Gaza blockaded

[Zigenare]

At least twice I have read the Koran and studied the history. I would argue the following: -
It's not the same God, Muhammad came from a tribe who worshiped the Moon, he then mixed the stories of the Jewish and Christian Gods with his stories.
The Koran is supposed to be the verbatim word of God who only speaks Arabic. However, the Koran contains some Jewish and Armenian words.
The Koran is supposed to contain everything need for life on Earth, however, somethings are utterly stupid such as a its ok to drink water if you push a fly in it because one wing has the antidote to poison.
Every chapter starts with the threat that any unbeliever in the book will burn in Hell for ever, so you better keep reading a believe.
It's OK to lie to non-believers.

Good luck with presenting your arguments at your local mosque.

[WTFH]

The main difference is that Islam is far more rigid than Christianity and Judaism. It allows for zero nuance. The Quran is the literal word of God. Christianity and Judaism both accept that their religious texts were written by men, which means most followers understand there is some degree of wiggle room in interpretation.

Tell people you've never been to Northern Ireland without saying you've never been to Northern Ireland.

Many branches of Christianity preach that the Bible is the infallible word of God.
Several branches of Christianity preach that other branches of Christianity are satanic because they have interpreted some sections in one way while another group have interpreted them differently - while both claiming it is the literal word of God.

The biggest problem with religious followers is the focus on evil and vengeance and forgetting all the bits about the idea of a loving God. The New Testament focuses far more on teaching love and helping others than it does on condemning people. But that doesn't sit well with some who prefer to look down on others, and who consider helping others to be social(ist). It's easier to show hate than love to people who are different to you.

[NotAllThere]

See this is what I genuinely don't get. The God that you (as a Christian) worship is the same (Abrahamic) God that Jewish people and Muslim people worship.

The god of the Bible is quite different in character the god portrayed in the Koran.

Even within flavours of religion there is fighting and hatred - Catholic v Protestant

The fact that various groups of people who call themselves Christians hate each other (and Protestant vs Catholic hatred is certainly not universal) doesn't really say anything - except that people are generally pretty awful. Which is a central tenet of most Christian theology.

you presumably believe that the way to heaven is via Jesus

Yes. You don't get to heaven by being good or pious. Anyone can get to heaven by repenting from your sin and asking Jesus to save you - and then living a life of continual repentence and turning to him, asking him to make you a better person, because we cannot be good through our own efforts. God demonstrated his love in this way. He sent Jesus to die on our behalf so we don't have to suffer the deserved punishment for our behaviour. He raised him from the dead to give us eternal life - at least in evanglical theology. Other theologies are available.

As for those who've never heard, I don't know. I do know that God is just and merciful and no one will be able to say that he was unfair.

I make no apologies for my beliefs, and I'm sure that some people will find them plain revolting.

Anyway. Back to Gaza...

[NotAllThere]

Tell people you've never been to Northern Ireland without saying you've never been to Northern Ireland.

A joke by Emo Philips.

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912."

I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.

[northernladuk]

A joke by Emo Philips.

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912."

I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.

Not sure that one is going to get the party going...

[TheGreenBastard]

Tell people you've never been to Northern Ireland without saying you've never been to Northern Ireland.

Many branches of Christianity preach that the Bible is the infallible word of God.
Several branches of Christianity preach that other branches of Christianity are satanic because they have interpreted some sections in one way while another group have interpreted them differently - while both claiming it is the literal word of God.

The biggest problem with religious followers is the focus on evil and vengeance and forgetting all the bits about the idea of a loving God. The New Testament focuses far more on teaching love and helping others than it does on condemning people. But that doesn't sit well with some who prefer to look down on others, and who consider helping others to be social(ist). It's easier to show hate than love to people who are different to you.

Smells like false equivalency. Find me a practising Muslim that doesn't believe the koran is the literal word of God, a perfect copy of the "mother of books" (this gets extremely bizarre when you consider its concept of abrogation), you'll be hard pressed. You'd be hard pressed to select Christians at random that believe the Bible is the literal word of God, especially in the UK. You're applying fringe branches of Christianity and equating that with the universalism of Muslims believing the koran to be the infallible word of God.

[malvolio]

The main difference is that Islam is far more rigid than Christianity and Judaism. It allows for zero nuance. The Quran is the literal word of God. Christianity and Judaism both accept that their religious texts were written by men, which means most followers understand there is some degree of wiggle room in interpretation.

When you believe your religious text is literal transcription of the words of God there is no wiggle room. There is no room for interpretation or critical thinking of the meaning behind the 'lessons'. Which is why unlike most other religions Islam has not moderated over the decades.

Christianity, Judaism and Islam mandates death for apostasy. Only one actively carries out the sentence.

Not what I said or meant. It is how you follow the mandates of your chosen scripture that is the problem, not the scripture itself.

[Paracelsus]

Many branches of Christianity preach that the Bible is the infallible word of God.
Several branches of Christianity preach that other branches of Christianity are satanic because they have interpreted some sections in one way while another group have interpreted them differently - while both claiming it is the literal word of God.

Perhaps, but how many Christians actually believe this, and what's the extent of problems it's causing in the world today? I'd say it's an utterly miniscule number and a false equivalence considering Muslims number in the billions.

[malvolio]

Perhaps, but how many Christians actually believe this, and what's the extent of problems it's causing in the world today? I'd say it's an utterly miniscule number and a false equivalence considering Muslims number in the billions.

Another specious argument. There are roughly 2.4bn Christian followers and 2.0 billion Islamic, in the broadest sense of the terms. The problem is the million or so fanatics who find justification in Qur'an and who have been brought up to believe in its most extreme remedies.

However they justify themselves, from ISIS to the IRA, at bottom they are simply terrorists with zero justification for their deeds.

[woody1]