Originally posted by Surtur
So he takes ideas *and* heads from them? Damn.
You should read:
Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- And Doesn't by Stephen Prothero
Would really help you get your head out of your ass. No, the book does not push any religion, it's just knowledge of the main religions.
So there was some arguing here in France about judeochristian values being in the decline or whatever (it was a very misguided attempt to cash in Islamophobia, in on by itself it wasn't a very interesting argument), that provided me with some interesting thoughts about what is the "issue" western societies have with Islam religion, why there is an specific fear and tension about it, etc.
The way to tackle this was to notice what Christianity and Judaism have in common. There are a few elements that stand out: christians and jews have no common culture when it comes to their social practice, they adopt the ways of each country they inhabit. The second one is more telling: both of these religions are against the idea of religious authrities being governments of their nation. Jesus mined a lot of the authority that religious leaders of his time carried, but at the same time he recognized the authority of the Roman government (in a very jewish way). Pick up a Torah and you'll find endless examples of conflict between religious leaders and political figures through Jewish history. If not personal, religion is at least not meant to rule states and make laws for citizens. Religious leaders from both these religions weren't (for most of them) political figures themselves.
Islam in the other hand is in the opposite side of the spectrum, the Prophet was a figure of political authority and his teachings became a Policy of the state. Even with islamic traditions in which these laws aren't inherently oppressive, it's very difficult to extirpate the latent "royalty" that stems from Islam's origins. You can see the number of issues that can arise from such a different mindset regarding religion and the other school of thought that lead to Western society separating the Church and the State.
It wasn't fundamentalists that crashed planes into the Twin Towers, and other gems:
Douglas Murray's response to "more people killed by lightning" argument.
Originally posted by BentleyGood post
So there was some arguing here in France about judeochristian values being in the decline or whatever (it was a very misguided attempt to cash in Islamophobia, in on by itself it wasn't a very interesting argument), that provided me with some interesting thoughts about what is the "issue" western societies have with Islam religion, why there is an specific fear and tension about it, etc.The way to tackle this was to notice what Christianity and Judaism have in common. There are a few elements that stand out: christians and jews have no common culture when it comes to their social practice, they adopt the ways of each country they inhabit. The second one is more telling: both of these religions are against the idea of religious authrities being governments of their nation. Jesus mined a lot of the authority that religious leaders of his time carried, but at the same time he recognized the authority of the Roman government (in a very jewish way). Pick up a Torah and you'll find endless examples of conflict between religious leaders and political figures through Jewish history. If not personal, religion is at least not meant to rule states and make laws for citizens. Religious leaders from both these religions weren't (for most of them) political figures themselves.
Islam in the other hand is in the opposite side of the spectrum, the Prophet was a figure of political authority and his teachings became a Policy of the state. Even with islamic traditions in which these laws aren't inherently oppressive, it's very difficult to extirpate the latent "royalty" that stems from Islam's origins. You can see the number of issues that can arise from such a different mindset regarding religion and the other school of thought that lead to Western society separating the Church and the State.
Originally posted by Bentley
Islam in the other hand is in the opposite side of the spectrum, the Prophet was a figure of political authority and his teachings became a Policy of the state. Even with islamic traditions in which these laws aren't inherently oppressive, it's very difficult to extirpate the latent "royalty" that stems from Islam's origins. You can see the number of issues that can arise from such a different mindset regarding religion and the other school of thought that lead to Western society separating the Church and the State.
Yup, this exactly.
Islam clashes big time with civil society. You can't question their ludicrous and corrosive beliefs without risk of death, imprisonment, etc. Islam is a religion of conquest.