From the little forum-reading I do on WL, I often see people citing the Qur'an and denouncing Islam as being a violent religion.
I understand some of this is/may be trolling, but I really want to know: how does Islam compare to Christianity and Judaism? All three have holy texts that contain many violent, awful quotes and passages, as well as amazing, inspirational and uplifting quotes and passages. (if you like, I can provide examples from all)

At what point does one stop blaming the religion and start blaming culture instead?

Edited 5/26/2017 05:14:04

Easy answer? Everything is cultural. People within any broad religion rarely follow the actual texts, and all sorts of fanfiction is added onto them. The gospels, for example, should have all Christians as pro-gay, free-loving yet hardworking hippies. The books that follow say very different things. Same sorts of examples exist for all of the main religions. Some of the add-ons are simply hypocritical. Some are dangerous. It's your choice what you do with your beliefs.

As a general group, we dont conform to a religion, we find one and conform it to encourage whatever we think is best(family, culture, etc)/whatever we want to do. Furthermore, it's a power structure and there will always be people wanting to leverage any power structure against others. It feels good, it pays well and it dresses you in the adoration of your peers.

The issue, folks will claim, is Islamic culture is more close-knit and more prone to violent brands of extremism. There are certain condemning stats/trends and some of the practices associated are deemed reprehensible and inhumane by larger Western culture(how women are treated, killing homosexuals, etc), but statistics are always a poor measure by which to judge and subject to biased interpretation. It's not a measure of the core text.

People like to blame religions but only because they're an easy scapegoat. It's the same as race and all that other bullshit. Correlations can be noted and measures taken, but at the end of the day, hatred and violence is never going to be prevented. There are legion winding reasons that can be lauded or spurned to explain why we hate and hurt and hunt each other, but it's all a fancy trapping on the simple rule that dominates and explains nearly all interactions: People suck.

I agree what this guy says

Edited 5/26/2017 17:13:59

Why do we need religions in this scientific world? It is entertaining to see such things in anime or movies or tv-series; but in real life-it is just waste of money and time.

People spread religions by war and crusades and then call them peaceful? If one sees the history of all religions, the bloodshed alone is enough to throw away the religions.

It is about, desire, whishes and dreams. If people really believed in an afterlife or rebirth, no religious person would be afraid to die. Most religious people still are (if not, they have a higher chance of bloving up, must have to do something with physics or chemistry, i suppose).

I understand some of this is/may be trolling, but I really want to know: how does Islam compare to Christianity and Judaism?

All three trace their origins to one god. The Muslims believe their faith is the last, true one, whilst not rejecting Judaism and Christianity at a time, was right. So Islam is a continuation of sorts.

Muslims will depoliticize their religion if political Islam is no longer viable.

Not happening until the West stops poking their nose where it doesn't belong.

Islam is just a really big religion that is really good at political organization unlike Christianity and preserving its texts. Judaism is too tribal to be a militant problem outside Israel. Christianity is too decentralized, unearthly and illogical in practice to have a practical theocratic system.

Not really. Islam itself is divided into two. Shia and Sunni, who dislike each other. Then you have the Saudi interpretation and the Egyptian interpretation. Also, if you looked deep into the root cause of violence, most of it stems as a result from violence in the Middle East.
Christianity was very powerful until all the Princes and Kings said no to the Pope some 100+ years after Martin Luther threw a hissy fit. Militant Judaism in the form of Israel is a recurrent problem.

I've recently done a project on the Islamic Golden Age. Now Islam is one of my favourite religions.

'Militant Judaism is resurging now that there is an Israel.'

That and European guilt over the Holocaust is why Israel is there violating the rights of Palestinians. IDF is literally 21st century Militant Judaism.

'if the West and Russia stop intefering China and maybe India will. You can't get rid of all forms of foreign intervention even if you are North Korea.'

Foreign intervention is the problem, period.

'The West should spread its secularism there, not troops.'

