Is Islam more or less violent in Its teachings then other religions?

[Homeless Nutter]

Well - of course. Islam is a rip off of Judaism and Christianity, adapted for arabic "market". Where did you think Muhammad got all this stuff - from god? lol

[abaris]

Well I'm going to have to go with more. Probably because, as opposed to other religions, it was founded by a warlord.

Merchant, not warlord. The warlord part only comes when after he went on his mission.

Society is what counts. These holy books all mirror the society they were created for. In the case of islam and judaism for that matter, we're talking about mostly tribal and in many cases nomadic societies fighting over waterholes and pastures. Both paternalistic male societies with polygamism to get as many children as possible, since they died off like flies.

As for being more violent, there's only a very thin layer of society preventing christian radicals from doing what their muslim brethren are doing. You only have to listen to some sermons calling for killing gays or putting women in their rightful places, collected by rightwing watch amongst others, to see that there isn't that much of a difference in spirit.

It's also in the writing. All the holy books contain enough passages to keep Ted Bundy inspired. But they also contain stuff that would appeal to Gandhi. The cherry picking is what counts.

[jesus_wept]

Well - of course. Islam is a rip off of Judaism and Christianity, adapted for arabic "market". Where did you think Muhammad got all this stuff - from god? lol

Is this aimed at me? If so, I'm just pointing out that a lot of the "sheer violence" and the "sick morality" in the bible is also found in the quran.

[robvalue]

Oh yeah, right! Is god's murder count as high with Islam then?

It's the same God, what am I talking about!

[jesus_wept]

I dont know I've never counted them, but does it really matter how many it says were killed when it's still the same sick nonsense? It's like asking to decide who is the better person, Ted bundy or Harold Shipman...

[robvalue]

Sure, once you get past a certain point...

Why do all gods resemble a psychotic toddler playing sim-city?

[Homeless Nutter]

Is this aimed at me? If so, I'm just pointing out that a lot of the "sheer violence" and the "sick morality" in the bible is also found in the quran.

I was just making a joke about Muhammad being a plagiarist. Don't mind me.

[bennyboy]

Well, since Islam is based on Christianity is based on Judaism, I'd include the total X-tian and Jewish body-count up to the founding of Islam. So the question is, which has been more violent SINCE the founding itself?

For sure for sure it has been Christianity with the big win. I mean, the nazis were Christian. So were the Crusaders. So was every European empire. Yeah, the muslims also made a pretty good run of it, but numerically there's no comparison.

As for terrorism-- come on. The Americans kill more brown people in any given decade than modern terrorists ever will, even including 9/11. Don't you think part of their rationale is that muslims don't matter, because they aren't proper followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Personal Savior?

[abaris]

For sure for sure it has been Christianity with the big win.  I mean, the nazis were Christian.  So were the Crusaders.  So was every European empire.  Yeah, the muslims also made a pretty good run of it, but numerically there's no comparison.

It's as unfair to call the Nazis a christian movement as it is to blame Stalin's atrocities on atheism.

As I said, every major religion has the potential for vile acts when it comes to radicals. It's rather interesting to look at Islam, since all through the Middle Ages the islamic cultures were far more advanced and in many instances far more tolerant towards other religious believes than christian Europe. We, in the Western world, learned a lot from them.

In my eyes it's much more of a geopolitical problem than a religious one that they fell back, since most of them are third world countries drawn into endless conflicts. A look on the map also shows that colonialism played a major role in creating that situation. These aren't countries that have grown in a natural way, they were drawn up in some office in London or Paris without giving any regards to the different ehtnicities living there and there inherent conflicts. Iraq is one of the best examples, since it's an entirely artificial construct made up of three former Osmanic provinces.

The defining factor of why there's islamic terrorism and less christian terrorism isn't because their radicals weren't equally driven by their vile impulses they have drawn from their respective holy books. It's mostly first world problems against Third world problems. It's functioning states against failed states. But the layer is thin and it breaks occasionally. Brejvik is only the most prominent example of the last years. If words could kill, the fields of the West would be as littered with bodies as those of the east. And it's not just empty talk when some pastor feels the need to call for stoning gays. They feel their lord is demanding action just in the same way the islamic terrorists feel it.

[Dystopia]

The Nazis may have been Christians on paper, but you can't justify the whole holocaust with the bible - Not to mention that Hitler's eugenics program is highly incompatible with religion and founded on secular principles and pseudo-Darwinian science - I think religion was a useful tool for National-Socialism but in the end, like I've argued already, it is highly incompatible with fascism to promote fundamentalist religious thought because you can only worship one entity at a time. Race purity, improving the genetic components of a population, genocides, etc, were not based on Christianity - In fact, I think because of the whole help the poor and weak stuff eugenics is repelled by most churches.


As for Islam, I think it depends on the country and the person. Like Reza Aslan said, any interpretation or approach to religion is valid as long as you justify it. You can be a Muslim and think that the Quran is the literal word of god and that Sharia should be 100% applied. You can be a Muslim and think what matters is promoting good and peace and so even other believers and non-believers can enter heaven. You can be a Muslim for cultural reasons and rarely read the Quran or pray. You can be a Muslim who thinks the Quran was highly influenced by the warfare mentality of the time and believe it should be interpreted according to modern liberal human rights' ideas. You can be a Muslim and think state and religion are one (and the opposite too). You can be a Muslim and a feminist, and a Muslim and an anti-women bigot; you can be anti-gay or pro-same sex equality. There's flavours for everyone..

Are there more Muslim terrorists than Christian ones? Oh god, yes.. But Christians have no reason to be terrorists, it's not like their families are being persecuted and murdered for oil.