John Uskglass
Venerable Relic of the Wastes
So, Wooz, do you get horny when you yawn too?
Abstinence=Crap
- Thread starter John Uskglass
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Venerable Relic of the Wastes
CCR, you may do, but I do not see a great distinction between Islam and Christianity (or Judaism for that matter). Although the extremists are ofte more extreme (and political differences have allowed them to become dominant in some areas), the religion is pretty similar overall.
John Uskglass
Venerable Relic of the Wastes
Remember the scene in LotR where the elven queen explains how humans all look alike? Same principal.
They are not alike, no. Diffirent branches of Christanity are almost honotheistic, while almost all Islamic branches are strictly monotheistic. Also, on the whole Christanity tends towards the left if not liberalism; just ask your friendly neighboorhood gay Anglican priest.
Secondly, Christanity is pretty pacifistic in terms of core ideology. None of that is present in the other two branches.
There's also the enitre psedo-anarchistic rhetoric of some parts of the New Testement...ever even read it?
Repentance also diffiers wildly from faith to faith. Judaism has adopted similar notions to Christian repentance, as did Islam during it's conception, but there's a reason you rarley see skanks turn Islamafundies; no 'he who is without sin'. No similar notion to that in any religion.
Not to mention the inherint psedo-masichistic tendancies not seen in any religion outside of Shi'ite Islam. And I mean psedo-masichistic in the nicest sense.
To some extent all religions are similar; Hinduism, for instance, has a lot in common with Christanity that is not often understood. Yet you have to realize that similarity is something of an arbitrary concept. Technically you and I are anatomically quite similar to a synapsid, a kind of psedo-reptile that had a 5 foot tall fan on it's back and lived approx. 200 million years ago.
They are not alike, no. Diffirent branches of Christanity are almost honotheistic, while almost all Islamic branches are strictly monotheistic. Also, on the whole Christanity tends towards the left if not liberalism; just ask your friendly neighboorhood gay Anglican priest.
Secondly, Christanity is pretty pacifistic in terms of core ideology. None of that is present in the other two branches.
There's also the enitre psedo-anarchistic rhetoric of some parts of the New Testement...ever even read it?
Repentance also diffiers wildly from faith to faith. Judaism has adopted similar notions to Christian repentance, as did Islam during it's conception, but there's a reason you rarley see skanks turn Islamafundies; no 'he who is without sin'. No similar notion to that in any religion.
Not to mention the inherint psedo-masichistic tendancies not seen in any religion outside of Shi'ite Islam. And I mean psedo-masichistic in the nicest sense.
To some extent all religions are similar; Hinduism, for instance, has a lot in common with Christanity that is not often understood. Yet you have to realize that similarity is something of an arbitrary concept. Technically you and I are anatomically quite similar to a synapsid, a kind of psedo-reptile that had a 5 foot tall fan on it's back and lived approx. 200 million years ago.
That was a bit of crap, John...
A lot of the differences you named are not religious, they're cultural. It is a choice you make whether or not to split culture from religion, since they often develop hand-in-hand, but I find it important to try and split them as much as you can. Why? Because right now some stupid Dutch politician is stating that the Islam is directly responsible for atrocities like woman's circumcision and the abusing of women in many muslim countries, refusing to accept the fact that these are cultural facets of underdeveloped countries that happen to be muslim.
You're doing the same thing. Christianity isn't pacifist. It's had a long history of rampant violence. It was pacifist at the start, when it was too weak and oppressed to do anything else, and now vaguely at the end, when it is so powerful that it doesn't need war so much anymore. In the middle it has shown an amount of violence and atrocities in the name of God that the Islam is still trying hard to catch up with
Same goes for it tending towards liberalism. It doesn't, it just happens to be the main religion inside largely liberal countries, which is also where its focus lies, though a lot of that doesn't hold true for Orthodoxy and Catholicism, two of the biggest branches of Christianity.
Heck, CC, when you scrape out difference caused by geography and culture, the big three monotheistic religions and Sikhism really don't differ significantly at all.
PS: what the hell is "psedu-masichistic" and have you forgotten that there are still Christian beliefs that practice self-castigation?
A lot of the differences you named are not religious, they're cultural. It is a choice you make whether or not to split culture from religion, since they often develop hand-in-hand, but I find it important to try and split them as much as you can. Why? Because right now some stupid Dutch politician is stating that the Islam is directly responsible for atrocities like woman's circumcision and the abusing of women in many muslim countries, refusing to accept the fact that these are cultural facets of underdeveloped countries that happen to be muslim.
You're doing the same thing. Christianity isn't pacifist. It's had a long history of rampant violence. It was pacifist at the start, when it was too weak and oppressed to do anything else, and now vaguely at the end, when it is so powerful that it doesn't need war so much anymore. In the middle it has shown an amount of violence and atrocities in the name of God that the Islam is still trying hard to catch up with
Same goes for it tending towards liberalism. It doesn't, it just happens to be the main religion inside largely liberal countries, which is also where its focus lies, though a lot of that doesn't hold true for Orthodoxy and Catholicism, two of the biggest branches of Christianity.
Heck, CC, when you scrape out difference caused by geography and culture, the big three monotheistic religions and Sikhism really don't differ significantly at all.
PS: what the hell is "psedu-masichistic" and have you forgotten that there are still Christian beliefs that practice self-castigation?
No, I don't think I did see that scene (or remember it if I did). Which one was it in? I only saw the first one and snibbets of the other two. (I'm assuming you're talking about the movies, although such a scene could have easily existed in the books. I've not read them in a long while and have a terrible memory).John Uskglass said:
No, I've not. But neither have I read the Quran, the Hindu Vedas, the Buddhist Tipitaka or the Guru Granth Sahib.
Not that this justifies my argument particularly, but I do find it rather bizarre that you think that reading the bible is a prerequisite to discussing Christianity. Many Christians have never read the bible cover to cover, only aware of the interpretation they get through church, parents and school.
So, no, I am not by any means an expert on the Christian faith, but I do not think that makes me entirely ignorant about the similarities between the three religions that I mentioned. Just because you subscribe somewhat to a widespread cultural dislike of all things Islamic does not negate the similarities, it just puts you in a position where you are wont to deny them.