patrick.net

Anyone who believes in religions and profhets and that only the one chosen by birth is loved by god is a nut case.

Try reading "Evolution of God"; Jesus was no popular man if he existed. Most of jesus' and christian teachings are Paulanity and others writings. It is nice to imagine a peaceful man. Then sing and fall in love with the songs. The above book makes clear that the Roman power was too absolute to allow Christians to be violent. Too bad suicide bombing was not invented by LTTE yet. Christians brought out violence when balance of power shifted. Sounds familair these days with all the invasions in 'sthans.

Same kind of MYTHOLOGY repeats in other places too. God Rama of hindus was not as popular in ancient times as he is now all thanks to some good poets and songers who created love in the heart of desciples. Reminds me of a good Hindu who adviced me on moving to Texas "Never discuss religion or politics at work, you think muslims fundamentalists are dangerous, wait till u see these guys, plus they have guns and think bush is a prophet"

Only Christians could use nukes on fellow humans as the yellow ones were not 'shaved'. No other religion has tried that yet. My bet is Jews will be next to try that. Muslims will have a tough time as the prophet also says something like "killing one person is like killing humanity..." and "Do not exceed in retribution, one eye for an eye is enough, nothing more, if possible forgive, god loves the forgiving and the patient...."

Before I begin - I will agree with your analysis that many Muslims are uneducated about their religion which is leading to the confusion today - education in the Muslim world needs to be addressed as this is the best solution for ignorance.

A couple of problems with your analysis...

1) Yusuf Ali himself was of Pakistan origin - he did not speak Arabic nor could he understand the arabic of the Quran - in fact, it takes a studied person to understand the Arabic of the Qur'an which is referred to as Fus'ha Arabic.
2) The above verses are not only taken out of context but as I mentioned in #1 they are mis translated and misunderstood. These quotes, by in large are in response to an occurance - for instance where it states to "kill the disbelievers where you find them" - read a few verses before this and after and you will see it refers to retaliation against those who attack first.
3) The Prophet Mohammad did not lead us to doom. In fact, we were being led to doom before Allah chose him to bring humanity out of darkness into light - as He did with all of his Prophets. Only an ignorant person with no knowledge of Islam or the Prophet Mohammad would think otherwise.
4) This war that is being waged is not a war against Prophet of Islam or Islam itself - now follow my reasoning - the Qur'an states that Allah is the protector of his Prophet and of this Religion. The job of every Muslim is only to convey the message. The war that is being waged is between Allah and those opposing his will.
...I end with a quote from the Qur'an

18:28 And keep thy soul content with those who call on their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face; and let not thine eyes pass beyond them, seeking the pomp and glitter of this Life; nor obey any whose heart We have permitted to neglect the remembrance of Us, one who follows his own desires, whose case has gone beyond all bounds (i.e., whose case has been abandoned).
18:29 Say, "The truth is from your Lord": Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it): for the wrong-doers We have prepared a Fire whose (smoke and flames), like the walls and roof of a tent, will hem them in: if they implore relief they will be granted water like melted brass, that will scald their faces, how dreadful the drink! How uncomfortable a couch to recline on!

This has been a good discussion. I've enjoyed it.

In response to Pacman: "The assumptions of the behavior of Jesus are not based in historical data. There is less historical information about Jesus than there is about Nicholas Klass (Santa Claus)."

True, sort of. We have many accounts of written by other people, but it is odd that Yeshua wrote none of his own. Regardless, there is a lot of data surrounding the Jerusalem church overseen by Yeshua's brother James "the Just." Many historians also confirm this fact. Historians also confirm that the original text used by Christians was called the gospel of the Hebrews, which was quite similar to the Gospel of St. Matthew used today by Christians, without the first four chapters. In others words, the Virgin birth of Christ, the story of the Three-wise-men, these narratives were added and come from Zorastrianism (Mithraism*). The gospel of Matthew is about as close as we'll get to what the original Christians read before Christianity was hi-jacked for political purposes.

Responding to Pacman once again:

"The assumptions about Christianity being harmless are not based in fact."

Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, and Satanism are all harmless. They're just ideas. People make them harmful. There is no way to quantify a religion scientifically and say that one is harmful. You could statistically quantify the religion's followers who are violent, but they'd be marginalized: less than 5%. People, as in the crusades, only do what they're told because they're too stupid to think for themselves. They don't learn to make distinctions between political goals and religion.

Pacman: "now [I] believe in no religion or superstitious of any kind. I try to be aware of how much logic and science is behind my beliefs. I try to be aware of how much logic and science is behind my beliefs. I describe myself as a Scientist, as other labels are relative to religion. The assumptions by some about non-religious people being immoral can not based in fact or experience. Superstitious beliefs are not required for humans to be moral or establish moral guidelines."

Too bad. Scientism is a religion in itself--in that it is a systematic worldview. Science doesn't give us much of an ought. Science only tells us how the world is. Read Scottish philosopher David Hume's Essay on the is/ought problem. Once we find out the truth statements, we still have to decide to do with the data. Only philosophy, ethics, religion and CONVICTIONS can tell us this.

