quote:
Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
Yeah, and how is this different from assorted Christians in the not-very-distant past hating everyone who wasn't a Christian?
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Yet, there have also been both 'Christians' and 'Muslims' through history who actually read their scriptures and recognized that their religion said things like 'do not kill'. Islam may not be a "nice, sweet" religion but it's no more responsible for lunatics who use it to justify their lunacy than Christianity is to blame for the brutal conquest of the Americas or thousands of other crimes committed by criminals trying to use it as justification. Cultures have phases of development, much like people. Just think of Muslims today as Medieval Christians and you'll see there's no real difference between the religions.
So, what you are saying is that Muslims today are primitive? Should the West simply wait 500 years for their society to "grow up"? Wow! Sounds like I'm not the only arrogant Westerner!
The difference is not in maturity level; it is fundamental. For instance, Christ taught his followers to love and do good to their enemies. Mohammed taught his followers to kill their enemies. It is insulting to both Christianity and Islam to say that "there is no real difference." (Hint: don't say something like that in a Muslim country.) For a Christian perspective on the differences, see
http://www.light-of-life.com/
You can probably find a Muslim perspective somewhere on the web also, but this one web site should be enough to show that Muslims and Christians have totally different worldviews.