Muhammed the Teddy Bear

[DoesntMatter]

Extremely successful religions are founded in blood and spread at the end of a sword, not through kindness and charity.

Unfortunately this is very true.

You're not Catholic, are you?



Baaahahahahaa! How many deaths do you think Christianity has been responsible for or in direct support of? You have to take the religion in it's entirety into consideration, here, all 2000 years of it. The history is not pretty.

No I am Catholic. My mom was Protestant but converted when she married my dad. But yes, she is very Protestant like which you correctly assumed

Christianity has been worse to itself than other religions. As in, Protestants vs Catholics and all that. Trust me, I WOULD be just as scathing on that as I am this, but that was in the PAST! Christians in Europe and the US don't do stuff like that anymore. Muslims DO. That is the difference, NOW and THEN.

Christians don't preach "Let's go kill Muslims!" anymore. And if you are claiming you are killing for Christianity, you are NOT Christian. That exactly goes against everything that's in the Bible. On the other hand, you can get away with violent shit in Islam and the Quran ALLOWS it! That's pretty ****ing huge

For that reason, I have very little tolerance for those of other cultures who enter Western society & expect special treatment. Adapt, or go back to where you came from.

Same

Are you kidding DM? C'mon, DON'T believe the hype. Christianity is just as violent as any other religion, in fact, they've killed more than their share of muslims:

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades[/url]

NO Indi, it ISN'T. Sometimes it's followers are, but the Bible is completely nonviolent while the Quran is.


And why does everyone keep focusing on the past? Does that justify what Muslims are doing to Christians now? If Christians were going on suicide bombings against Jews or Muslims or Hindus or atheists I'd be talking about THAT. But right now, Christians aren't! GASP! So WHY talk about that?

[IndiReloaded]

NO Indi, it ISN'T. Sometimes it's followers are, but the Bible is completely nonviolent while the Quran is.

Two questions: Did you even read the link I posted? And have you actually read the Quran, for yourself?

And why does everyone keep focusing on the past? Does that justify what Muslims are doing to Christians now?

B/c the past is how Christianity arrived at where it is today. And its past is VERY bloody. As is that of most religions. Religion is just an old-fashion form of mass population control. When the education level of the general populace increases, and reason takes the place of religion, then the power of religion declines (much to the chagrin of the Roman Catholic Church).

The best thing any of us could do for Muslim countries is airdrop televisions and satellite hookups for them. Let them watch Discovery & the History Channel & learn how little religion is actually doing for them.

[Junket]

She was convicted.

[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22007049/?GT1=10547[/url]

[Gribble]

but the Bible is completely nonviolent while the Quran is.

Have you read the Bible? How can you possibly say that. God flooded the Earth, murdering every last man, woman, and child save a select few.

Look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. God promised Lot that if there were ten innocent souls to be found in either of those cities he would spare them. A blatant lie because he promptly slaughtered everyone but Lot's family. There were children in those cities, no doubt. How can a young child be anything but innocent? So not only is god a serial killer, he is also a liar who reneges on his promises.

God commanded Abraham to murder his only son. And then, just as Abraham was about to drive a blade through his son's chest, god, like some sort of deranged, sick **** that gets off to violence and gore, told him to stay his hand. It was only a test.

Let's see.... Deuteronomy. Read it. Pick up a Bible and read it. You know what Deuteronomy deals in? Among other things, it talks about what one should do with rape victims. If she is unmarried then her rapist should pay the father a fee and the two should be wed. If she's a married woman, however, and it is determined that she did not scream loudly enough during her rape, she should be killed.

And you dare say that the Bible is completely nonviolent? Compared to the books some Christians want banned, the Bible is downright pornographic.

[DoesntMatter]

Are you people STILL missing the ****ing point? The Bible does not condone violence. EVERY teaching of Jesus denounces violence. THAT is CHRISTianity.

Violence IS in the Bible, but it doesn't encourage CHRISTIANS to act violent. Is it that hard to see?

Yes, I have read parts of the Quran. It says not to befriend Christians and Jews because they are not your friends, to deal harshly with them, and to not break the bones of women when you beat them.

[Gribble]

I'm sorry, but you are wrong. Half the Bible teaches nothing but murder, intolerance, hatred, racism, etc.

You cannot merely dismiss the Old Testament in favor of the New.

The Bible, for example, teaches us to take an eye for an eye. And then, much later, it completely contradicts itself and informs us to turn the other cheek.

[IndiReloaded]

DM, if you want someone like me to agree with you, its just not going to happen. I've read the bible & a decent translation of the quaran. Both are interesting, but both definitely contain stories of violence, many of which are simply too outdated to be useful as lessons for today's society.

I think all religion is for the mentally weak. Its for those who aren't intellectually creative or advanced enough (mostly due to lack of education) to come up with their own theory about How The World Works. Sorry.

[vashti]

You all need to get out more often. I know plenty of lovely Muslim people who wouldn't harm a hair on anyone's head. I also know many extremely intellectually gifted religious people. Don't you people ever mingle with people who aren't like you?