A religion is just a system of beliefs. If the beliefs are pro-social, they can do society great good. Logic and science only test for truth statements. If that's all we have, then looking at German and Russian History, they were nations which were very scientific--the pinnacle of scientific. Germany pre-WWII had more scientist P.h.D's than any nation at that time. Science didn't serve them well--it failed them miserably. The scientists committed mass genocide on a scale never before seen in the modern world. Certainly, their education failed them.

Next statement:
"I know many kind Muslims. I think focusing on Muslim texts is a bit unfair. There are many violent and immoral texts included in the Christian Bible as well."

All of the violent texts are found in the old testament. The only new testament texts that you could claim a problem with were written by Paul of Tarsus. Paul was an anti-semite, and wrote against homosexuality and had what we would call a masculinist view of women.

In response to scholayil: "Try reading “Evolution of God”; Jesus was no popular man if he existed. Most of jesus’ and christian teachings are Paulanity and others writings. It is nice to imagine a peaceful man. Then sing and fall in love with the songs. The above book makes clear that the Roman power was too absolute to allow Christians to be violent. Too bad suicide bombing was not invented by LTTE yet. Christians brought out violence when balance of power shifted. Sounds familair these days with all the invasions in ’sthans."

Most of Jesus' teachings are not Paulinty. I question the author's scholarship. I recommend that you read the works of renowned scholars such as Bart D. Ehrman (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) or Bruce Metzger. The information presented above is inaccurate and juvenile. You have to understand church history to make these claims. I question "Evolution of God" as a credible text. Paul turned Jesus into a god-man. There were a handful of Christian groups at the outset: The Ebionites, the Marcionites, gnostics and proto-orthodox (those who adopted the Pauline interpretation of Christianity and later wiped the other groups out). Pauline Christianity is what became Roman-Catholicism and Protestantism.

I'll close with my previous statement: The original followers of Yeshua were Torah following, Koesher Jews who believed that Yeshua fulfilled some manner of prophecy. There is one thing I like about the religion I came from. It shows that there is more to the law: the spirit behind the law and matters of the heart are just as important. And if you love your neighbor as yourself and love G-d, then you fulfill most of the law (some of the mitzvot and all Ten Commandments) Ultimately, Christianity is Greek platonism/mysticism fastened to Judaism with elements of Zorastrianism (First four chapters of Matthew, some of Luke, and Revelation). Unfortunately, Christianity is often used by corrupt politicians, clergy and popes to exploit people who are ignorant.

But even the most fanatical Christian is a not a threat to public safety.
Disgruntled young men who find Jesus just try to convert you and 300 other people. Disgruntled young men who find Mohammed try to kill you and 300 other innocent passengers on a plane.
Draw a cartoon of Jesus, and Christians will just pity you. Draw a cartoon of Mohammed, and a Muslim with an ax shows up at your door.

I don't dispute that. But we need to approach this situation with intelligence and not stupidity, since stupidity is going to get a lot people killed, likely including a lot of us.

The muslim extremists that pop up are like cornered animals seeking ways to push back. With 9/11, the London attacks and this latest loser there can be a thread of causality identified. I'm not justifying the shit they pull but the reality is what it is.

We can fight fire with fire and blow their shit up in response, like we did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Well, that seems not to work so well unless you're a stockholder in LMT.

I'm a liberal because liberalism works in the long run. We don't need to shove Westernism down their throats and we don't need to tell them how to run their lives. They'll figure it out eventually. Not this decade or maybe not this century but eventually.

Defense of our way of life doesn't really require much. We've got our own home-grown Taliban to deal with, what with Proposition 8 and the the fucktard fundie contingent.

We should definitely not "fight fire with fire" or "shove Westernism down their throats".

The right response, IMHO, is honest and non-violent essays exactly like the one above, written in Arabic, and distributed widely. They are human just like the rest of us, and I'm sure at some level they suspect that Islam is wrong.

The US does lots of stupid things abroad to profit certain shareholders here at home. I think those shareholders are already reaping some of the consequences of their bad karma, and US power will probably fade from the world because of that, like the English empire faded.

Well,

I m muslim living in USA.

It is in my daily routine that I read holy quran and get benefited from it one way or the other. I m proud to be muslim, living & working cordially with Chritians and Jews.

I agree with Kashif313 that Quran has been intrepreted completely wrong in many occasions by the people don't have knowlege. Its like If I say 'you are allowed to kill a person' but don't say that 'when your life itself in danger with that person' will make my statement completely out of context.

Don't try to misintrepret Islam, its a beautiful religion gives you the balanced life in this world, tells you the purpose of this very short life in response to the life coming next which will be forever. In the Holy Quran, God (Allah) doesn't tell you to kill non-muslims rather God tell you to be JUST with each other. If someone intends to kill you then you are allowed to kill'em as you are allowed to kill the robber in your house trying to kill you.

I strongly denounce the acts of terrorisms of 9/11, london attacks & or the one in the forthood texas. And I also denounce the killings of innocents being killed in the so-called wars of terrosim whether they are in Iraq, Afghanistan or in the Israel/Palestine as the all of the prophets taught love not war and WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER. But these war will let individual youngsters to rise and take their revenge against innocents.

Producing the article like this wouldn't shed the light on the problem at hand rather it will increase hatred amongst the people and create racism with each other. We need to educate people and ask them to read the holy books in detail and don't try to mistrepret the real meaning or the message of almight God (Allah) towards the humanity, refer the educated cleric as these are the statements of God not the person which were conveyed by His messenger and God (Allah) himself give you the challenge in the quran that His word won't never be altered.

My friends, we would never be prevailed if we promote hatred but love..

AN

What matters is not the educated cleric, but what you youself can clearly see the meaning is. And what the terrorists clearly see the meaning is.

I'm sure AN and Kashif313 are fine human beings, but that's because they're fine human beings to begin with and they choose to ignore the parts of the Koran and Mohammed's history that are cruel and inhuman.

As long as you keep calling Qur’an the unchangeable book of God, you cannot blame terrorists who clearly understand what is written there for all to see.

Secularists are something of an endangered minority in this county, btw. Until it is safe to be an avowed atheist here in the states I don't think we have any moral basis telling them how to read their own holy book.

Patrick, I think you're way out of line with that, if I may honestly express my opinion here.

People who get sucked into religion project themselves into what they read and are taught.

Mormons are nice people to a fault but their religion is screwed up in parts.

I'm no islamic scholar but I take imdrpepper's above at face value. What we call the Old Testament is full of crap teachings and somehow the Christianists here in the US work around them for the most part.

Going out of your way to insult their beliefs isn't going to improve the situation. I do it en passant because I'm tired of the bullshit from all sides, but this also probably isn't conducive.

All religious are nuts accept it.

I understand Christians want to look good, the best way is to highlight people worse than the Christian 'educated'. I think those 'islamic' terrorists may need to do a lot more killings to evoke shame in Muslims, if that is what Christian media/evangelists want.

Being blessed with Jesus and love, any explanation why Christians engage in Killings to defeat godless communists and other killings for profit?
1. Millions in vietnam, cambodia, Korea, Iraq, Iran
3. Millions in colonialist times
5. Millions in Japan
6. 70 Million in WW1-2
7. Millions in Afghan - Pak -USSR _USA Mess ( Reagen commented Bin Laden and fighters are like founders of USA. Maybe some truth in that)

Do you really think Christian Communist killing is over? If over they need a new enemy for the arms industry. Religion plays well for the powerful.

Patrick, you never cease to amaze me. You tackle tough subjects, but in a civilized manner. God bless you.

Anyhow, as a recent convert to Islam, I can honestly say there's a lot of bullshit in the Koran. However, there's an equal amount in the Old and New Testaments. To blindly believe is to be led off of a cliff. God wants us to question things.

Theologically, Islam is more complete than Judaism and Christianty. It speaks to many things that the Bible never really discusses. Things like taxes, the adoption of children, how to deal with thieves and criminals, what to eat and what not to eat, how to love your wife and children, it preaches racial and social equality, something Jesus was crucified for. Morever, it reaffirms many of the more ardent beliefs that make Jews jews and Christians christians, namely the belief in the One God. (The Holy Trinity concept is, franky, too confusing.) The Bible is very clear that we are all children of Noah and Abraham, so there is no difference.

These days, it's all politics and money, the latter be the Golden Cow of our time. For example, if after WW2 there were no Muslims at all in the Holy Land and only Christians, would US policy towards Israel be so one-sided? And if only Christians lived in Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, and Iran, would our petrol-driven economy had been so eager to deplete and rob our Christian brothers?

Ghandi said it best: If all Christians lived according to the teachings of the Prophet Jesus, there would be no Jews, no Hindus, no Bhuddists and no Muslims.

Why did I convert? I myself was inspired by Malcolm X. His hatred of whites was transformed into love. He inspired me greatly. He died for his change of heart, killed by his own people.

As for me, I fear only one thing: God's wrath. If I commit to evil deeds, God will know, and deal with me accordingly. Likewise, if I commit to good deeds, God will know. A healthy fear of God is all one needs to lead a good life. True, some, as you say, are good as is. But Patrick, this is not enough. I've never met an aethiest that was not in fear or paranoia. And though they be fools, I still love them as brothers and sisters. If Muhammed came down right now and told me to commit violence against innocent people, simply because they do not share my beliefs, it is Muhammed that had better worry. I will not lift a finger in violence to any, save he occasioanl criminal or violent fool that wishes me harm. In such cases, you are obligated to chatise evil.

I'm not insulting anyone. People can choose to be insulted, but that's their choice.

Yes, Christians (and Jews) ignore some very violent episodes in the Old Testament. Good thing! The problem here is that the terrorists are not ignoring what they read in the Koran. They understand it clearly, and they act on it.

No one needs to be a scholar here. Just read the words. They mean what they mean.

I am a born again, have a personal savior and a personal relationship as real as one with a human can possibly have. I talk to god and walk with him. I am convinced, god is my neighbors tree. I would like to share him with everyone in the audience. Please repleat after me. Mr. Tree, we have sined, falling of grace, and come before you, believe you are the only true god and will come to ask you in case of a emergency which way to run, if a nuke hits the earth. We will ask the tree to strike down the ants and kill the mosquitos. Do karate with the snow and to every now and then fall on a car. If need be on a human, if pat robinson finds a reason to. God is a nice cartoon carter, who gets drunk often and is violent when he doesn't get his way, he only needs our money and doesn't care about anything else. expect we give more next week.

Well said!

Abdul Muthalib does it influenced by a Yemeni Mulla wearing dirty turban using underwear bombs

Reagen/Bush and his kind of folk do it under influence from evangelists wearing clean cut suits using neat bombs and UAV's.

while vast majority of humans hope they both stop.

Erickk Hoogenbaum: "Too bad. Scientism is a religion in itself–in that it is a systematic worldview. Science doesn’t give us much of an ought. Science only tells us how the world is. Read Scottish philosopher David Hume’s Essay on the is/ought problem. Once we find out the truth statements, we still have to decide to do with the data. Only philosophy, ethics, religion and CONVICTIONS can tell us this."

It is true that Science alone has no opinion on human behavior. But logic and science can help form and maintain a rational belief system of philosophy and ethics.
At the core of any belief system (including philosophy, ethics, and religion), are some unprovable assumptions. I reason that the fewer assumptions the better, that assumptions should not contradict logic, and that superstition cannot help clarify beliefs in any meaningful way.

A common sense belief assumption may be: We should treat others with kindness as we wish to be treated, and we likely be treated the same.
If "and God said so" is added, it does not clarify the reasoning behind the belief.
Religious beliefs were at one time based on a persons reasoning. That reasoning may or may not be valid now (according to current society or knowledge).

For example, perhaps rules against eating pork or shellfish can be eliminated because of refrigeration, or perhaps the list of animals not to eat should be expanded/changed to help with sustainability of the animals, or our environment. The logic behind religious beliefs should be reevaluated occasionally.

No one needs to be a scholar here. Just read the words. They mean what they mean.

That is bullpucky, rhetorical fundamentalism to slag on the religion. (edit: everything controversial has a critical context, and at any rate religionists are very adept at mentally firewalling the crap that causes difficulties for them)

Unlike kthomas above I don't look to musty books for any sort of received morality or ways to live my life, but I understand that BILLIONS of people are either conditioned to do so or find the nihilism and uber-rationality of secular reason to be too much for their monkey brains, and sink back into the warm comfort of faith in a creator or otherwise superior force in the Universe.

IMHO slagging on their religion and the central figure of it as you do is just going to repulse them, as if I walked on the campus of BYU and started slagging on about all the BS surrounding Joseph Smith's life.

Attacking a religion head on like this is a mug's game. You're just playing into their defense mechanisms. The only way to beat back the tide of religion is to live a better life without it and let that be your argument.

There has been many jesus, but not one has really existed, just one story that evolved into another one. In the evolutin of god, author didn't want to say god didn't exist, but he put all the info in the book, not very well. Osirus story was not included per politial reasons. you dont want to piss off your audience. Religino is only a need to believe in something, to strengthen your self to fight. There where only a few religions with saviors, which today we believe in. We still have the charlatons, who sell magic. We dont consider them jesus freaks, yet now you know mark is the only book in the bible that could be read, the rest where made up from mark, even mark was made up from other similar stories like jesus. Osirus was killed and he resurected and came back for his people. why did they need him, it's a story, just like today we need jesus. sounds great. writen very well, and evolved, they changed the story many times until it fits perfect today. as soon as you get ride of the middle class and get the poor working like dogs, you get rid of all the problems. NO more fanatics, hell is on earth as heaven is for the rich. when you don't have time, you don't start problems. Our consumer society has to end, a new one of hard work and little pay will begin, probably it will get closer next 20 years. When they blame all our problems on us and make us pay for them, no retirement, and less good jobs. Work in the fields if you want to eat, or move to another country and work in the fields for less. Welcome to the real world, the internet economy, information economy, where techology goes faster than a speeding bullet and we are out of the picture. No pie for you.

So if we're worried about how many people die as a result of, what, religious belief? Hands down in the last ten years, it's Christians running the show and killing massive numbers of people.
George W. Bush, in response to 9/11 (3,000 dead), starts two wars, killing at least some thousands in Afghanistan intially, and then topping that by invading Iraq and killing (by some estimates) hundreds of thousands of people in that country.
Now forget about religion for a second and imagine, in your comfortable existence here in the seat of empire, that we were invaded and got the shit bombed of us. Carpet bombing, not a one-time hit on a prominent target. Whoa, time to take the war to the enemy, no matter the cost, eh?
That's what I find missing from discussions about Islam or any other religion somehow being a worse book of old myths than another book of old myths--the question WHY? Why do they hate us? as one moron asked in recent years.
Figure it out.

Pacman's Response: "But logic and science can help form and maintain a rational belief system of philosophy and ethics."

Rational is logical. We have to make a distinction between syllogistic reasoning and enthymematic reasoning. Syllogistic reasoning is science. Enthymeme is qualitative. Ethics, philosophy, the reasons why we do or not do something, these are all qualitative. Religion lies in the realm of the reasonable--conviction. Science lies in the realm of the logical. People need to learn to make distinctions between scientific fact, conviction, and opinion. Think of a glass jar, a box, and a tie. The jar contains items that can be seen and knowable--this is science. The box contains items that we speculate about--philosophy and religion. The tie is a matter of taste--opinion.

In response to scholayil: "All religious are nuts accept it." Ok. Accept this: All people are religious. Everyone has a system of beliefs. Some contain more fact than myth, others contain more myth than fact.

"I understand Christians want to look good, the best way is to highlight people worse than the Christian ‘educated’. I think those ‘islamic’ terrorists may need to do a lot more killings to evoke shame in Muslims, if that is what Christian media/evangelists want."

I didn't know anyone actually believed the television evangelists. They're charlatans and hypocrites.

"Being blessed with Jesus and love, any explanation why Christians engage in Killings to defeat godless communists and other killings for profit?
1. Millions in vietnam, cambodia, Korea, Iraq, Iran
3. Millions in colonialist times
5. Millions in Japan
6. 70 Million in WW1-2
7. Millions in Afghan - Pak -USSR _USA Mess ( Reagen commented Bin Laden and fighters are like founders of USA. Maybe some truth in that)."

Ask yourself one question: Who makes money on war? It's not the Christians. It's the defense contractors and investment banks. Many of them happen to be Zionist. Examples: Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, the BIS and the IMF--there is a big list.

^ ooh, he went there :)

FWIW, I think there's enough overlap among the AEI/PNAC/Hudson/Heritage axis and the Old Money East Coast Establishment not to need to find more scapegoats.

War has always been good for business, as MG Smedley Butler wrote about in the 30s. United Fruit in Guatemala is the general model. Pay off the government and the Company can move in to rape the land with profitable cash crops and mining operations that enrich the locals little if at all. If the Establishment was really serious about this you'd think they'd actually have the CIA operate as business intelligence joint venture with cats paws private equity corporations on the order of Carlyle Group as its public face.

There's all kinds of weirdness associated with the Blackwater Group. That's not Zionist per se, but Christian Fundamentalist, though the Fundies do seem intent on stirring up the shit to bring the End Times in our lifetimes, or what's left of them before the islamic world really starts fighting fire with fire.

The war leaders are most likely not very religious themselves in private, but will generally have a 'guru' for public consumption or will make religious statements to appease constituency, all for their personal advantage. Religion may not be directly responsible for the killings, but without it, like Bush's "crusade in Iraq" statement and an Anthrax scare from Fed labs, he cannot get people over his side to do what he wants, kill his fathers would be killer. He was open enough to admit that once the war started.

The thing troubling me is that a Giant Power ( power = demonstrated willingness to hurt) like USA /EU has millions with belief that Muslims or Hindus or Jews or Communists are not good humans and are going to hell anyway. I am better than you, my nonsense belief is better than yours. For Muslims christians are infidels. You just need a small prod to start a genocide.

The book War of the World claims that WW1-2 were essentially racial conflicts started by humans by first demonizing "others" and then making it a hobby to kill 'Aliens'. In this century, AHKmed is 'it' as Carlos Mancia explains. None of the muslim nations or even terrorist organizations are powerful enough to really hurt US/EU. To put it in a sick context, road accident kills 4000 and Flu kills 30K Americans annually, but you do not see war on roads as roads cannot be made 'Aliens' as easily as the 'other' religion.

Islam is a religion which encourages violence,and no other religion is like it.
They all teach compassion and peace. That explains it.

War is about money and power. Always was, always will be. Religion is an excuse not a reason.

I am forced to ask some questions that make me uncomfortable.

If Islam encourages violence, why does 'islamic violence' pale in comparison with 'christian violence' and 'christian colonialism' and 'christian missonarism'? 1000,000 Iraqis and 20,000 Afghans in American retribution against 3000 Americans .Even 'christian' retribution is horrible. Islam only called for an eye for an eye in pre-historic times.

Why does white Christians carry so much hate against other religions and communists? because muslims do not do gods work like goldman ceo / palin / bush / many Texans ??

