Trigger_Andy wrote:Dave, Im not trying to justify the bible. You're missing the point in its entirety. The point is Christians used to be barbaric but today they rarely are. Most Christians do not even follow the bibles teachings anymore and make it up as they go along. Its all lip service. Muslims on the other hand follow the Cur'an to the letter and then some.
Well in some parts of the world they do follow the Bible literally. And in some parts of the world they don't follow the Quran literally. That is one of the points I was making.
In both you can pick out phrases you can interpret any way you want. Evil men will do this and convince others to follow. That can happen anywhere. That is why Buddhists are justifying murdering Muslims in Indonesia.
The reason we in this country are more moderate in our following of the Bible is because we are well educated compared to most parts of the world. People in Africa, India, the Middle East would never even THINK to question the existence of God.
Sheep herders in Afghanistan can't make any educated consideration of the morality of their beliefs.
When you have nothing your life means very little. And when you are taught from a child that your life is worth nothing until you die and go to heaven where you will be rewarded at last then that is what you are going to believe.
If however if you get a good education, good wages, a better standard of living, you start to question the benefit of the afterlife compared to what you have now and what you can give your kids as a lift up the ladder before you go.
The other thing that the "East" hates about the "West" is the destruction of their traditions and beliefs.
Look what has happened in this country. We are being swamped by American culture. Our food, drink, hobbies, language, etc have all been completely changed from what they were. I don't see anyone here complaining of that?
A lot of Muslims around the world are fighting to prevent the destruction of their culture. Which is EXACTLY what YOU are worried about right here.
It's all happened before. Many times. Look how hard the Britons fought against you Celt and Saxon immigrants that have the nerve to call other cultures for doing exactly the same thing.
You can't stop it. The world is getting smaller and smaller and the population bigger and bigger. If the Britons had succeeded in driving off the Saxons we wouldn't have an ENGLAND!
The fault for conflict is on both sides. We have to learn to live as one tribe just as we did under the Romans. Every person alive today came from the womb of the same ancestor. We are all related. We have somehow forgotten that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve