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Post #247753

Author
theredbaron
Parent topic
MOVED THREAD
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/247753/action/topic#247753
Date created
25-Sep-2006, 6:19 AM
I'm a Christian, and I think what the Pope said, although highly inflammatory in approach perhaps, was fairly accurate, insofar as he said that the Prophet Mohammed didn't really teach anything new. What he did do was take a godless (or polytheist or demonist), violent, and chaotic people and actually made them a God-fearing (or Allah-fearing, if you must), moral, and organised society. Which is no mean feat by anyone's standards.

Calling this or that religion "fucked up" based on the actions of that religion's adherents (or more significantly, professed adherents) is a very dangerous thing. If this is so, then every religion is "fucked up", because I am certain that someone, somewhere, at some point in history, has perpertrated utterly heinous crimes against their fellow man in the name of every religion on the face of the planet. How many people in America profess to be Christians? Now, how many of those people actually attend church regularly, pray, or even read their Bible, let alone live by it? I would estimate perhaps 10%, but it's not really something you can quantify. All I am saying is that a lot of people profess to follow this or that religion, but it is another matter entirely as to whether they faithfully follow the tenets/morals/practices of that belief system. The religions of the world have brought some glorious ideas to our attention throughout history, and to judge any of these religions by the people trying (or more especially, not trying) to live by them, rather than the ideals themselves, do not do these ideas/religions justice.

In a nutshell, what I am saying is that each religion should be judged on its own merits, not on the merits (or lack thereof) of its followers. Human beings can never do justice to an ideal.