no i'm saying Moslims JUSTIFY a relatively large amount of violent acts WITH RELIGION because Islamic scripture is relatively more violent than other religious texts
Probably depends on if you include the Old Testament. Funny, apologists for the bible seem to pick and choose when to include that - as far as I can see if it's still part of the holy book of the religion you can't just say "oh, those bits don't count" when someone points out how horrifically bloodthirsty the first three quarters of it are."Is Islamic scripture relatively more violent than other religious texts? That's an empirical question and so I would like to see an empirical argument: come back with a quantitative analysis of Islamic scripture and comparative assessments of other religious scriptures, then we can discuss this properly."
Probably depends on if you include the Old Testament. Funny, apologists for the bible seem to pick and choose when to include that - as far as I can see if it's still part of the holy book of the religion you can't just say "oh, those bits don't count" when someone points out how horrifically bloodthirsty the first three quarters of it are.
"Most Christians, especially Catholics, regard ceremonial, dietary and other laws laid down in the Old Testament as defunct. The prevailing view is that,
"Upon the advent of Christ, the purpose of all the ceremonial and judicial commands, which was to pre-figure Christ, was fulfilled, causing them to be 'annulled' and 'dead'"
Thomas Aquinas
Only The Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus are fundamental - as the Catechism puts it: "the permanent validity of the Decalogue". i.e. Christianity"
I actually get the impression that Christians are keen to dissociate themselves from all the weird stuff about not eating bats or touching women when they're on the blob rather than the countless massacres, gang rapes and slave taking.
And the obvious question is why, given that (or if) Jesus' teaching supercedes the Old Testament, is the Old Testament is included in the Bible at all?
That's what I'm saying. Seems that the old testament is part of it until someone needs to say Christianity is a religion of peace, then suddenly all that stuff about slaughtering every man, woman and child doesn't count. As far as I can see though, even if the NT replaces the old, that stuff is still supposed to have happened. God might be reformed but in his reckless youth he did order the murder of thousands upon thousands of innocents and demand that that guy cook his daughter 'cause she was the first person to greet him when he returned home."And the obvious question is why, given that (or if) Jesus' teaching supercedes the Old Testament, is the Old Testament is included in the Bible at all?"
God might be reformed but in his reckless youth he did order the murder of thousands upon thousands of innocents and demand that that guy cook his daughter 'cause she was the first person to greet him when he returned home.
Originally Posted by polz
no i'm saying Moslims JUSTIFY a relatively large amount of violent acts WITH RELIGION because Islamic scripture is relatively more violent than other religious texts
So there are few things:
- Do Muslims justify a relatively large amount of violent by quoting Islamic scriptures? I think that a cohort do at present, just as violence in the Middle East was once justified in the name of Arab nationalism, and just as violence in the West was justified by quoting Christian scripture and then notions of Aryan or proletarian rule.
- Is Islamic scripture relatively more violent than other religious texts? That's an empirical question and so I would like to see an empirical argument: come back with a quantitative analysis of Islamic scripture and comparative assessments of other religious scriptures, then we can discuss this properly.
- Is there a causal relationaship between the two? Obviously, even if 2 is correct, the fact that Islamic scripture is more violent than, say, Christian scripture hasn't stopped Christian history from being terribly violent, so it's not clear to what extent the violent nature of religious scripture impacts on the actions of believers. You need to prove or explain this as well.
yes, are you?