Politics and Religion

Sure I can! Because I don't accept you premise!teeth_smile
mattradd 40 Reviews 643 reads
posted

I believe if they are peaceful and they teach such in their places worship and schools, they are doing something to prove it.

And, talk about a flying leap in logic: you want to talk about WWII. Were there Nazi's in our neighborhoods threatening the lives of our citizens if they crossed them? Were there Japanese in our neighborhoods who were threatening the lives of our citizens if they crossed them? No! However, there were Japanese and Japanese Americans in our neighborhoods and what did we do; interned them. And, did we really enter the war as a statement of support for our allies, and against the immoral aggression of the German's. No! Not until the Japanese attacked us on our own soil, until we were threatened directly, did we enter into the war. It was a matter of survival, not a moral statement.

I'm a businessman, and I never talk politics, religion or anything about world events to my clientele. The businessmen that I know do the same. We, talk to one another at times, but not to our clientele. I had one colleague recently say he thought Obama was a Muslim because he studied at a medrasha in Indonesia. I said, I knew many who went to Catholic school and were never Catholics. We, can have those kind of discussions because we know and respect each other. But we know if we have such discussions with our clientele, we will suffer financially for it, which means also our families, who depend on us. Many Muslim, Jewish, Christian businessman have the same concerns, and do the very same thing.

Finally, and I'll end my discussion with you on this note; I don't know what sort of interactions you have with Muslims, but mine, by and large, are positive, with colleagues, neighbors, business men and women, medical staff. I spend a fair amount of time at a local university teaching hospital, and I get great pleasure in meeting so many of the young men and women who come and study there, from all over the world, including the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, etc. I don't see or hear fundamentalist, militant or terrorist Muslims in them. Just excited young people hoping to do good in the world.

Now, I know there are way too many militant Muslims, and I have no problem in tracking them down, putting them away or putting them under; may they all catch a drone up their asses! But, I'm not willing to make someone my enemy purely based on their religion, race or culture

I read the Daily Kook every morning, to laugh at the face of insanity.

Many educated people who rarely appear to be ignorant  goons, refuse to recognize, man and his quest for power, whether disguised by religion or atheism, has always been the biggest danger to peace and prosperity for all.  

http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion_boards/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=239919&boardID=39&page=1#239919

Posted By: JackDunphy
Who is saying those groups represent ALL Muslims?Can you cite me some examples?
Posted By: mattradd
If Westboro Baptist Church doesn't represent all Christians...why would one believe ISIS, the Taliban, Al Qaeda represents all Muslims?

That's really the guy/mindset you had in mind in your OP??? A guy who quickly backtracked? Ok...I guess.  

Any other examples or was that dubious one all you had? lo

for his commentary? I'm not convinced.

Instead of giving further examples, which you may similarly contest, I'll give you an important world figure who believes that stereotyping Muslims as being violent, or equating radical Islam with Islam, is a significantly serious enough problem for him to address. :)

I agree with what the pope said. I don't think all Muslims are violent and I don't equate radical Islam with Islam.  

Not sure who does to be honest

It has less than a hundred  members, mostly the same family.
   Can you name any Christian clergy, churches or organizations that advocate or finance terrorism?  Sure, it could happen that some lone wolf can see something in the Bible and go shoot somebody.
But if that happened it is insane to compare that to Muslim violence that is happening all over the world.
I saw an influential Muslim in Egypt calling for a reformation. This is a good sign. Hopefully he doesn 't end up like Sadat

GaGambler848 reads

A hundred wackos in Mississippi, who haven't killed anybody that I know of, along with a handful of anti abortion nuts who should be shunned for the violence they both practice and advocate, pale in comparison to the violence committed in the name of Allah.

Now if you want to compare deaths and violence over the last thousand years, the Christians don't come out looking quite so good, but I didn't live a thousand years ago, and I while I am bothered by Bible thumpers I am not in fear of my life from them.

I have absolutely no fear of Bible Thumpers, Jews, Muslims, Atheists or dark alleys......in America.  
   
   Death doesn't scare me at all,  living my life in fear of extremely rare threats found when venturing in dark alleys, would petrify me.  

