To peace and love Christians

[RobertE]

Time to wheel out my hilarious stuff again:

Liberal: Claims their religion is sort-of true, and follows almost none of it.

Moderate: Claims their religion is totally true, and follows some of it.

Extremist: Claims their religion is totally true, and follows almost all of it.

Which one is the biggest hypocrite

I don't know enough about Islam or Judaism to this with those, but for Christians it goes more like this:

Liberal: Claims that the heaven and forgiveness of sins part is true, but the uncomfortable bits like hell aren't. Says Jesus was a great moral teacher, but rarely reads the Gospels. Is sure Jesus was a liberal and that when he said to give away your possessions, he meant vote for higher taxes. Says the Old Testament and some of the New Testament should be read metaphorically. May believe in something else on the side like Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, or even Ra. Can't explain how both heaven and reincarnation work, but what the hell, it's woo. He may rarely attend church (unless he's Unitarian) but he loves to go on retreats.

Moderate: Claims the Bible is spiritually true (whatever that might mean). Believes most of it, but doesn't like to think about the uncomfortable parts. May not believe in hell or at least doesn't like to think about it. Probably does not believe in The Rapture, and is not looking for The End Times. Likes to think of Jesus as clean cut version of himself. Church attendance may vary from three times a week to once a year. The older he is, the more often he attends. Attends goes up for a while on the birth of a child.

Extremist: Says the Bible is one hundred percent true, but only acts on the mean spirited nasty bits. Touts turning the cheek and love your neighbor in debate, but certainly does not behave that way. Thinks Jesus was an anti-commie, gun toting capitalist who loved the middle class. Considers socialism is a form of theft and therefore a sin. Spends much time thinking about the Rapture and The End Times and might possibly be actively trying to hurry them along. Likes mystical numbers and signs. Won't sleep in room 666 and may think that his zip code or social security number is an attempt to brand him with the mark of the beast. Either never goes to church because he doesn't believe in organized religion or his whole social circle is based upon one church.

To be honest, this is where we just bury our heads in the sands. First and foremost:

1. Judaism, Christianism and Islam are Abrahamic faiths and thus share the same root as far as biblical stories are concerned, same dietary laws and punishments etc etc.
2. When Christianism split from Judaism, there were two distinct branches created; Catholicism and Protestantism.
3. Islam also split from Judaism and the Arabs who were practicing Judaism and paganism decide to convert to Islam.
4. Catholicism has shown itself to be an evil religion, a religion with only one other equal. It is a religion that has converted many millions of indigenous people, burnt people at the stake and tortured many millions more.
5. Protestantism isn't far behind, with Martin Luther (who at the start liked the Jewish people) who detested the Jewish, so much so that he wanted them burnt out of their homes. Martin Luther was just as much evil as the popes and Adolf Hitler.
6. Islam, has many branches i.e. Sh'ia, Sunni, Yazidi etc etc. There has been a great deal of violence towards others by muslims which is comparable to Catholicism. Examples of this was when they tried to force the Gurus to convert to Islam, it failed and so most, if not all of the famous Gurus were slain. Islam is an evil religion and along with Catholicism, they fit together like hand in a glove.

With all that being said, I find it weird that you don't "know enough about Islam or Judaism", when all you have to do is read the Torah and the Qu'ran and you'll see the similarities. The way I see it is this, Christians get a hard time on here (and why not...:-) ) whereas muslims get a virtual free pass and are seldom criticised to the extent as Christians. You either criticise all three; Christianism, Judaism and Islam, or none at all. They are all evil.

[Jenny A]

I don't know enough about Islam or Judaism to this with those, but for Christians it goes more like this:

---

Liberal: Claims that the heaven and forgiveness of sins part is true, but the uncomfortable bits like hell aren't. Says Jesus was a great moral teacher, but rarely reads the Gospels. Is sure Jesus was a liberal and that when he said to give away your possessions, he meant vote for higher taxes. Says the Old Testament and some of the New Testament should be read metaphorically. May believe in something else on the side like Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, or even Ra. Can't explain how both heaven and reincarnation work, but what the hell, it's woo. He may rarely attend church (unless he's Unitarian) but he loves to go on retreats.

