Truth or opinion?
Reader comment on item: Talking Freely about the Enemy

Submitted by Rebecca Moulds (United States), Mar 7, 2009 at 15:18

Geert Wilders has every right to defend himself, to speak out against Islam if he so believes it to be wholly and utterly wrong. That is his opinion, and some would say he's wrong. But he is also wrong that Christianity has changed; it is the interpretation throughout the ages that has changed. The New Testament isn't the only part of the Bible that has violence: The Old Testament certainly is violent---the Scriptures are full of the most violent acts that humans can commit.

That isn't the point; many Christians today still believe that the Bible is inspired of God, His word. What is wrtten in there is for our admonition and learning, but not for the judging of others. The Crusades, and then later the Spanish Inquisition, were very violent and so wrong. True Christians today recognise that these attempts at forced conversion were horribly wrong. True Chrisitianity does not force others to believe by torture or death, we have a free will to choose which way we will go, what we will believe. Radical Islam forces what they call "infidels" to believe in Islam sometimes through torture and death. Today, radical Islam can be equated to the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition; those renegades from their religions, took it upon themselves to judge and to persecute; what radical Islam is doing today is simply repeating history. And that is what has to be recognised and changed if Islam is to survive.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.