     "Fear is the greatest danger to one's own safety "    
  I forgot where I learned  that, a Buddhist  Author or Sun Tzu   :-D  
 

Posted By: GaGambler
A hundred wackos in Mississippi, who haven't killed anybody that I know of, along with a handful of anti abortion nuts who should be shunned for the violence they both practice and advocate, pale in comparison to the violence committed in the name of Allah.

Now if you want to compare deaths and violence over the last thousand years, the Christians don't come out looking quite so good, but I didn't live a thousand years ago, and I while I am bothered by Bible thumpers I am not in fear of my life from them.

I may not be fearful, but very cautious, no matter the prevailing religion, race or culture!  ;)

Anytime I was called to stifle a domestic dispute.  
   
  As my World turns I mind my own business, the best I would do if confronted with domestic conflicts, call 911 and console the wife after he was arrested. :-D

   I don't recall mentioning domestic conflicts in my post,  since you brought it up in reply, you have my answer when the challenge comes up.  

http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=2378&issue_id=52011
 

Posted By: mattradd
I agree with you up to the point of domestice conflicts!
I may not be fearful, but very cautious, no matter the prevailing religion, race or culture!  ;)

I was going to make a comparison between the Westborough Baptist Church, and Charlie Hebdo. Americans freak out over WBC, almost as much as Muslims freak out over Charlie Hebdo.

Both organizations are protect by free speech  

Posted By: AliquippaJones
It has less than a dred  members, mostly the same family.  
    Can you name any Christian clergy, churches or organizations that advocate or finance terrorism?  Sure, it could happen that some lone wolf can see something in the Bible and go shoot somebody.  
 But if that happened it is insane to compare that to Muslim violence that is happening all over the world.  
 I saw an influential Muslim in Egypt calling for a reformation. This is a good sign. Hopefully he doesn 't end up like Sadat.  
 

Obviously a rough estimate, but you know that the Westboro church has a small number of familes.

On the other hand, ISIS has had over 1000 foreign fighters, so the number of those recruits alone exceeds Westboro. Then add the rest.

First, Westboro  pickets funerals.  ISIS and the rest cut off people heads, murder people plant bombs and all sorts of things that are "not nice."

Second other than Westboro, the rest of the Christian community  does not supprot them.  The Pope has never praised, nor have any of the thousands of priests, ministers, pastors, etc in the rest of Christiandom.

Third, and most important, are the numbers of thousands (at least) to one.

ISIS has enough members so that they have been able to take over huge chunks of at least two nations.  Al Quada took over Afghanastan and still has countless numbers in that country, Pakistan, Yemen and others.  

Both have so many members that the five nations (at least) involved are unable to control them, anb are losing control of vast areas off territory.

Also, ISIS and Osama t-shirts are sold in Turkey, Lebanon and other countries.  There is an Iman in London who regularly preaches Al Qaeda type sermons. Not to many Westboro T-shirts on e-bay.

AND THAT IS A START.  Boko Haram has enough members to take over an area the size of a U.S. state, (forget which one, but not Little Roadie.)

Do you need more or can you see that a church of 230 families is not exactly on the level of armed forces tearing throught the Mid East and Africa.

I know the differences, but why is it that the Westboro Baptist church isn't viewed, by practically all, as being representative of all Christianity, but the radical Muslims are viewed, by many, as being representative of all Islam?

The Nazi's Killed more people than Isis, Osama, The Saudi's , and the Taliban combined FYI ..... and Hitler himself was not completely condemned for it by his own church, they even said prayers and celebrated his birthday , sanctioned by one of leaders of the worlds largest christian organization. The Pope. Yet THAT is not representative of Christians as a whole while Isis is representative of Islam?  Can't have it both ways, it either is, or is not.  Personally, I think its representative of the actual harm that either religion can do and not only that, how they find the way to (themselves) justify doing so.

 
Hitler was NEVER excommunicated nor condemned by his church.  Matter of fact the Church felt he was JUST and “avenging for God” in attacking the Jews for they deemed the Semites the killers of Jesus.

