Quote:
Originally Posted by sleepy jack
Two problems with that. You can find many similar quotes in the Bible, yet there's no Christian equivalent to al-Qaeda at the moment. Odd. Also, how do you explain the majority of Muslims, who are moderate and against terrorism, if their holy text is telling them they need to be at war with the West? The problem with Muslim extremists isn't nearly as metaphysical as it is political.
|
Yes, I know that disturbing mental image appearing after reading the Old Testament...
All that you wrote is true. And everything confirms what we atheists and agnostics already knew: religion is a purely
HUMAN PRODUCT and it is conditioned and modified by the ups and downs of human life. But in order to clarify my point I have to explain a few things:
The degree of prescription in Quranic texts is higher than that of Biblical writings. Bible can be interpreted in many different ways. That is, Christian moral rules are stated in a more indirect way than the Muslim ones. On the contrary, Quran is composed by
direct commands. It supposedly contains God's words, so it is meant to be taken literally. I think this video explains it better than I can:
Islam is something more than a religion. It regulates all aspects of human life. From the prayer to the proper way to eat palm dates (don't laugh; Allah cares for your health and he knows what is the best for you). That's why, certainly, "
the problem with Muslim extremists isn't nearly as metaphysical as it is political". Historically speaking, many Christians have been reluctant to accept the separation of church and state, but at least there is a biblical basis for it: "
Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s".
Thus, both Christianity and Islam have experienced the pass of time and human actions. But due to their distinct original dogmatic structures, they've suffered diverse effects, and the "final products" are different from each other. Since Islam has more rigid fundamentals, the possibilities to modify the values of a Muslim society are more limited. On the contrary, Christianity's flexibility permits a better adaptation to the changing human societies throughout history. From the starting point on, compared to Muslims, Christian leaders have had a wider range of options to choose in order to influence their communities' behaviour. Or, if we see it from a critic point of view (which is the one I share), the "asphyxiation" people suffered decreased little by little.
Imagine a dried branch. Only two things may happen: it remains the same or it gets broken. But a flexible olive branch can be bent in many ways (like those absurd Christian metaphors on pigeons and olive branches). That's the difference.