'Missionarism' is itself a crime against humanity. Stop it now.

alexgeorgev says

Islam is a religion which encourages violence,and no other religion is like it.
They all teach compassion and peace. That explains it.

Mr. Alex, you don't know anything about Islam, you are like a door-step kid talking and trying to ignite the fire using the absurd statement. Be grow and civilized as per se.

Here is a excerpt from Al-Quran - Chapter 24 for the one who is a true believer.

"The Messenger's duty is only to convey (the message) in a clear way (i.e. to preach in a plain way)." (54) Allâh has promised those among you who believe, and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the land, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practise their religion, which He has chosen for them (i.e. Islâm). And He will surely give them in exchange a safe security after their fear (provided) they (believers) worship Me and do not associate anything (in worship) with Me."

AN

Response to Troy: "FWIW, I think there’s enough overlap among the AEI/PNAC/Hudson/Heritage axis and the Old Money East Coast Establishment not to need to find more scapegoats."

I disagree. Four words: Council on Foreign Relations.

"There’s all kinds of weirdness associated with the Blackwater Group. That’s not Zionist per se, but Christian Fundamentalist, though the Fundies do seem intent on stirring up the shit to bring the End Times in our lifetimes, or what’s left of them before the islamic world really starts fighting fire with fire."

The End Times is all myth. People will bring it about because it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Christian Fundamentalists are insane--or fanatics rather. You cannot reason with those people. They don't know the limitations of their religion. View skepticism and fanaticism on a continuum. The fundamentalists, and not all of them, are closer to the fanatic category.

I'm a Christian Skeptic. I sort of take the difference between Judaism and Christianity and split the difference. It doesn't make me very popular, but it makes for damn good argument--and a lot of irritated people. Hopefully I'll live long enough to accomplish something with my life. =P I view religion as a discussion. In order for me to discuss it, its helpful if I'm religious myself. Am I agnostic? Yes. Am I atheist? No. Primarily because there is no way to validate a theist or atheist assumption. Agnostic is the most scientific viewpoint, because it has the option of being proven wrong.

In response to scholayil: "Why does white Christians carry so much hate against other religions and communists? because muslims do not do gods work like goldman ceo / palin / bush / many Texans ??"

Christianity in (some forms can be) extremely socialistic. Actually, Marx got some of his ideas from the Christians. You can read that in the book of Acts. The early church pooled all of their resources together to survive. Not all Christians hate the communists. They just think it's a flawed system. So do I. The Russians implemented a similar system, and the bureaucrats who ran it exploited their citizens. They drove around in Mercedes while the people starved to death and traded goods on the black market. Many people forget that many of the Russians starved to death while its government implemented its system. Read Ayn Rand's books. She came out of such a system and saw its flaws. But she was short on solutions. Ultimately, I believe in the maximum dissemination of power because people cannot be trusted with it. Oh yeah, and Marx had a Jewish father if I remember right. Religion can be the opium of the masses. I view it more as a positive stimulant. It becomes opium when you suspend your ability to think.

"because muslims do not do gods work like goldman ceo / palin / bush / many Texans"

Lloyd Blankfein is a Jew. I don't know what his version of God's work is. Palin is a fundamentalist, but she was raised catholic. Bush just converted to Methodist so he could win votes among the Fundamentalist Christians. Once again, the people in power care about power and maintaining their family dynasty.

I think what may help people think more clearly is not to overgeneralize and put all religious people in one category. What you really need to look at is human motivations. Most people in the world are motivated by power, fame, money, and pleasure. If they were motivated truly by their religion, they wouldn't seek these things.

Erickk Hoogenbaum says

In response to scholayil: “Why does white Christians carry so much hate against other religions and communists? because muslims do not do gods work like goldman ceo / palin / bush / many Texans ??”

And Pharoahs in Egypt also did the work like gods and pro-claimed/acted to be gods. Where are these gods ? under the mud or in the British museum !!.. History always repeats itself and you know the end.

Erickk. I hope most people in the world are not over zealous and do not over generalize.

Zealous is past fanatic. I'd hope not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgTKLJWYVr0&feature=related

This post has brought out what is written in the Koran. Instead of saying "other people don't understand the context" or "do not know how to interpret it" - the first question is what are these statements doing in a so called "holy book"? The second question is - if the interpretation is so difficult that people who have good understanding of english and comprehension, have difficulty in getting it right - how is it assumed that a semi literate people will somehow interpret this as a "call for peaceful existence" with other folks who aren't muslims?
History should not be doctored to suit ones needs - there is nothing to refute that islam was born out of bloodshed, slavery, torture, plunder, rape etc - whereas no other "messenger of God" is known to have participated in any such act - and if they did, they would not be looked upon as role models to follow. Islam also got followers initially by coersion - following the doctrine that has been put into words (above) - and it continues to do the same all over the world, even as we speak.
If islam is for peace, why is it that lands where muslims existed in peace (till Wahabi influence reached them) are suddenly erupting in a frenzy of violence? Why is islam so fragile, that its followers panic at the slightest provocation? Read : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100108/ap_on_re_as/as_malaysia_allah_ban
How come moderate muslims are not taking out protest marches to show their tolerance and respect for christians in Malaysia? How come moderate muslims never take out any protest marches, against Saudi Arabia's despicable treatment of people of other faiths going on for the past 50 years? Whereas if a burka is banned in France - we see worldwide protests.
I am glad that atleast some muslims are trying to think rationally and doing an introspection of their own self. That is the only way for them to try and reach the glorious age which they left behind in 1000 AD, when they were at their peak of knowledge and had a more open conversation and interchange of ideas with the rest of the world.

coolvyakti, I can just say that asking "How come you suck?" isn't really constructive.