Hitler, Franco and Mussolini were given VETO power over whom the pope could appoint as a bishop in Germany, Spain and Italy.  In turn they surtaxed the Catholics and gave the money to the Vatican.  Hitler wrote a speech in which he talks about this alliance, this is an excerpt: “The fact that the Vatican is concluding a treaty with the new Germany means the acknowledgement of the National Socialist state by the Catholic Church.  This treaty shows the whole world clearly and unequivocally that the assertion that National Socialism [Nazism] is hostile to religion is a lie.”  Adolf Hitler, 22 July 1933, writing to the Nazi Party

Hitler worked CLOSELY with Pope Pius in converting Germanic society and supporting the church.  The Church absorbed Nazi ideals and preached them as part of their sermons in turn Hitler placed Catholic teachings in public education.  

They even celebrated Hitler’s birthday.  The celebrations were initiated by Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) and became a tradition.

Each April 20, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin was to send “warmest congratulations to the Fuhrer in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in Germany with “fervent prayers which the Catholics of Germany are sending to heaven on their altars.”  

 Due to Hitler’s involvement with the Church he began enacting doctrines of the Church as law.  He outlawed all abortion, raged a death war on all homosexuals, and demanded corporal punishment in schools and home.  Many times Hitler addressed the church and promised that Germany would implement its teachings: “The National Socialist State professes its allegiance to positive Christianity.  It will be its honest endeavor to protect both the great Christian Confessions in their rights, to secure them from interference with their doctrines (Lehren), and in their duties to constitute a harmony with the views and the exigencies of the State of today.”  –Adolf Hitler, on 26 June 1934, to Catholic bishops to assure them that he would take action against the new pagan propaganda “Providence has caused me to be Catholic, and I know therefore how to handle this Church.”  -Adolf Hitler, reportedly to have said in Berlin in 1936 on the enmity of the Catholic Church to National Socialism

 
So is it representative of each of those religions. YES. I think it is representative of the problems with ALL RELIGION.  
Is it representative of each individual person who happens to identify , however vaguely, under the name of that religion? NO.

Lets break this down further to its lowest common denominator  

Religion is a idea.
Individuals are people.

If an individual does harm to others, they are considered harmful bad people
If an Individual does no harm, they are not harmful and are then considered good people
If an idea does harm, it is a harmful bad idea.
if an idea does no harm, it is a harmless good idea.

Religion does harm? ummm yes, I think that would be hard to say otherwise, therefore..... bad idea..
Religion does no harm? who could say that honestly

Hitler was not religious and the Nazi movement was not based on religion.

If he had done it in the name of Christ or Christians, the church would have had an obligation to condemn it. but it was not.

And let's not forget that Hitler was defeated by a coalition of largely Christian nation

Please read more about Hitler if that's what you believe.

 

Hitler wrote: "I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.." As a boy, Hitler attended to the Catholic church and experienced the anti-Semitic attitude of his culture. In his book, Mein Kampf, Hitler reveals himself as a fanatical believer in God and country.

other quotes:

    "My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.

    -Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922 (Norman H. Baynes, ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942)

Hitler did not have to parade his belief in God, as so many American Christians do now. Nor did he have to justify his Godly belief against an Atheist movement. He took his beliefs for granted just as most Germans did at that time. His thrust aimed at politics, not religion. But through his political and religious reasoning he established in 1933, a German Reich Christian Church, uniting the Protestant churches to instill faith in a national German Christianity.

 
I thank Heaven that a portion of the memories of those days still remains with me. Woods and meadows were the battlefields on which the 'conflicts' which exist everywhere in life were decided.

-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

 
 We demand liberty for all religious denominations in the State, so far as they are not a danger to it and do not militate against the morality and moral sense of the German race. The Party, as such, stands for positive Christianity, but does not bind itself in the matter of creed to any particular confession. It combats the Jewish-materialist spirit within and without us, and is convinced that our nation can achieve permanent health from within only on the principle: the common interest before self-interest.

    Hitler's speeches and proclamations, even more clearly, reveal his faith and feelings toward a Christianized Germany. Nazism presents an embarrassment to Christianity and demonstrates the danger of faith. The following words from Hitler show his disdain for atheism, and pagan cults, and reveals the strength of his Christian feelings:

My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before in the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.... When I go out in the morning and see these men standing in their queues and look into their pinched faces, then I believe I would be no Christian, but a very devil if I felt no pity for them, if I did not, as did our Lord two thousand years ago, turn against those by whom to-day this poor people is plundered and exploited.

-Adolf Hitler, in his speech in Munich on 12 April 1922

[Note, "brood of vipers" appears in Matt. 3:7 & 12:34. John 2:15 depicts Jesus driving out the money changers (adders) from the temple. The word "adders" also appears in Psalms 140:3]  

Just as the Jew could once incite the mob of Jerusalem against Christ, so today he must succeed in inciting folk who have been duped into madness to attack those who, God's truth! seek to deal with this people in utter honesty and sincerity.

-Adolf Hitler, in Munich, 28 July 1922

 
In the Bible we find the text, 'That which is neither hot nor cold will I spew out of my mouth.' This utterance of the great Nazarene has kept its profound validity until the present day.

-Adolf Hitler, speech in Munich, 10 April 1923

[The Bible quote comes from Jesus in Revelation 3:16]

In the life of nations, what in the last resort decides questions is a kind of Judgment Court of God.... Always before god and the world the stronger has the right to carry through what he wills.

-Adolf Hitler, speech in Munich, 13 April 1923

 

We have faith that one day Heaven will bring the Germans back into a Reich over which there shall be no Soviet star, no Jewish star of David, but above that Reich there shall be the symbol of German labor - the Swastika. And that will mean that the first of May has truly come.

-Adolf Hitler, speech in Munich, 01 May 1923

[Love, Faith, and Hope comes from I Corinthians 13:13 NIV]

 

 
this list goes on and on and on and on......
lets also not forget the Nazi beltbuckles, the ones every nazi soldier wore, said ""Gott Mit Uns" which means " God is with us"........

 
So....Hitler was not religious huh??? I can't tell!!

Yes, Hitler was born a Catholic but he did NOT have a "church".  

Do you really think Stalin was Russian Orthodox because that's what he was born into???  

Do you really think Mao was a Buddhist because that's how he was raised???

The fact is, Hitler HATED Christianity. He needed to embrace it PUBLICALLY to a small degree due to the politics, NOT due to his actual faith.

In other words he USED Christianity for his benefit, but he did NOT embrace it and its teachings

Perhaps, but the Church never excommunicated him. Plain and simple.  I guess he wasn't heretical enough for them....... Mustn't have felt too bad about it....evidenced by their contribution to the "ratlines" helping wanted Nazi's escape to South America..

Well, Its not so much that they represent Christianity as a whole.. They represent, like all religious extremists, the negative potential for a given religion, that would be absent without said religion.  many Christians fortunately have the good sense to interpret the biblical scriptures and cherry pick the parts they like....for instance, they ignore most of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and pretty much all of the old testament, in favor of the new which can often be just as immoral. And since they do that, they can eat all of the shrimp they like guilt free! what a deal! They also tend to ignore the bad moral lessons of the new testament (Such as casting away all worldly things , forsaking your blood family for your religious "heavenly" family , ect...  you know... the kind of stuff Cults have been doing for years... financial and emotional isolation in order to have control of a persons input senses and coerce natural human behavior with a punishment a reward system...to the point where they love their abuser...their "lord". (Stockholm's syndrome?... Oh wait! That's sometimes just a Religious belief...hard to tell the difference sometimes!) Unfortunately, some people, like westboro , don't "interpret" it, or cherry pick it, they take it LITERALLY.  Its the "moderate" or "modern" Christian's that "interpret" it.

The point is, yah, most people have the good sense to blow off most of the doctrine and make internal moral decision everday often in spite of what the books actually say.  But when it's not "Interpreted" and is instead taken literally as "word of god" SOME Bad things that would not have happened not only happen, but are justified by it...when taken literally...as the book itself says to do!!!

So.... if you define Christianity as doing what the bible actually literally says, then yes, they are Christianity.  
If you define Christianity by what most people who say they are Christians ACTUALLY believe, then no, they are the exception.

Lucky for me I have met some of the nice Christians :p I have also met some of the bad, I tend not to get too upset with the bad ones, and when bored might even engage in some theological debate just for a few giggles... who knows..it might do some good, better than nothing. However to underestimate it would be foolhardy, to not recognize the source of their way of thinking, and to not recognize that that way of thinking is cancerous, insidious, and wicked, would be to undo the REAL moral lessons of the past 2000+ years.    

