Christianity’s Unhealthy Obsession with Islam

[dawn9476]

http://www.politicususa.com/en/christia ... with-islam

[finleeport]

I guess being Christian is probably the worst religion to be.

It has a long history of Crusades, Burning of Heretics and Witches, Antisemitism, outlawing rival religions including Paganism, slandering, Homophobia, Misogyny, Inquisitions, Salem Witch Trials, Prohibition, etc etc.

I could go on and on.

Technically Christianity has the majority of many vices than any other religion I know of.

[Sola]

I never really understood the obsession with Islam. The only way I could describe it is that it is envy perhaps. Islam is increasing and not just due to the birthrate of its followers - there are many converts to Islam. That reminds me actually of something I read on Rapture Ready forums once, that Christians had a duty to be quiverful, so as to OUTBREED Muslims!

When you consider that Islam is an Abrahamic religion, and is actually far closer to Judaism - the religion that many Christian fundies do so love to emulate (Lina for example) than Christianity is, it does seem quite ironic. Though I have found that Christian fundies tend to know bugger all about Islam so maybe that is why.

[Rachel333]

I guess being Christian is probably the worst religion to be.

It has a long history of Crusades, Burning of Heretics and Witches, Antisemitism, outlawing rival religions including Paganism, slandering, Homophobia, Misogyny, Inquisitions, Salem Witch Trials, Prohibition, etc etc.

I could go on and on.

Technically Christianity has the majority of many vices than any other religion I know of.

Islam has basically all of those, minus the witches (I think), plus many very repressive theocracies right now. Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. all have really horrible things in their history, including modern terrorist groups. They've also all had positive impacts on the world.

I really don't think there's any question that extremist Islam is worse than extremist Christianity or any other religion currently. That in no way excuses bigotry towards Muslims just because they're Muslims.

[Wolfie]

I got in a minor argument on facebook with a friend of a friend who claimed to know "all that there is" about Islam. She was a predjudiced bigot. All she considered Islam to be was terrorist exremists. I don't understand it, but I just told her that she was the ignorant one and ignored any more baiting from her.

[emmiedahl]

What the Taliban does cannot be called Islam any more than the Salem Witch Trials can be called Christianity.

I admit, I am terrified of fundamentalist Islam. It really scares me. But you have to separate that (legitimate) fear from the way you feel about the hijabi woman next door. Bad people use religion to evil ends, but it is just an excuse for them. It gives them power over others and makes them feel justified, somehow better than other mass murderers. If Osama bin Laden had been Christian, he probably would have been the same person, just with a different name for his hatred.

[freejoytoo]

The ironic thing is that extreme forms of Christian fundamentalism has so much in common with extreme forms of Islam. Extreme Christian fundies are basically scared of their daughters leaving the house, believe in making them totally dependent on men and staying home and deferring to their husbands and have insane levels of modesty. The only difference is that they don't tend to cover their hair. It is ridiculous that they refuse to see the parallels and also ridiculous that they can't realise that Islam is general is as peaceful as Christianity, and they believe in the same Abrahamic god.

[GenerationCedarchip]

Islam has basically all of those, minus the witches (I think), plus many very repressive theocracies right now. Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. all have really horrible things in their history, including modern terrorist groups. They've also all had positive impacts on the world.

I really don't think there's any question that extremist Islam is worse than extremist Christianity or any other religion currently. That in no way excuses bigotry towards Muslims just because they're Muslims.

Sadly, no. Some Islamic cultures still believe in sorcery. Saudi Arabia just executed someone for sorcey, and I once had a case where an Egyptian couple tried to kill an elderly spinster aunt because they thought she was cursing their family business.

[treemom]

Oh I think most religions have there share of these things. Hindus oppress Muslims in India for example.

[valsa]

I really don't think there's any question that extremist Islam is worse than extremist Christianity or any other religion currently.

I don't think that's a given. Extremism is extremism and it sucks no matter what religion it is. While it's true that extremist Muslims are killing and oppressing people right now, so are extremist Christians and probably extremist in every other religion you could think of.