[IndiReloaded]

You all need to get out more often. I know plenty of lovely Muslim people who wouldn't harm a hair on anyone's head. I also know many extremely intellectually gifted religious people. Don't you people ever mingle with people who aren't like you?

I've met many intellectuals who are religious. IMO (and it is only mine, of course) they are limited in their potential compared with those who aren't spending energy on religion. I've met a few nobel laureates & most were atheists.

However, what IS common in my observation is that those who aren't religious & highly intelligent are extremely disciplined & rigorous. There are various ways they acheive this. So, as far as religion encourages that particular trait, it is valuable. But it is not the only way to acheive that trait.

[EmoBlackBelt]

The old testament and the new testament shouldn't even be in the same book. The old testament is a book of primitive laws and metaphorical stories that were designed to apply to the people of the time; nomadic desert dwellers. The new testament is the part that actually applies to the modern religion of Christianity. Most of the hatred from "bible-thumpers" comes from misinterpreting the old testament, or taking it too literally. Look at people like Rick Santorum, the former leader of the Christian right. Before he died, he said that 9-11 was a punishment from God for the crimes of his people, including among other things, homosexuality and feminism. FEMINISM! Right-wing Christians are some of the most hateful, judgmental people on the planet. They would personally kill every gay person on earth if they could. My grandparents (who are supposedly the most holy people in the world) would probably disown me if I married someone who wasn't white. (Luckily, they won't live to see it.) How can anyone say that this is any more tolerant than Muslims not wanting a teddy bear named Mohammed?

[Gribble]

I love studying philosophy. I love reading about guys like Aquinas and Descartes. They were absolutely brilliant men. But when it came to religion for some oddball reason they each wrote a load of outlandish nonsense that any Phil101 student can tear apart with ease.

Religion clouds the mind. It obscures. So yes, there are religious intellectuals out there. And they may be masters in their particular subjects. But they're still a bunch of bumbling, irrational sods when it comes to god.

[vashti]

I've met many intellectuals who are religious. IMO (and it is only mine, of course) they are limited in their potential compared with those who aren't spending energy on religion.

Limited in their potential for what? Personally, I find genuinely gifted clergy offer unlimited hope and inspriation to other people. I think that is extremely valuable, although of course it can't be measured scientifically.

And yes, I realize many nobel prize winners are atheists. Many are also religious.

[Gribble]

Unlimited hope and inspiration... if you'll only prescribe to our beliefs, donate money, and look the other way when father O'Malley takes Little Johnny to the rectory.

And no, I don't really mean that. I'm just being an ass.

[vashti]

Unlimited hope and inspiration... if you'll only prescribe to our beliefs, donate money, and look the other way when father O'Malley takes Little Johnny to the rectory.

And no, I don't really mean that. I'm just being an ass.

Haha! Haven't you ever met a (genuinely) religious person who didn't want something from you?

[DoesntMatter]

I'm sorry, but you are wrong. Half the Bible teaches nothing but murder, intolerance, hatred, racism, etc.

You cannot merely dismiss the Old Testament in favor of the New.

The Bible, for example, teaches us to take an eye for an eye. And then, much later, it completely contradicts itself and informs us to turn the other cheek.

No, it is bullshit to say half the Bible teaches murder and intolerance. The Bible was not telling people to out and murder nonbelievers. Honestly though, I dislike the Old Testament.

Jesus came and did away with the eye for an eye thing. That is what Christians follow. Why Christians keep the Old Testament in the Bible, I don't know, because all the teachings of Jesus come from only the new one.

You all need to get out more often. I know plenty of lovely Muslim people who wouldn't harm a hair on anyone's head. I also know many extremely intellectually gifted religious people. Don't you people ever mingle with people who aren't like you?

I knew some cool kids in high school who were muslim, and they were good people. I wasn't this harsh to their face because I didn't think they would be able to handle disagreement and still maintain a good relationship / friendship with them. But those are muslim Americans, who probably differ a lot in their religious philosophy

I've met many intellectuals who are religious. IMO (and it is only mine, of course) they are limited in their potential compared with those who aren't spending energy on religion. I've met a few nobel laureates & most were atheists.

Religion really has nothing at all to do with intelligence, and I know that's not what you're saying. For instance, let me brag for my mom (who is obviously very religious) was valedictorian of a class of almost 600 and a math major. Plenty of the higher level terrorists are pretty smart guys, and well educated on top of that.


What I want to know is, why in a thread that was about some bad things going on with Islam in the current day, everyone starts point out the flaws of Christianity? It's like you people are trying to justify the shittiness of Islam by showing the shittiness of Christianity. Which is really weak. If the Irish Catholics and Protestants were still blowing eachother up I'd be posting about that too, but they aren't


And you know what? I GUARANTEE if this thread was strictly bashing Christianity, NO ONE would say a thing about how violent Islam is or even bring it up.