FWIW all children of the One God have blood on their hands. The Christians aren't innocent. There were the Cruscades of the Middle Ages and today via America to the Muslim world. If you believe anything in the Hebrew Bible we Jews have blood on our hands every time we've come into power in Israel, including modern times. The muslims have spread their religion by the points of swords and continue to do so through intimidation and governmental control.

I am a Jew, for what it's worth. I'm highly disappointed in how the Children of the One God (three of the four communities (the Bahai's have yet to spill blood)) have conducted themselves. More people have died in the name of this One God at the hands of Jews, Christians, and Muslims than have died for the sake or in the name of any other Deity.

Religion as a whole, even when considering religions that aren't related to the worship of The One God, has a bad track record when it comes to violence and blood spilling.

What it really comes down to is money and control. Religions are systems that allow people who use them to control vast masses of people and to control vast volumes of wealth. Sometimes religions run governments. Sometimes members of certain religions use their religions to run governments and persecute others. Sometimes governments use religion to divide a populace to retain control over their people. This had been especially true in Europe where Jews were often separated and persecuted so that the majority Christian peoples of Europe could unite against a common "enemy."

This is the dark side of all religions. No religion is entirely exempt from causing some harm (psychological, spiritual, physical, emotional).

There are positive aspects of religion too. Unity and connection with others and the Divine is a good thing. Even Islam does this at its most basic level. When you look at basic Islam "The Five Pillars" you see that at its heart, Islam is a religion that is at its core, good.

Shahadah: Profession of faith: "[I profess that] There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet"

Salah: Prayers: Five times per day.

Zakat: Alms giving: Helping out the least among us.

Sawm: Fasting: In order to make a spiritual journey and to get closer to Allah

Hajj: Pilgrimage: To make the pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime if you can afford it. The believer should be self-aware and examine their intentions in performing the pilgrimage. This should lead to constant striving for self-improvement.

This is the core of Islam. Nowhere in these does it say anything about committing acts of violence against anyone.

All Children of the One God are Children of The Books: The Hebrew Bible (Christian "Old Testament"), The Christian "New Testament," and the Koran. All of these have violence in them. All of these call for violent acts to be committed somewhere in them.

It is incumbent on all Children of the One God to make choices on how to live faith. Most followers choose to follow the positive and peaceful precepts of their religions. The Zealots and Fundamentalists choose differently.

Let's not bash an entire religious system because some of the people in a religious system make choices that hurt others. That is crude and ignorant. Let's take a look at how the majority of people claiming to be adherents of a religion choose to live their lives.

Using scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, anyone can show that there is a violent subtext running through the scriptures. Anyone can quote examples in English, out of context, without proper translation, and without proper interpretation from any of the scriptures of any of the religions of the Children of the One God to "prove" that any of these religions is violent. The key to understanding these texts is in the interpretation, understanding the context, understanding the meaning in the original language of the text (including the idioms), and how one chooses to live what is learned in the scriptures.

None of these texts were written to be taken literally in English as too many believe who have written above. Middle Eastern thought isn't western thought. The New Testament crosses the line into Western thinking often but it still reaches back to Middle Eastern logic patterns and ways of thinking. English is a poor language to use in which to understand these texts fully. And using a "Western Platonic/Descartes/Hegel/Heiddegar/Kant/etc." thought paradigm won't yield true understanding of texts that were written not just in a different tongue, but also with a different thought paradigm unrelated to western thought.

Most Muslims, Christians, and Jews are peace loving and decent people who treat each other with some level of respect and kindness. All three religions have examples of extremism where violence erupts. Let's encourage those who embrace the positive aspects of these three religions while making the attempt to reach out to the extremists of all three religions. The extremists are a loud minority in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. It's time for the morally upstanding people in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism unite to transform the extremists and appeal to their hearts to end the violence.

This thread is dangerously condemning of an entire religion based on the behaviors of minority extremists. This doesn't help the dialogue because it isn't respectful of those in the majority who embrace Islam and are peaceful and God-loving people.

^ パチパチ (Japanese for 'polite clapping')

While I disagree that there aren't major doctrinal and dogmatic issues within Islam, I think it's up to them to figure it out and outsiders ragging on Islam in general just strengthens the argument of the extremists.

