Quote:
Originally posted by RACooper
Now while I may have disagreed with some of the language... okay alot of the language used in the editoral - I do agree with the basic spirit of the article: that Islam is a religion of peace that has been hi-jacked by fundamentalist wackos.
Now in defense of Islam - I'm sure you also remember that the Bible has some pretty violent stuff in it too right?
leaving out all the fun of Leviticus we have stuff like:
Numbers 33:51-52
Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
Deuteronomy 2:34
At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them—men, women and children. We left no survivors.
Joshua 11:20
For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
-and for some New Testament fun as well:
2 Peter 2:12
But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
But just like the Quarn it all comes down to placing the passages in both their spiritual context but historical context as well - when and why were they written? Just as jubilance1922 pointed out placing the passages within the historical context of the faith you can understand why some are more violent or dark than others (as in most of the Prohpets in the Bible)... but just as with us Christians and the Bible, the Islamic faith isn't based on one or few passages from the Quarn. Those who base their interpretation of faith on a few passages are generally as nutty as the "Christians" who do the same (again look up WBC for something along that vein).
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Just out of curiosity (and because I obviously have some sort of a stubborn streak going), have you ever read the entire Q'ran? Especially an edition that has had few translations (vs. Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English)? I have.