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When you get a chance, you should read "Zealot" by Reza Aslan. It is a fascinating account of what a historic Jesus might have been, with great detail on the political and religious climates of the day. The two were intermingled, then, and set up to make money on sacrifices at the Temple. But I won't spoil it for you, in case you decide to read it.
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I’m not going to read the book by a Muslim Iranian pro-Muslim anti-Christian guy.
It is enough telling me that he is a Muslim, and don’t want to read what a Muslim has to say about Jesus.
Muslims don’t believe Jesus was crucified / Easter story, and denies his divinity. So why read what a Muslim has to say about Christ?!
Unlike the vast majority of folks posting here, I have spent considerable time in Malaysia. Want to know the truth? The odds are they got caned because they didn't bribe someone. Thats the reality there. The "justice" system there is insanely corrupt, and things like this are more about people not paying off the cops like everyone else does.
Trust me, as a gay married man, I would never want to see muslims ever gaining a foothold in the west or anywhere else. We already have enough problems with the hateful chrstians. We don't need more hateful religionists in our bedroom.
Completely false equivalence, and I think that you are smart enough to know it. If fundamentalist Christians took power in this country, your gay marriage would almost certainly be annulled; and if you worked for the government, you might get fired from your job. Maybe. Not a pleasant outcome for you, to be sure. But if fundamentalist Muslims took power in this country, you would be executed, most likely in a painful fashion.
Another poster mentioned While Europe Slept, and I wholeheartedly concur with that recommendation. My own one-sentence summary of the book's message is "Why Gays Should Vote Republican." Because it's the right-wingers who are doing the most to protect you, by working to keep the Middle Eastern Muslims out of our country.
I’m not going to read the book by a Muslim Iranian pro-Muslim anti-Christian guy.
It is enough telling me that he is a Muslim, and don’t want to read what a Muslim has to say about Jesus.
Muslims don’t believe Jesus was crucified / Easter story, and denies his divinity. So why read what a Muslim has to say about Christ?!
Because he knows what he is talking about. He isn't writing about Jesus from a religious perspective. He has pieced together what Jesus' day-to-day life would have been like, and recreated the religious and political climates of the day as a factor in why Jesus was persecuted and crucified.
Jesus would have welcomed Muslims and discussed religion with them over dinner had they existed when he was around. He, after all, was the one who recounted the parable of the Good Samaritan, who took care of a stranger in his land hated by those who lived there. The traveler was beset by bandits, if you recall, and left in a ditch to die. The Samaritan took him to an inn and pledged payment for the inkeeper to nurse him back to health, even though he should have hated the man like his neighbors and let him die.
Stories like these are what I remember best about my dalliance with Christianity. They are most instructive, and teach tolerance, acceptance, and love for thoose who are different. I figured as a Christian you would want to follow the examples taught by your figurehead.
I’m not going to read the book by a Muslim Iranian pro-Muslim anti-Christian guy.
It is enough telling me that he is a Muslim, and don’t want to read what a Muslim has to say about Jesus.
Muslims don’t believe Jesus was crucified / Easter story, and denies his divinity. So why read what a Muslim has to say about Christ?!
Actually, Azlan, is fairly moderate and understandable, even to those of us that don't believe religous Islam is compatable with western values.
I honestly wonder if they're actually just plants by the extreme far right (Alex Jones types) who are there specifically to discredit actual liberals.
I suspect this kind of thinking stems from the belief, perpetuated by leftists, that only ring wingers can be authoritarian. Nothing could be further from the truth.
That's an incredibly superficial and ignorant statement. Religion just gets replaced with non-religious ideologies. Just look at communism. The USSR, with its enforced atheism, was a murderous regime. Same for China. Millions upon millions slaughtered.
Unlike the vast majority of folks posting here, I have spent considerable time in Malaysia. Want to know the truth? The odds are they got caned because they didn't bribe someone. Thats the reality there. The "justice" system there is insanely corrupt, and things like this are more about people not paying off the cops like everyone else does.
Always good to get a bit of an insiders perspective, although I'm not sure what you've said makes the situation there any better.
Keep in mind that the OP hates the first amendment because of the establishment clause, and thinks many religions, including a few Christian ones, should be banned, in favor of Christian religions that s(he) personally approves of (as well as banning atheists like Bill Maher, of course). Somehow I doubt that s(he) thinks that punishing gays is a bad thing. S(he) just disapproves of the fact that in Malaysia, Muslims have the power to do the punishing.
Don’t take my word for it. Search the forum yourself.
Oh definitely. The OP is basically advocating for a (Christian) theocracy, which goes against the whole idea of the US constitution - and the origins of the USA where people came to worship as they please. That applies to ALL people, not just Christians.
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