From: Walter Hicks (wallyshoes@mindspring.com)
Date: Sat Nov 16 2002 - 20:16:03 EST
Burgy
I believe that I am being misunderstood so I will state it very carefully and
redundantly--- in a scientifically falsifiable manner.
I am not criticizing any Muslims, or Catholics or Buddhists or anybody. People
are people and most are fairly nice. I have no close Muslim friends
but have had
many acquaintances in the workplace. They were nice people. My comments were
about the Koran, not Muslims. Talking about the Koran is not the same as
speaking about one's Muslim neighbors any more than making a comment about the
Bible is the same as speaking about one's Christian neighbors.
And people often do bad things in the name of religion, but not validly in the
spirit of their own holy writings. That can be said of any religion.
The Koran was written after the Jewish and Christian Bibles. It is openly anti
Christian!! It calls upon its followers not to be friends with Jews or
Christians. It calls those who believe in Jesus as the son-of-god, "evil"
people who made up a "monstrous lie". The Koran redefines who Jesus was/is and
calls Christians the enemies of Allah. War with nonbelievers is defined as good
and worthy of reward by Allah.
To evaluate the Koran, one must read the Koran, not some other book.
I am not saying that the Koran has a few bad incidents (like those in the Bible
you quote). In fact, most of the teachings are "good". However, it explicitly
calls Christians it's enemy. The fact that there are many nice Muslims does not
alter this fact. Since you have read the Koran, does it really
surprise you that
many Christians would considered the writings in the Koran to be personally
threatening?
I will not debate this further. Let those who are interested, read
the Koran for
themselves and draw their own conclusions.
Walt
George Bush is a politician. I am not (obviously).
Not only that; Bush isn't even a Democrat. How dare you cite him? ;)
John Burgeson wrote:
> >>I really hate to say something like this to you, Burgy and the rest , But
> >>I
> have a copy of the Koran in my bookshelf and I read it many years ago. I
> also
> reviewed some tabbed pages today and in the past few weeks.
> >>
>
> What does George Bush know that you don't?
>
> There are "embarrassing" passages in the Koran -- there are also
> "embarrassing" passages in the Bible. Like the ending of Ps 137 (beaten to
> death here a few weeks ago), or I Sam 15 (which I still wrestle with).
>
> Do you know any Muslims? Have you ever spoken with one? Have you ever
> visited a mosque and listened to one of them speak about these things?
>
> Edwin Markham wrote a great poem in 1899 called THE MAN WITH THE HOE. It
> went something like this (from memory):
>
> He drew a circle which kept me out
> A rebel, heretic, a "thing" to flout.
> But Love and I had the wit to win.
> We drew a circle that took him in.
>
> My ancesters (not all of them or I'd not be here) were
> murdered in the streets of Paris by "good Christians" who really believed
> they were acting in God's will.
>
> I've been reading recently about the crusades, where "good Christians"
> slaughtered all the Muslims (including infants) in a mosque where they were,
> supposedly, under protection.
>
> Religions CAN be evil. Reading a book by Kimball on that right now.
>
> Burgy
>
> www.burgy.50megs.com
>
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-- =================================== Walt Hicks <wallyshoes@mindspring.com>In any consistent theory, there must exist true but not provable statements. (Godel's Theorem)
You can only find the truth with logic If you have already found the truth without it. (G.K. Chesterton) ===================================
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