Simchaland:

I wanted to genuinely complement your essay. I've been trying to communicate a similar point but failed. By all standards, I am a heretic. I have Jewish roots on my mother's side, but I was baptized a Christian. I have many Muslim friends. I'd just like to see all of the fighting stop. The people who rule the world don't really care about religion--at least I don't think so. I think it's more of a money and power game as you said. It's class warfare. Human motivations haven't changed much over the centuries. If people only learn one thing, it's that principles are important. They do matter--and they do exist. Don't see anyone as other.

For the Atheists and nihilists: Please be more respectful of religious people. Consider it a blessing that you get to learn from our mistakes. The standard is now higher for you, since your get to learn from our blunders and not commit them. I would become a devout Atheist if I thought that it was possible to live a more virtuous life. I haven't met an Atheist who was yet able to convince me.

I have a question: If we were to have no religion(s), would we still have violence and bloodshed?

I'd like to share something personal from Yahoo answers (I posted a question).

Relationship Between Heretical Christian and Muslim?
I know everyone will probably hate me, because I've just pinned myself between every group. I realize this question might be explosive. Please be very respectful. What is the Muslim view of this? I am not a typical Christian. My family has Jewish ties on my mother's side. I was baptized a Christian. I believe that the Christian scriptures were changed. My theological convictions are closest to Essene or Ebionite, because I have a problem with the divinity of Christ. I won't convert to Judaism because I am not zionist and I believe the Palestinians were pushed out of their land. I won't convert to Islam because of some of the more violent elements on the fringe. And I have a problem with the Christian Fundamentalists because I don't believe in sola-scriptura. I don't take the Catholic or Orthodox view to Christianity because I grew up in a Protestant Tradition and I have a problem venerating icons and statues. I also have a problem with the place Mary has in some Christian traditions. Basically, I believe in following the laws of Moses and the teachings of Yeshua. What does that make me? I've probably offended everyone, but please try to understand this from my own viewpoint. I'm not trying be troublesome, just live out my own convictions truthfully and peacefully.

Does it come down to love? Or will family politics cause me many problems? =( I really admire and respect the virtue in this woman. Most of my immediate family is Christian, so they wouldn't understand. I expect hers wouldn't either.

Here is once of the responses I got:

"Firstly, I am a Palestinan Muslim and thank you very much for believing that the Palestinians were pushed out of their land. Many people believe differently.

Back to the topic, I don't think that you should rule out all the possibilities yet. What is it about Islam that you find violent? It really is a great religion if you take the time to understand it. You should read parts of the Quran and understand the meaning. There are many translations out there."

Inner Strife says

I would become a devout Atheist if I thought that it was possible to live a more virtuous life

? atheism or religion is independent of virtue. Virtue comes from within, from the decisions we make every moment.

AFAICT, at the end of the day the only virtue we can be judged on is have we made the world a better place for others. To the extent we have succeeded with that overarching mission we have been 'virtuous'. The be virtuous is to be a Man, not an animal. That is the word's Latin root, where we get 'virile', too.

People who succeed at this with no expectation of eternal reward for their efforts are, we should agree, quite admirable.

Inner Strife says

What is it about Islam that you find violent?

All the violence? Seems the more Musilm a person is the more violence emanates from them.

'course, one would hope all those protests were inflitrated by false-flag Israeli agents. If not, the Mossad is off their game.

You cannot be RATIONAL and religious !!

billions of christians believe that jesus is the GOD
billions of muslims believe that allah is the GOD.
one of them have to wrong then !!
so billions are wrong ....and if billions are already wrong , whats the probability that the other billions cannot be wrong about an invisible man

In response to Troy:

"atheism or religion is independent of virtue. Virtue comes from within, from the decisions we make every moment."

Nope. Virtue comes from understanding principles and putting them into practice. Religious people seem to do a better job at it. Particularly in the area of practicing temperance (in areas such as alcohol consumption, food, sexual habits, etc).

"AFAICT, at the end of the day the only virtue we can be judged on is have we made the world a better place for others. To the extent we have succeeded with that overarching mission we have been ‘virtuous’. The be virtuous is to be a Man, not an animal.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Except I believe to be virtuous is to acquire and put into practice eternal principles.

"You cannot be RATIONAL and religious !!"

Very well said--since religion has nothing to do with rationality. Rationing is a product of mathematics--science. Religion is a product of reason. Practicing religion is different than practicing science.

Response to chanakya:

That was a cheap analysis.

"billions of christians believe that jesus is the GOD
billions of muslims believe that allah is the GOD.
one of them have to wrong then !!"

Clearly you don't understand the issue. We believe in the same God. Allah is the name of God in Arabic. Many of the early Christians didn't believe Jesus was God.

It'll be interesting to see if devout atheists end up pursuing the same errors that religious people have. If I understand human nature properly, I'd think yes. Particularly in the area of tolerance.

Additionally I do agree that religion and atheism is independent of virtue.