Lastly, Do i think the media is Biased in how it represents one religion vs another?
Certainly.  
Every other Christian organization does not have to issue a formal media statement to show they do not agree with westboro. They do not have to denounce the atrocities of Christian Extremist  on the other side of the globe either (Africa and eastern Europe for instance)  

But every time some Muslim does it, every Muslim organization is expected to, otherwise they are accused of condoning it.
I would have to agree, that the scale is uneven.  

But just some food for thought... when was the last time you heard something like this:
"Islamic terrorist just hit a synagog within the Jewish stronghold with an explosive device today, and the Christian nations are weighing in with support and foreign aid" (feel free to substitute the order of which each religion appears in the sentence).....either way...last time you heard something like it? yesterday? Last week, Certainly in the past year...many times.

and when have you ever heard anything even remotely like this:
The Anti-theist Terrorist just hit the museum of science in the agnostic stronghold with an explosive device today, and the secularists & non-militant atheists are showing their support with foreign aid.
.last time you heard something like it?   Not once in the history of Mankind.

Case and point :p

In my view, there are far more moderate Muslims than fundamentalist Muslims; far more still than militant Muslims, and even far more still than terrorist Muslims. Now if we continue to "tar everyone with the same brush," painting the moderate Muslims as something they are not, and vilify them as we do the fundamentalist, militant and terrorist Muslims, who do they go to and develop and maintain relationships with, us or the the more radical Muslims?

They are doing virtually NOTHING to stop these animals. Where are the mass demonstrations?  

Where is the million Muslim march???  

There is 1.7 billion Muslims on the planet. If only 1/10 of 1% of them joined forces, they could eradicate the terrorists in mere days or weeks but they CHOOSE not to.  

Like I said, we cant even get them to have a fkin mass protest, let alone take up arms!

The reason this continues is due to a LACK of moderation in Islam.

You seem to want to separate Muslims that participate in the violence with ones who admire it and don't participate in it. I DONT see a difference.  

No its not ALL Muslims Matt, but it FAR and away contains more radicals and radical sympathizers than every other religion on earth combined!

Bill Maher actually said it perfectly the other day:  

"When you see THIS many bad apples, there HAS to be something wrong with the orchard!"

Damn fking right!

http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion_boards/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=240282&boardID=39&page=1#240282

Yes, you're right if lives are at stake it's not an easy decision. As I've pointed out elsewhere, the neighbors say little against the neighborhood gang members, for fear for their lives, just as few say a peep at the motorcycle gang that rolls through town. Why, because they fear violence against themselves and their family members. How many people refuse to testify against a gang member in court for fear of being a target of that gang, or talk to the police about the crimes they witnessed gang member doing? Thugs are thugs, no matter what their persuasion, and they wield their power through violence just as the militant Muslims do against their moderate Muslim neighbors.

...then have them do nothing to prove it.

No, it's not easy. I never said it was or implied it was. WW2 wasn't "easy" either. But it was NECESSARY Mart.

If there are moderates as you say in the number you are saying...it is time for them to stand NOW and prove it.  

Aren't Muslims already dying at the hands of other Muslims? Isn't hate building against Islam in parts of the world that didn't hate them just a few weeks ago?  

If "moderates" continue to do jack shit, they will get the outcome they deserve.

I believe if they are peaceful and they teach such in their places worship and schools, they are doing something to prove it.

And, talk about a flying leap in logic: you want to talk about WWII. Were there Nazi's in our neighborhoods threatening the lives of our citizens if they crossed them? Were there Japanese in our neighborhoods who were threatening the lives of our citizens if they crossed them? No! However, there were Japanese and Japanese Americans in our neighborhoods and what did we do; interned them. And, did we really enter the war as a statement of support for our allies, and against the immoral aggression of the German's. No! Not until the Japanese attacked us on our own soil, until we were threatened directly, did we enter into the war. It was a matter of survival, not a moral statement.

I'm a businessman, and I never talk politics, religion or anything about world events to my clientele. The businessmen that I know do the same. We, talk to one another at times, but not to our clientele. I had one colleague recently say he thought Obama was a Muslim because he studied at a medrasha in Indonesia. I said, I knew many who went to Catholic school and were never Catholics. We, can have those kind of discussions because we know and respect each other. But we know if we have such discussions with our clientele, we will suffer financially for it, which means also our families, who depend on us. Many Muslim, Jewish, Christian businessman have the same concerns, and do the very same thing.

