Kommentar Nummer für dhimmichen

Submitted by Jon Frost (Germany), Aug 11, 2008 at 19:15

Alright, I have gotten some food and come back. Now, here is a second posting, just for you.

I have a confession to make: I don't really care about Islamic theology all that much. Sorry. My point in this whole discussion of ours was never that Islam is pure and wonderful and accurate. My point is that Islam is a major world religion - like Christianity, Buddhism, or Hinduism - and not an evil conspiratorial ideology, and that Muslims should have the same rights to follow their religion as others. Actually, this is a pretty simple and (I think) uncontroversial point. My very first comment (do you remember?) was only to the extent that the US shouldn't kick out Muslims. This really shouldn't be controversial. Does anyone like mass deportations?

You may choose to contest this on the grounds that the Qur'an has scary bits in it that make it unseemly. Well, so does the Bible (or, so I'm told, via King James). Here is a bit from Deutoronomy 13:

12If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
13Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
14Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;
15Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.
16And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
17And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

Does that seem to support violence against other religions? Do you think that part "Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword" is a subtle hint? Of course, this is from the Old Testament, hence also in the Torah. Both Jews and Christians should be smiting non-believers (and each other!) left and right, if they follow the scripture. And they don't even get to keep the loot!

Which supports two points: 1) most religions have scary intolerant bits, and 2) most followers of any religion don't follow their religion or its scriptures very exactly. It's a good thing, too! Otherwise, we would have a lot of crusades to deal with.

Anyway, that's all I really wanted to say about that. Take care of yourself and don't spend too much of your time in these kind of forums. It is good to get away from the computer sometimes, too.

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