth and ye know not." Sura 2:216 Here we see some reluctance on the part of the Muslim community to fight; but God tells them, "I know what is good for you."

"For the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies (Sura 4:101). "They but wish that you should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they); so take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah....But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever you find them" (Sura 4:89)..."fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)" (Sura 9:5). "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, ....nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth from among the People of the Book (Jews and Christians)" Sura 9:29.

Some of the violence commanded is gruesome: "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the hereafter" Sura 5:33. "Smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them. This because they contended against Allah and His Messenger. If any contend against Allah and His Messenger, Allah is strict in punishment" Sura 8:12-13. "therefore, when you meet the Unbelievers, smite at their necks; at length, when you have thoroughly subdued them, bind the bond firmly" (sura 47:4.

These are not isolated passages that some people are misinterpreting or quoting out of context. Such verses are prevalent thruout the Qur'an, supporting the view that Allah wants his people to fight and destroy the enemies of the people of Allah by the use of the sword or other violence. That destruction can take the form of assassinations, persecution, suicide bombings, or a death sentence on anyone who supposedly ridicules the Islamic faith.

El-Duderino are you a Muslim?


Now, I challange you to show me anywhere where we are to bomb abortion clinics or slay the Muslims for simply not adhering to the faith of Christianity using the words of Christ.

Nope. And I haven't done much research on the Koran or Qur'an to be completely honest. I just know that there are plenty of peaceful Muslims out there which leads me to question whether the passages are really meant to be interpreted as go out and seek out fights with non-muslims or rather fight them when they fight you. But like I have said I don't know much about the Koran so I will take your word for it that it is as violent as you say.

That said it doesn't change the fact that many horrible deeds have been carried out in the name of Christ.




My guess is that when you say "using the words of Christ" you are referring to the New Testament, but the Christian faith is founded using both the old and new testaments and the old certainly has passages that ask for violence to be carried out. In fact the book that is used most often when people argue against homosexuality, Leviticus, is full of rules and regulations for members of the faith (Christian and Jewish) where they are supposed to stone people to death who commit certain crimes against God. I don't have a bible handy to offer quotes up but take a tour through Leviticus and you'll see what I mean. If I have time this evening after I get home I will look up some more specific quotes for you but that is something I'm unable to do at work.

wow I leave for a few days and this blog just took off. Does my heart good to see a feww good people are paying attention.

Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!

yes, there are lots of peaceful Muslims DESPITE what their Qu'ran tells them to do...just like there are plenty of rebellious Christians DESPITE what their scriptures tell them to do.



agreed, but notice what you've done. You've taken the "Peaceful" Muslims and compared them to the "war-loving" Christians or abortion bombers. What about the many "peaceful" Christians and the many "Muslim terrorists?"

I'm going to the root of all this, which is both of their written words.



but for different reasons than what we are seeing with the Muslims. I mean you were comparing the two remember? The Jews were never to go to war against the Pagans in order to convert them. Never. They were, in the OT, to go to war but there were always reasons for this that had to do with the preservation of Israel and nothing to do with conversion.

Even in the NT Christ never ever tells us to try and force belief. He says, go and tell, if they accept, you have won a brother, if they do not accept, shake the dust off and continue on your journey. Never ever are we to push or feel we are the ones converting. It was never our job to do so. Ever. I'm afraid many Christians don't know their own word, even today so those atrocities in the past were a result of a very dark age....remember it was the dark ages afterall.

Your comment to artysim hit the nail on the head, they are given a chance at a better life if THEY choose to take it, yet they refuse to, all the do is complain and do their best to destroy the country that has bent over backwards to make them feel more at home, It has become obvious to me that the Muslims have one goal and one goal only to take the world over and convert to kill anyone that is in their way.

But these Peaceful Muslims remain silent! many of the Silent want Islam to rule the world in the hearts. By remaining silent they encourage the radicals to keep on doing what they do. If the Majority of "peaceful" Muslims were to rise up and say "ENOUGH!" STOP OFFERING A PLACE TO SLEEP, MONEY, AND ENCOURAGEMENT THINGS MIGHT BE BETTER.

For some reason this made me think of this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1aSMhAAWg8

double

This is the beauty of Freedom of Speech. Let the murdering torturous rapists spout on about their schemes. Let the world hear what kind of scum they are. It is only when we silence such demons that we fall into apathy, believing they are a thing of the past. Let the free world listen... and be warned.

The problem is religion should be a private thing and never go public and disrupt.

Sex should be a private thing too, but that doesn't stop people from wanting to make it a public issue.

I would like to point out that teaching the holocaust is in fact complusry in all state funded schools in the UK and several people holding those banners have been jailed for up to six years for holding those banners.

Just after the demostrations serveral UK muslim groups spoke out against the banners and the demostration and called for the ringleaders to be arrested.

The bible might not say kill those who not belive but it does say kill everybody in a town if there is one person in that town trying to convert christians to another faith.

And this is my main point, religion is about interpretation. The same religious text is used to justify both groups of people. As such claiming that the violent Christians are "real" Christians or the non-violent Muslims aren't "real" Muslims just doesn't fly because those same violent Christians will claim that the non-violent ones aren't "real" Christians and the non-violent Muslims will claim the violent ones are "real" Muslims. Religion is based on the interpretation of religious teachings, no matter what that interpretation may be.

And to go back to my initial point in response to the original topic, this is why religion has no place in government.






On both of these points I couldn't agree more, religion and sex should both be private issues done in the privacy of your own home. But there will always be people discontent with leaving it at home.

nice piece Moderate Man. As I've always said there are 2 worlds: the world as we want it to be and the world as it really is. We as Americans are convinced that we have to be tolerant and accepting of others especially with respect to religion. Freedom of speech and religion are guaranteed. But the fact is peaceful Americans, Canadians and Europeans are struggling with militant muslims that made their home there and then rejected the values of the host. I myself barely contain my disdain for all who force their religious beliefs on others. But you effectively point out that for a supposedly "peaceful" group they come across an anything but.

While all religions have a violent past, it is just that way in the past, like centuries ago, while the rest of the world is slightly more enlightened, the Muslims are living in the 14Th century and want to drag thwe rest of the world back there with them.