Does Islamic State really have nothing to do with religion? Fathima Nazeer

[Mudhammam]

And the Christians of today will squeal "but the NT and Jesus is non-violent! All that horrible stuff in the OT - we don't follow that!"

And yet, throughout history, when it was convenient to do so, Christians DID "follow that" horrible OT stuff. Witch hunts and the inquisition come to mind.

Nonetheless, Islam is the Devil of the Day and it's splitting hairs as to whether Islam or Christianity is shittier than the other. In 2014, I'll go with Islam.

Either, aligned with some State and with political power is extremely dangerous.

I think it's fair to make the distinction between political Christianity and political Islam from the religious ideologies of those two respective faiths. The question is whether or not the religious ideologies are inherently political. I don't really see any broader political aim promoted in the N.T. outside of the internal operations of the Church but the Koran (along with the O.T.) create entirely different pictures altogether.