Only language West understands is troops in order to bring about 'Freedom'.[/i]

In general Shias are less militant because it understands oppression while Sunnis don't.

Or because their lot just aren't strong enough barring Iran.

Ancient Islam was less insane than ancient Catholicism.

Islam brought about more radical reform socio-politically whilst Europe was busy fighting each other with clubs. While the enlightened Great White Man still struggles with racial equality Islam outright denied discrimination based on race from the onset. Just one example.

I understand some of this is/may be trolling, but I really want to know: how does Islam compare to Christianity and Judaism? All three have holy texts that contain many violent, awful quotes and passages, as well as amazing, inspirational and uplifting quotes and passages. (if you like, I can provide examples from all)

Do me a favor and if you ever become a Christian read the good book before suiciding yourself in the middle of some children visiting an Ariana Grande concert. As for the Christian directions to follow, the only one I ever heard about promoting killing those unbelievers is the direction of "random dudes on the internet knowing better than billions of bible reading Christians after having read that one atheist blog post".

Racial superiority and inferiority exist but they are never static.

Yes back to your great argument again. Ever so enlightened yet willing to sidestep that one issue millions died and continue to die for. Equality.

In analyzing a religion you must look at both the texts and the behavior of the adherents. A religion is an intangible transcendent work; its physical manifestation is its belief system, which is influenced by culture. (African Christians and European Christians share the same religion but have different cultures - the belief system takes on the unique form its culture mandates.)

Islam has always been more violent than Christianity, and Middle Easterners have a more violent culture. People were talking about Ottoman conquest in the 16th century, it's nothing new. Islam has been at war with Europe since the fall of Byzantium and the birth of the West.

My greatest point of contention with Islam however is not the texts themselves (they are false) or any sort of "immorality" of Muslims, but simply the fact that Islam is not Western, and for that reason will always be hostile to the West.

Edited 5/26/2017 19:46:55

Correlations can be noted and measures taken, but at the end of the day, hatred and violence is never going to be prevented.

At least you admit that hatred and violence is part of human nature but there are ways of combating it. Having an army of third world savages attack your population is quite avoidable with stricter immigration laws.

People were talking about Ottoman conquest in the 16th century

Are you implying that countries conquering others in the 1500s was anything exclusive to Islam? The Ottomans were better at it, that doesn't make them less civilised. While Brits were burning "witches" in the 1500s, you wouldn't see any of that nonsense under Ottoman rule.

Way to miss the point entirely cuck. I am implying that Islam has always been a threat to the West.

Tabby, you're the exact opposite of logical, good, factual and correct.

Just look at the mirror already.

@Norman

As for the Christian directions to follow, the only one I ever heard about promoting killing those unbelievers is the direction of "random dudes on the internet knowing better than billions of bible reading Christians after having read that one atheist blog post".

I attend a Christian University and have taken courses on the history of the Bible and ancient Jewish peoples and early Christians. Even my professors admit there is terrible content in the Bible, especially in the Hebrew Scripture, and yes there is other content that denounces it, but just as in the Bible, there are contradictory messages in the Qur'an speaking about peace.

The terrible things written in the Bible were written for a different time, a different culture. As it has aged, we denounce and forget these terrible and sometimes weird teachings (no shellfish? Leviticus 11:12). You can't blame a religion for a fraction of its member's actions. The culture in which they come from is a different story.

Edited 5/27/2017 03:55:26

Taggy, you are irrational. You are. You think that dogs have been deleted and that cats rule the world, yet you provide no solid evidence. Why? YOU CANNOT. At first, I thought everything you said was just said by somebody who really likes cats. Not anymore. Belief without evidence is insane. You have two options. Prove that dogs no longer exist and cats rule the world. Admit that dogs exist and cats do not rule the world. If you fail to do one of the options, you are insane. I'm sorry Taggy, you are. You maybe rational on many things - too rational on many things - but on this, you are very, very irrational.

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