[Rachel333]

There is definitely a lot of dangerous extremism in many other religions, but it's just not at the same scale as Islam. Just consider all the oppressive Muslim countries in the world; I don't think that even compares to any other religion currently.

[valsa]

I still don't agree. Extremism in Islam may be more overt but it's not more common or widespread than other religious extremism (especially Christianity) Extremist Islam flogs and stones women for being raped while extremist Christianity supports a culture that tells men it's okay to rape a woman if she's wearing a short skirt and to bully homosexual children until they commit suicide.

[Rachel333]

Well, look at the difference in those statements. One includes murder, one doesn't. (And I think mainstream society is the culture that tells men it's okay to rape women if she's wearing a short skirt, so I'm not sure that's specific to extremist Christianity.)

I think extremist Christianity has the potential to be as bad as extremist Islam (and has in the past, which is why I say currently no other religion really compares to Islam), but it just isn't right now.

And again, because I feel like I have to say this even though I'm sure everyone here agrees with me, this in no way excuses bigotry towards any Muslims, most of whom have as little to do with extremist Islam as Episcopalians do to the Lord's Resistance Army, which I learned about because Rush Limbaugh is a horrible person or, for a milder example, the KKK.

[shesinsane]

In many small towns in America, there's no mosque and no one claims to be Muslim, but there's always a church and Christians. I believe a lot of religious prejudice comes from ignorance. If you don't know any Muslims and the only ones you see on tv are enemy political leaders or terrorists, you could conclude that the whole religion is bad. (this works both ways, I think lack of knowledge is why a majority of Pakistanis don't like America)

In America, for decades, religious leaders of all types could rant against Godless Communism. Now that the Soviet Union isn't the big bad, some have chosen a new enemy: the Muslim. Since the Civil Rights movement, it's not ok for preachers to rail against a few bad individuals as representing an entire race. Picking a few bad individuals to represent an entire religion, that's still ok.

I think the recent flap of the FFA getting Lowes to drop commercials during "American Muslim" illustrates what a lot of American's think. They petioned companies to drop sponsorship of the program because showing Muslim Americans in a positive light is a plot designed to lure Americans into a false sense of security from a terrible Islamic threat. When confronted by a tv show that shows the ebil Muslims as just regular Michiganders like you and me, rather than accept the fact that most Muslims aren't terrorists the conclusion is the show is fake.

[valsa]

Well, look at the difference in those statements. One includes murder, one doesn't. (And I think mainstream society is the culture that tells men it's okay to rape women if she's wearing a short skirt, so I'm not sure that's specific to extremist Christianity.)

I consider bullying gay kids until they commit suicide to be the same as murder, morally. Not to mention the Christian extremists who follow the Pearls and beat adopted children to death. Or who outright beat and kill gay or transgendered people. Both Islam and Christianity extremism kills. And there are far more Christians than Muslims.

[fakepigtails73]

Islam has basically all of those, minus the witches (I think), plus many very repressive theocracies right now. Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. all have really horrible things in their history, including modern terrorist groups. They've also all had positive impacts on the world.

I really don't think there's any question that extremist Islam is worse than extremist Christianity or any other religion currently. That in no way excuses bigotry towards Muslims just because they're Muslims.

Yup.

[treemom]

The problem is extremist Christians aren't called extremist Christians...they are just called criminals here.

We only seem to highlight the extreme views of not-Christians in the US.

At this moment there are many repressive Muslim countries (although there are many repressive countries that hold onto other religions or no religion as well) but that doesn't mean the extremist Islam > Extremist Christianity. Let us not forget the anti-semitic views of many Christians leading up to WWII or you know the Spanish Inquisition...or the whole of the Dark Ages.

Anytime religion is used to gain power and suppress or to justify violence or denial of human rights...well it is bad.

[Wolfie]

I see some of the extreme anti-Muslim people who strongly support Israel simply because it is another way to be anti-Muslim.