Moderate: Claims the Bible is spiritually true (whatever that might mean). Believes most of it, but doesn't like to think about the uncomfortable parts. May not believe in hell or at least doesn't like to think about it. Probably does not believe in The Rapture, and is not looking for The End Times. Likes to think of Jesus as clean cut version of himself. Church attendance may vary from three times a week to once a year. The older he is, the more often he attends. Attends goes up for a while on the birth of a child.

Extremist: Says the Bible is one hundred percent true, but only acts on the mean spirited nasty bits. Touts turning the cheek and love your neighbor in debate, but certainly does not behave that way. Thinks Jesus was an anti-commie, gun toting capitalist who loved the middle class. Considers socialism is a form of theft and therefore a sin. Spends much time thinking about the Rapture and The End Times and might possibly be actively trying to hurry them along. Likes mystical numbers and signs. Won't sleep in room 666 and may think that his zip code or social security number is an attempt to brand him with the mark of the beast. Either never goes to church because he doesn't believe in organized religion or his whole social circle is based upon one church.

---

To be honest, this is where we just bury our heads in the sands. First and foremost:

1. Judaism, Christianism and Islam are Abrahamic faiths and thus share the same root as far as biblical stories are concerned, same dietary laws and punishments etc etc.

---

2. When Christianism split from Judaism, there were two distinct branches created; Catholicism and Protestantism.
3. Islam also split from Judaism and the Arabs who were practicing Judaism and paganism decide to convert to Islam.
4. Catholicism has shown itself to be an evil religion, a religion with only one other equal. It is a religion that has converted many millions of indigenous people, burnt people at the stake and tortured many millions more.
5. Protestantism isn't far behind, with Martin Luther (who at the start liked the Jewish people) who detested the Jewish, so much so that he wanted them burnt out of their homes. Martin Luther was just as much evil as the popes and Adolf Hitler.
6. Islam, has many branches i.e. Sh'ia, Sunni, Yazidi etc etc. There has been a great deal of violence towards others by muslims which is comparable to Catholicism. Examples of this was when they tried to force the Gurus to convert to Islam, it failed and so most, if not all of the famous Gurus were slain. Islam is an evil religion and along with Catholicism, they fit together like hand in a glove.

---

With all that being said, I find it weird that you don't "know enough about Islam or Judaism", when all you have to do is read the Torah and the Qu'ran and you'll see the similarities. The way I see it is this, Christians get a hard time on here (and why not...:-) ) whereas muslims get a virtual free pass and are seldom criticised to the extent as Christians. You either criticise all three; Christianism, Judaism and Islam, or none at all. They are all evil.

Please read in context. I wrote about the way Americans of various Christian persuasions think and behave not about what the Bible says. It was social commentary about how much of and how Christians use the Bible and how religious they are and aren't.

Reading the Qur'an won't give me that information about Muslims. I don't know enough Muslims socially to give social commentary about them. I have no real idea what liberal Muslims think or how they behave.

I have read the Torah. But that doesn't really tell me how Jews behave in the real world. There aren't enough Jews in this part of the country for me to play this game with them either.

American Christians I am intimately familiar with. And I could have written what I wrote without having read the Bible.

I know full well that that all three religions are related and the history of that relationship as do just about all educated people. But that has nothing to do with how Christians behave or what parts of that tradition they accept.

[robvalue]

The oral tradition always trumps everything. I mean, if you ask christians what date christ was born, you'll likely get a very quick answer. Then ask them to show us where it says that in the bible and... not so quick.

[Vox Populi]

Why do come here telling about how your pet religion is all peace and love, when there is so much done by Christians that is just hateful bullshit? As an outsider I don't really understand why you would address outsiders with this message when clearly that's not what all Christians believe. So in short why don't you take the peace and love routine and preach it to the fundies that clearly didn't get the memo?

