reply to Anonymous' questions

Submitted by M. al-Content (Portugal), Mar 14, 2006 at 19:52

Thank you for reading and for responding.

I think your points confirm mine: We Do Not All Believe The Same Thing ! At least we can agree on that !
Comparing Islam and Christianity, both faiths make mutually exclusive claims, so that one man's statement of faith really is another man's blasphemy.

The fundamental problem does not lie in cartoons, but in the call to prayer and in the creed, in which each faith implicitly denies the other. They may use some of the same names and terminology, but with entirely different meanings. For Jesus to be a prophet in the Muslim sense is entirely different from him being the son of God in the Christian sense, and this is a gulf which cannot be bridged.
So how can there be peace ? Pretending that this gulf does not exist is something liberals have tried over the past 30 years, and it is one of the follies which has led to where we are now. Other than by complete separation, I believe that lasting peace between different faiths can only be achieved through the secular nation state. Islamic fundamentalists also believe that, which is why they are trying to undermine the secular nation state in Denmark.

The freedom of expression we enjoy in these pages is the product of such a state, which upholds the right of the individual both to express opinions and to follow a faith. The same system which allows the publication of views which some find offensive is the same system which freely allows attendence at a church, mosque, synagogue or temple, and the propogation of different faiths. It allows us to agree, or disagree, but commands that we must do so peacefully.

The secular nation state is the goose which lays the golden eggs of so many freedoms, and killing it would be a disaster which would impoverish us all.

ps - I am aware that Jews have more theology in common with Muslims than with Christians, but do you see that commonality helping to bring about peace ? It seems more to be part of the problem than any kind of solution ?

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