Adam and Don

Submitted by CanadianChris (Canada), Jan 13, 2009 at 19:08

Adam...I DO believe that we are speaking the same language from differing perspectives, which, if I understand you correctly, we should not have to entertain feelings of animosity against each other for those beliefs. As I have said previously, "Many paths up the mountain...". It is funny to read such universal language that is rarely used outside of certain context. Well met.

Don... In spite of the derision you use to address my comments, I find that your comments about the evolution of Christianity serves to remind me that it is in the not so distant past that Christians believed that the message of Christ should be brought to the world on the edge of a sword. It is true that Christianity has evolved more or less from that point in history, but even in this very forum, we can see Christians calling for another crusade against Islam. The belief that other ideologies which are not Christian should be fought using weapons is a return to those days when Christianity shed as much blood as any other religion.

I believe that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be the guiding light for modern society, and religion should be a personal matter due to its inherent tendency to be interpreted as differently as the amount of people who derive peace and satisfaction from spiritual pursuits. The Declaration of Human rights obviously needs to make headway in the Muslim world. We need to give some teeth to an organization which does not favor any one country or ideology. The U.N. has obviously failed in its mission to be objective, so in our modern times we need to establish an organization built upon the driving principles which once inspired the formation of the U.N. .

Christianity is simply at a stage in history where it is not the most problematic religion, it is simply one upon which very few followers will agree regarding its symbolism or literalism, its chronology, its promotion of Christ as Divine or as a representative of a belief system. There are so many conflicts of opinion within Christianity alone that as a religion, it cannot be used as the guiding light for the world. It is simply one of the lights by which many people find direction.

Islam is more currently more problematic than Christianity due to its nature to be a religion which finds such a significant foothold in the poorer populations of the world which have little or no secular education. It creates a polarization of ideologies due to the ease by which its promoters find fault with anything that is not Islamic in its Nature. It requires a narrowness of thought and reason that is often found in the vitiated mind of the poorer and abused people of the world. We are faced with the attitude that you are FOR Islam, or you are against it...There is little room for the secular person. And very little respect for secular ideas. Islam had a time in history when it was leading the way in philosophy, Chemistry, and literacy...but it is becoming a religion of the ignorant because it uses coercion to promote its ideas and philosophy.

I find that if we are to apply any method against Islam as a religion, the principles which we use must also apply to the other religions of the world. No religion should be set above another because the motivating principles which lead us to the divine can be found in most religions.

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