I always question why many Christian's claim peace and love... yet even in simple High School history books, you learn about the wars such as the crusades. I always love the "Everyone is welcome here" signs. But the minute you mention: Oh I'm a Liberal,Pro-Choice, Gay Rights Supporter, or anything to that matter your like out.. boom its over. The only Christian Org. that I have found that doesn't do that is the United Church of Christ or Unitarian Universalists. Yet it's still the Christian undertones and everything else so... its questionable.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The way I see it is this, Christians get a hard time on here (and why not...:-) ) whereas muslims get a virtual free pass and are seldom criticised to the extent as Christians.

I don't agree, at all, with the text I've emboldened.

[abaris]

I have read the Torah. But that doesn't really tell me how Jews behave in the real world. There aren't enough Jews in this part of the country for me to play this game with them either.

There are only about 13 millions in the whole world. Some Megacities have more inhabaitants. They weren't exactly successful in spreading their belief, since they were under the thumb of the other two Abrahamic religions.

That's also why Robert's assumption that Arabs embraced judaism or christianity before Islam came along, is just flat out wrong. Christianity and judaism kept, as far as the Middle East is concerned, to the coastlines of the Mediterranean, or the borders of the Roman empire. Sure, there were Arabs in that regions too, but the part we now call Saudi Arabia never saw a Roman or christian boot. They had already the Kahba in Mecca. The only difference being that they prayed to many gods there instead of one.

[Bob Kelso]

Why do come here telling about how your pet religion is all peace and love, when there is so much done by Christians that is just hateful bullshit? As an outsider I don't really understand why you would address outsiders with this message when clearly that's not what all Christians believe. So in short why don't you take the peace and love routine and preach it to the fundies that clearly didn't get the memo?

God works in mysterious ways?

Those aren't the Real Christians™.

Those parts were parables.

Shit, I'm running out of self serving platitudes to throw at your debilitating line of questioning.

[Ravenshire]

The way I see it is this, Christians get a hard time on here (and why not...:-) ) whereas muslims get a virtual free pass and are seldom criticised to the extent as Christians. You either criticise all three; Christianism, Judaism and Islam, or none at all. They are all evil.

When Jews and Muslims start banging on my door before I'm even properly awake on weekend mornings and telling me they have exactly the right snake oil for the disease they're trying to convince me I have, they'll start getting more of my shit. Until then, the christers get the brunt. They're the chucklefucks I have to deal with the most often. They're the ones I have to smile and be nice to when they pop off with their pathetic religious bullshit at work. They're the ones who sometimes seem to be actively trying to fuck up my day with their preaching and condemnations. Sorry, but I simply lack the motivation to give as much of a fuck about the other Abrahamiac douche-nozzles.

[Homeless Nutter]

The way I see it is this, Christians get a hard time on here (and why not...:-) ) whereas muslims get a virtual free pass and are seldom criticised to the extent as Christians. You either criticise all three; Christianism, Judaism and Islam, or none at all. They are all evil.

They may all be primitive, out of touch with reality and, well - evil, but not all in equal proportions. Judaism and most denominations of Christianity have come a long way and have been gradually reformed, civilized and adapted to the needs of progressive society - not usually voluntarily, or completely, but still.

Islam doesn't get a free pass. It's obviously seen as the most dangerous, un-reasonable and down-right sinister monotheistic religion. Because of that Muslims are seen as beyond the realms of civilized conversation, since they are so far behind in terms of human rights, education and civil liberty, that there's very little common ground for discussion.

I mean - I could go on at lengths about what's wrong with Islam, but I don't really see what that would accomplish. With next to no common points of cultural reference - my rants would be most likely as impenetrable to the few Muslims that might read it, as their potential replies would be to me. And I'm pretty sure most atheists, Jews and Christians nowadays already know that Islam is evil - no need to beat that dead horse.

But, yeah - f*** Islam and f*** the Prophet!

[Jesusislord]

Most christians don't know much about christianity, they preach the same BS they themselves were fed as children. Those who know christianity well generally tend to refer to themselves as atheists.

Your statement has got me completely confused....What BS were they fed as children?