some basic mistakes
Reader comment on item: How the West Could Lose
Submitted by susan (Italy), Feb 14, 2007 at 17:14
"In the eyes of the Pope or even the standard preacher"
don't know which distorted view you americans have but the pope doesn't judge.
The vatican or the RC doesn't have "preachers".
"Assuming that you, Noah or Susan live in the same cultural environment, I would hypothesize, that you all have encountered the same. Some practice their religion "by the book", whereas most others are laymen, most of the time absorbed by day-to-day challenges, but certainly not by their religion."
so explain to me how someone in the west can be both atheist, not practicing christian and still respect others, and explain to me how a muslim, fully practicing his religion and following his book can call jews apes and pigs, stone women, believe muslims are god's chosen people and they deserve land, money, wealth while the rest of sub-humans at most can hope to be their slaves?
That's because the western world freed itself from backwardness and superstition, thanks to christianity and the idea that the man is born free and able to choose between right and wrong. Muslims are born slaves by their own admission and right and wrong is said by a 7th century book.
"Therefore Christianity consists of a small group of "fanatic" followers, such as the people harassing us at the check-out of the local grocery store, trying to spread the gospel, and a larger group of imperfect Christians like us, who do not see religion as an all encompassing driving force."
Wrong, christianity is not born on a certain's group supremacism on others.
Explain to us this very simple fact. No other religion except islam forbids conversion. Why buddism doesn't condemn conversion from buddism?
Conversion is forbidden because all other religions are considered inferior. there is NOT such a thing in every other cult, except from cults like scientology or satanists cult.
"Having established that, why is it so inconceivable that the same could not apply for instance to the Islamic minority here in the United States?"
see lebanon, once christian majority, now muslim majority, the rest are fleeing everywhere. Once muslims are a majority or large numbers they change attitude. Are you willing to wait to see the outcome?
"Why should they be so different from us?"
because they are. Again, their religion is perceived by them as superior, not in the strict theological sense, but in the sense of submitting all the others.
Why there is not a single muslim majority country that treats the non-muslims let's not say as equal (a word unknown to muslims) but somehow humanely?
Inquiring minds want to know
"Michael , Plato or Chris may be naïve, but I have yet to read about a pragmatic idea originating from the hard, right wing core of this Blog."
Since you like the muslim behaviour so much I would suggest to learn from them, let's see how minorities are treated in muslim countries, and let's start from them.
The children in school learn that the christians are beasts, dirty and inferior. Non-muslims cannot be employed in high ranks of the army, be represented in the parliament as their numbers deserves, when they are victims of disputes with muslims they are denied their rights, they are forbidden to openly practice their faith, christians are harassed.
I am not saying there are laws to do that, it's simply the people acting like that, the so call moderate majority that possibly doesn't know the koran by memory, simply being what they are best at, a plague for the rest, xenophobic and racist against non-muslims.
We don't need laws, we just need to treat them as they treat non muslims in their countries.
Do you remember the old saying "don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you"?
Start treating muslims like they treat non muslims in their countries. Then let's see the outcome. For now, christians are escaping en masse from muslim countries. Possibly we can have the same result.
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