Daniel J. Pipes

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Same God, Different Religion

Reader comment on item: Is Allah God? - Continued
in response to reader comment: Can never be the same - here's why

Submitted by Averroes (United States), Sep 29, 2006 at 12:16

Supercrusader: Have you noticed the contradiction in your post? You write: "12 men went to their deaths proclaiming that a publicly executed man had been brought back from the dead. Very hard to believe that they would die for a lie. " But you clearly believe that Islam is a lie. Yet we know that plenty of Muslims are prepared to die. People's willingness to die only shows that they believe strongly, it does not demonstrate the truth of the matter. (Furthermore, all of the 12 might have been lying. It's simply an act of faith on your part that they weren't.)

And while you note that "Mo bastardised huge sections of [the Bible]", Christianity begins by interpreting (to use your words, bastardizing) another religion's sacred text. While Christianity claims the five books of Moses and the Prophets as its own, Christianity appropriated these from Judaism. If Christianity can make an "authoritative" interpretation of another religions text, why too can't Islam? Indeed, Islam is far more theologically consistent with the God of Moses than with the worship of a Man. Your argument is merely a tautology which we already knew: Islam is a different religion that Christianity. But that does not mean Muslims are worshipping a different God.

You can (and shoud) critique the conduct of some Muslims and the prevailing Wahhabi interpretation of the Koran, but it will be interesting to see if Islam manages to grow up, as Christianity managed to do after it had satisfied its blood lust in such noble acts as the Crusades, the Reformation, the Inquisition, etc., etc.


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 and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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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 and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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