Islam vs. Christianity
Is there really a big difference?
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Or they could re-tell the parable of conflict resolution, which Jesus ends this way: “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me” (Luke 19:27).
One of the big accomplishments of the United States was separation of Church and State or "ethical philosophy and political philosophy", unfortunately many christians and many environmentalists want to break that wall down.
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Or they could re-tell the parable of conflict resolution, which Jesus ends this way: “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me” (Luke 19:27).
One of the big accomplishments of the United States was separation of Church and State or "ethical philosophy and political philosophy", unfortunately many christians and many environmentalists want to break that wall down.
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I am more concerned about the fed-gov threat to life and liberty. Too much meddling.
Enough said.
The broad brush does not apply.
Thank you Mr. Stephen Hicks!
"We had our religious fanatics – but we tamed them."
When I saw this, I wonder who are "we" since this happened before living memory.The article answers:
"The humanists taught – often against vicious religious opposition – that life on Earth matters and that we should enjoy it."
I'm happy to be a part of this we:
"They taught that we should be rational, using our senses and our reason to understand the world and ourselves. They taught, increasingly as the Renaissance made headway, that each individual’s life matters and that we should judge people according to their individual characters and actions. They taught that each person is responsible for his (and even her) life."
I agree with every part of this article.
The Muslims seem to read the Quran quite literally. Whether this is cultural or the intention of the text is quite superfluous. In either case, the extremists and their sympathizers within the Muslim community are invoking a reaction in the Christians which is diminishing the West. The West is not equivalent to "Judaeo-Christian". It is, as you all have pointed out, a certain culture of individual rights, and this has predominantly meant America. (Europe's World Wars are evidence of this.)
The specter of fascism has located a body in the populist right of Europe (paraphrasing Yaron Brook). This is a kind of auto-immune response, or - per Yaron Brook - suicide due to the negative effects that the altruist creed has supplied to Europe in greater measure than the migrants themselves.
Integral to humanism was the idea of l'uomo universale the Renaissance man who mastered many studies and skills. That was different from the traditional idea of a "calling." And even today, we tend to give mute acceptance to the idea that you go to college to get one skill which you employ for wages your whole working life until you can retire from work altogether.
(Today, we do have a different model, but the old model still holds sway. Politicians promise "a good paying job" and want people to be educated in college to get one ... one...)
As an aside William Howland Woodin was a financier who served as the Secretary of the Treasury for Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was because of Woodin that ordinary people could hold gold when the banks were ordered to transfer their stocks to the Federal Reserve. Woodin also wrote music, including "The FDR March."
Thanks db, nice find. I will add "everyjoe" to my list.
Both push group ahead of individual.
Both insist primacy over all competing religions.
Both initiate force for no rational reason.
So difference is more in degree than kind.
Islam has changed as well, the wrong way, what we call Islamism is as bad or worse than anything since the time of the founder.