Finally, and I'll end my discussion with you on this note; I don't know what sort of interactions you have with Muslims, but mine, by and large, are positive, with colleagues, neighbors, business men and women, medical staff. I spend a fair amount of time at a local university teaching hospital, and I get great pleasure in meeting so many of the young men and women who come and study there, from all over the world, including the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, etc. I don't see or hear fundamentalist, militant or terrorist Muslims in them. Just excited young people hoping to do good in the world.

Now, I know there are way too many militant Muslims, and I have no problem in tracking them down, putting them away or putting them under; may they all catch a drone up their asses! But, I'm not willing to make someone my enemy purely based on their religion, race or culture

You would have no idea what they do or think in their lives outside of your knowledge. None.

But good debate.  

Peace Matt.

I really like this response :)  
If an enemy or friend is to be made of a person, it should be for their individual deeds and merits.

Regardless of which Religion they practice use Religion to justify their beliefs. Beliefs they would still hold in the absence of Religion.

Posted By: TsAimeeRiendeau
Well, Its not so much that they represent Christianity as a whole.. They represent, like all religious extremists, the negative potential for a given religion, that would be absent without said religion.  many Christians fortunately have the good sense to interpret the biblical scriptures and cherry pick the parts they like....for instance, they ignore most of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and pretty much all of the old testament, in favor of the new which can often be just as immoral. And since they do that, they can eat all of the shrimp they like guilt free! what a deal! They also tend to ignore the bad moral lessons of the new testament (Such as casting away all worldly things , forsaking your blood family for your religious "heavenly" family , ect...  you know... the kind of stuff Cults have been doing for years... financial and emotional isolation in order to have control of a persons input senses and coerce natural human behavior with a punishment a reward system...to the point where they love their abuser...their "lord". (Stockholm's syndrome?... Oh wait! That's sometimes just a Religious belief...hard to tell the difference sometimes!) Unfortunately, some people, like westboro , don't "interpret" it, or cherry pick it, they take it LITERALLY.  Its the "moderate" or "modern" Christian's that "interpret" it.  
   
 The point is, yah, most people have the good sense to blow off most of the doctrine and make internal moral decision everday often in spite of what the books actually say.  But when it's not "Interpreted" and is instead taken literally as "word of god" SOME Bad things that would not have happened not only happen, but are justified by it...when taken literally...as the book itself says to do!!!  
   
 So.... if you define Christianity as doing what the bible actually literally says, then yes, they are Christianity.    
 If you define Christianity by what most people who say they are Christians ACTUALLY believe, then no, they are the exception.  
   
 Lucky for me I have met some of the nice Christians :p I have also met some of the bad, I tend not to get too upset with the bad ones, and when bored might even engage in some theological debate just for a few giggles... who knows..it might do some good, better than nothing. However to underestimate it would be foolhardy, to not recognize the source of their way of thinking, and to not recognize that that way of thinking is cancerous, insidious, and wicked, would be to undo the REAL moral lessons of the past 2000+ years.    
   
 Lastly, Do i think the media is Biased in how it represents one religion vs another?  
 Certainly.  
 Every other Christian organization does not have to issue a formal media statement to show they do not agree with westboro. They do not have to denounce the atrocities of Christian Extremist  on the other side of the globe either (Africa and eastern Europe for instance)  
   
 But every time some Muslim does it, every Muslim organization is expected to, otherwise they are accused of condoning it.  
 I would have to agree, that the scale is uneven.  
   
 But just some food for thought... when was the last time you heard something like this:  
 "Islamic terrorist just hit a synagog within the Jewish stronghold with an explosive device today, and the Christian nations are weighing in with support and foreign aid" (feel free to substitute the order of which each religion appears in the sentence).....either way...last time you heard something like it? yesterday? Last week, Certainly in the past year...many times.  
   
 and when have you ever heard anything even remotely like this:  
 The Anti-theist Terrorist just hit the museum of science in the agnostic stronghold with an explosive device today, and the secularists & non-militant atheists are showing their support with foreign aid.  
 .last time you heard something like it?   Not once in the history of Mankind.  
   
 Case and point :p

Register Now!