Quote:
Originally Posted by Hector Cerif
So, obviously I think all religion is unethical, and until recently pretty well lumped all religions in the same category. But I recently had a conversation with some muslim cohorts, and managed to flip through the Koran a little bit:
- The Koran seems angry. Every line seems talking about how unbelievers are evil or going to hell. Which, is in Chrsitianity too, but it seems more prevalent in that religion.
- The Muslims I talked to seemed a lot like conservative Christians, but I think they aren't as used to people being contrary to their views as christians are.
- I was really taken aback by how easily they defended the whole justified killing thing in the Koran. Like, obviously you should kill people that are going against the government.
- Then there is the whole Mohammad child-rape thing, which is either denied or defended.
So anyway, I keep wanting to say, "I'm against all religion, but Islam seems especially ****ed up." But, I don't know if that is racist of me.
And don't get me wrong, I think, probably, scientology is worse than islam, or certain sects of mormonism or suicide cults or whatever, but as far as mainstream organized religions -- maybe it's just my western background -- but islam seems the most ****ed up.
Am I racist?
Holy work for holy work you won't too much difference. A major one is ofcourse that Muhammad is essentially a warlord, whereas Jesus is fairly peaceful. Then again, the teachings of Jesus are also in the Quran... and the OT certainly does not lack warlords. Historically speaking... it is again difficult to claim one side is worse than the other. Both have peaceful periods and both have extremely violent periods. As for terrorism... both Jewish, Christian and Muslim terrorists have existed throughout the times. We can't use this to note much of a difference either. Historically a lot of middle-eastern terrorism in the 1900s was secular or jewish... something which is lost on many people. The Quran doesn't have the commandments, but it does have verses which correspond to the commandments.
I don't really think either religion would have played its role much differently if we had switched them around. However, Christianity has been tempered by Europe's strong tradition for
roman law, it has been tempered by the
reformation and it has been greatly reduced in impact by the peace of
Westphalia. All these events lack counterparts in the middle-east, and Islam as such has a much greater impact on courts (almost no predominantly muslim countries have secular courts), culture (individualism plays a much lesser role in predominantly muslim countries) and political model (only 2 predominantly muslim countries are counted as democracies in the democracy index, and both as "flawed") respectively.
So while I think you might not very reflective on the issue... I do actually in part agree your conclusion. If we count religion as a combination of belief and cultural impact - I have little problems stating that Islam is definitely the worst of the Abrahamic religions.
I'll note in advance that I will not respond to people who selectively quote this post. The last time this subject was debated, certain individuals would quote one sentence out of 50 and use accusations like "hate Islam". I have zero interest in polemic of that nature.
Last edited by tame_deuces; 02-28-2013 at 07:04 AM.