A Simple Rule

[DeistPaladin]

...I just thought of in another video discussing the conflict among liberals on the subject of Islam. One the one hand, liberals dislike prejudice and restrictions on individual liberty. On the other hand, Islam is viewed by many liberals as oppressive, violent, homophobic and sexist.

This is a really heated issue that divides liberals into camps where one calls the other "racists" (???) and "bigots" while the other retorts "fools" and "naive enablers".

This rule might help to simplify and clarify such a divisive issue for the left. See what you think of it:

New Rule for Evaluating a Religion's Teachings:
For any religion, show me your radicals and I'll show you what your religion teaches.

By definition, the "radicals" are the ones who don't see religion as a way of life but life as a way of religion. They hang on every word of their scripture or other canonical teachings and attempt to strictly follow every rule admonished. Their religion becomes central to their identity and what they stand for.

By definition, the "moderates" are the ones who water down their religion with modernity and personal conscience. They view their scriptures as, at best, spiritual guides to be interpreted with a sense of metaphor. A more abstract interpretation allows religion to be custom designed to suit the individual person rather than the other way around.

For any religion, the radicals represent the very flowering of the core theology, the purest outcome of its instructions. The moderates represent only what happens when said religion is blended with other forces and ideas, mixed in with impurities alien to the faith.

Chemically speaking, radicals represent the core element while moderates are the compounds.

Can anyone come up with any counter-examples that would disprove my hypothesis?

[dyresand]

Wouldn't Christianity or any Abrahamic religion fall into the same group as Islam. They have nearly the identical teachings and have the same god. They also have nearly the same radicals even Christianity has their radical nutcases. just throwing that out there.

[Spooky]

Wouldn't Christianity or any Abrahamic religion fall into the same group as Islam. They have nearly the identical teachings and have the same god. They also have nearly the same radicals even Christianity has their radical nutcases. just throwing that out there.

I agree. An extremist is an extremist regardless of the title. Christianity has probably killed more people than islam.

[abaris]

I'm opposed to Islam in the same way I'm opposed to christianity or judaism. Every one of them carries the possibility of committing vile acts just because of their holy books. And there are radicals in any of the three religions mentioned, who already demonstrated to be willing to act violently. Right now, Islam is the most radical of them, but give the bible is literal crowd any real power and we soon see christian theocracies blossom.

What I'm violently opposed though, is the all muslims are the same rhetoric. That's why I don't care much for Sam Harris, just to give one example. I also saw some threads on this very board that nearly made me lose my lunch. Proposing things like forcibly taking away children from muslim parents or confining all muslims within certain areas and bomb them off and on for good measure is straight from the handbook of how to become a good nazi. That's on the same wavelength as violent antisemitism and has nothing to do with opposing religion.

[dyresand]

I'm opposed to Islam in the same way I'm opposed to christianity or judaism. Every one of them carries the possibility of committing vile acts just because of their holy books. And there are radicals in any of the three religions mentioned, who already demonstrated to be willing to act violently. Right now, Islam is the most radical of them, but give the bible is literal crowd any real power and we soon see christian theocracies blossom.

What I'm violently opposed though, is the all muslims are the same rhetoric. That's why I don't care much for Sam Harris, just to give one example. I also saw some threads on this very board that nearly made me lose my lunch. Proposing things like forcibly taking away children from muslim parents or confining all muslims within certain areas and bomb them off and on for good measure is straight from the handbook of how to become a good nazi. That's on the same wavelength as violent antisemitism and has nothing to do with opposing religion.

I am against all Abrahamic religions i am more against Islam. I hold deep grudges with Christianity and i mean really deep grudges.

[abaris]

I am against all Abrahamic religions i am more against Islam.

Which only proves that you don't read GC's, Drich's and professor's end times porn and general take on society. Thing is, one of their ilk is highly likely to become president of the United States at some point. With full access to nuclear weapons and the biggest army the world has ever seen.

[dyresand]

I am against all Abrahamic religions i am more against Islam.

Which only proves that you don't read GC's, Drich's and professor's end times porn and general take on society. Thing is, one of their ilk is highly likely to become president of the United States at some point. With full access to nuclear weapons and the biggest army the world has ever seen.

I don't bother to read their posts anymore if anything just their reply's. Porn has been around a long time a very long time. They can say the end times are here but it won't come the only way the world would end if a mad man wanted it to end. Or nations just started nuking each other for the hell of it. Or nature decides well you guys are screwed. Or some type of super virus evolving in nature or being made gets released.

[Mister Agenda]

New Rule for Evaluating a Religion's Teachings:
For any religion, show me your radicals and I'll show you what your religion teaches.

Given the situation you described, how is this rule helpful?

[DeistPaladin]

Wouldn't Christianity or any Abrahamic religion fall into the same group as Islam. They have nearly the identical teachings and have the same god. They also have nearly the same radicals even Christianity has their radical nutcases. just throwing that out there.

I did say "for any religion". But yes, I often use the term "Islamo-Christianity". To me, Islam is Christianity on steroids.

Funny thing, there is more difference between the early Christianities (pre-300s CE) than there is between Islam and modern Trinitarian Christianity. Islam and Christianity, after all, agree that:

• Jesus was born of a virgin.
  
• There is only one god (ignore the Triune three-in-one thing)
  
• The Old Testament prophets were prophets.
  
• The OT god is the same god they worship.
  
• Jesus was a physical being.
  

Compare this to:

• Ebionite Christians thought Jesus was the son of Mary and Joseph, conceived the way all babies are.
  
• The Marcionite Christians believed there are two gods. Some sects believed there were more.
  
• The Marcionites ditched the OT and its prophets.
  
• The Marcionites thought the Jewish god was an inept and inferior god.
  
• The Docetic Christians thought Jesus was not a physicial being.
  

So I'm quite comfortable lumping Islam and Christianity together.

[Minimalist]

Wouldn't Christianity or any Abrahamic religion fall into the same group as Islam. They have nearly the identical teachings and have the same god. They also have nearly the same radicals even Christianity has their radical nutcases. just throwing that out there.

The only thing that stops the jesus freaks from being as bad as the Taliban is the lack of political power to do so. When they had the power,



the fuckers used it freely. They were the Dick Cheneys of their day.