interesting quotes. . Jesus got pissed, too, it seems.

in my experience, the propensity to negative stuff is slight
in Christianity. . it is heavy in Islam. . they are different.

separation of church and state needs to be sustained,
though it is not a founding requirement ... just a principle
for healthy living. -- j
.

You can replace the word "Christianity" with any group, even "Objectivism" or "Rand Foundation". If you belong to a group you have to decide how much of its yoke you accept. - Any and every group.

Exactly!

islam started 700 years after Christianity. Islam has never left the 7C and has deliberately attacked and repressed any Arab nation that had modernized - Iran, Afghanistan, etc.

And who established/wrote out and implemented that non-Christian framework?

Christianity has moved with the calendar while Islam is reverting back to the 6th/7th century.

I too have been a Christian all my life and have never wanted to kill or harm any one from any other religion but this too is changing rather quickly!

Well said.

I always love it when third parties attempt to pigeonhole the beliefs of others and proclaim themselves authorities on the matter. Would an Objectivist allow Obama to tell them what an Objectivist believes? Of course not! Neither should a humanist be believed as authoritative on matters of anything other than humanism.

That was funny.

Me too.

You misinterpret the passage taken out of content in Matthew and Luke. If you read those verses within their content, you will understand the meaning of them. Muslims apologist seem to quote those passage as advocating violence. Those passages are taken out of content from a parable. A parable is a story used to teach something indirectly. The verses quoted were from a parable teachings about a heavenly kingdom. By contrast, the Koran is replete with commands of violence against non-believers. And that's all I'm going to say about this subject.

I don't think you noticed that the illustrious 0 has started to create the first steps of islam as a state religion. So much for separation of church and state.

As I remember reading, Islam used to be the more advanced society in the middle east, while the 'west' was into the dark ages. They certainly arent now !!!!

Really, ALL religion is adherence to whats written in some book, whether reasonable or not. I can tolerate living among religious people if they can tolerate living among me as a non believer. But, I dont really associate with die hard religious people like Ben Carson, for example. They are just boring and being stupid in my opinion. I am sure he would think the same of me as a non believer.

I like only two things about Bill Mayer- #1 is his movie RELIGILIOUS (spelling may not be right) where he points out some of the strange and inconsistent and frankly stupid beliefs in modern religions, and #2- his dislike of Hillary Clinton.

IThe RC Church is steeped in pagan culture as its base. It can be seen in the holy days of obligation, the lesser holy days and in all the symbolism used in it's architecture, statues and priestly arrayment.

I often wonder if the Church sought to rope paganism in that way, use the pagan culture because that is what people were familiar with at the time or if there is a level of occult within the Church.

Through my upbringing, reinforced by some recent facebook conversations, I learned that christians (ok, some christians) still believe that the bad things that happen in this world are the wrath of god brought upon us by/for our evil behaviors. Some live in constant fear that the end of the world is coming (jehovas witness as an example) and just like soddam and gamorra (however they're spelled) it is our evil behavior and rejection of god that is bringing it. They believe the end can be delayed by a return to their god so if and when they feel threatened enough, the pressure to accept jesus as our savior will again be bloody. This is not a likely scenario at this point but there are some out there with the right mentality for it.

It was one of these facebook conversations with a fairly well educated man, amusing as it was to rile him up and get him to start blaming non-believers, was what helped me decide that I was not just agnostic.

Interesting, I never thought of secular humanism as the creator of Heaven on Earth.

Actually, the belief in God is separate from religion. One doesn't need to belong to a religion in order to see that something bigger than mankind is at work in the Universe.

Religions have often been co-opted by those who want to further their own power or sadistic leanings. Evil humans using religious tenets and quotes from books, created and written by men, to justify atrocities, isn't proof that God does not exist.

It's proof that there are evil people willing to justify atrocities using religious tenets and quotes from books.

Humanism has the same problem, which can be discerned from the intro of the article where it sites extremists groups that are known for humanism. Communist revolutionaries are not known for their religious fanaticism. They have, though, been known for their propensity toward burying people, who do not agree with their humanistic beliefs, in mass graves.

I find this article to be more of a humanism promo then providing insightful information about Islam vs. Christianity.

Radical Islam follows Allah and is on a very here and now bloody conversion tour.

Christianity follows Christ (and the other two thirds of the Trinity, who, all together, are one God - still trying to figure that one out) and is, presently, known to eschew beheading and crucifixion as recruiting methods.

I'd say that, since we are living in the here and now, is a pretty big difference between Islam and Christianity.

Really you are trying to control who can cross certain arbitrary boarders..

The question was about Christianity Vs Islam as groups/movements and I was addressing it as such.

Individuals are just that, and while they might follow a religion in general, rarely adhere to every specific.

Back to the points you raised as applied by the religion.

Christianity still pushes conversion, it is how they get new members. How hard they push varies by which sect you are talking about. Christianity no longer practices conversion at sword point, but that does not mean they do not use other means.

Christianity does attempt to control its adherents. It encourages specific behaviors, and discourages other behaviors. Behavior modification at base, and therefore exerting control. At the heart of their teachings are many many examples of this. Starting with the 10 commandments, and getting more specific the closer it gets to you. Going to Church (encouraged behavior) you receive a sermon/talk/term of choice. This sermon invariably includes a cause for you to support or something for you to do. Encouraged or discouraged behavior for this week.

Cloaking it in allegory and pretty words does not change the goal. A yoke wrapped in silk is still a yoke.

Islam does all of the same things but with a heavier hand and harsher, sometimes lethal, consequences.

You, as an individual, may not attempt conversion or control on others, the group you self identify with does as a group.

No

"The broad brush does not apply."
I strongly agree.

Only if constrained by non-christian philosophy