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We just got duped centuries ago
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Date Created
- 26 Sep 2006
Date Edited
- 26 Sep 2006 06:51:32 PM
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WAS EMPEROR MANUEL RIGHT?—Let us leave the “controversy” well alone and look at the Emperor Manuel’s challenge to his learned Muslim interlocutor in full:
Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith that he preached. God is not pleased by blood—and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats. To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death.
Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith that he preached. God is not pleased by blood—and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats. To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death.
Pope Benedict
Click on image for a larger version
"Peace loving" Islam - my foot, who's kidding who?
Call me paranoid but I can't trust these people
We just got duped a few centuries too long
In much of my reading and learning I failed to find any of the constituent elements of faith within the application of Islam. Unlike Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism, which all have both the inner elements (love, devotion, belief, benevolence, salvation, forgiveness, support, care, mercy, etc.) and outer elements (a building of some kind (a temple, church), a ritual of typical following (prayer, wish for common good). It is sorely evident that Islam only has the “cosmetic” elements of faith (a temple and a ritual), while any other more deeply rooted elements of faith remain non-existent. To me, Islam has always been much like any sect with a strong following, but it seems that the cosmetic application and a steady performance of the rituals has convinced the previous worlds that Islam is a bona-fide religion, in spite of the fact that doesn’t offer salvation, does not have any benevolent elements of charity, mercy, compassion, love, loving kindness or similar charitable based elements.
So how is it that we all got so duped?
Simple. It is a deeply rooted Christian doctrine to be of accepting nature as much as it is to turn “the other cheek”, as much as it is to take things “at face value”. It is therefore simple to see that our Christian values were escalated into our collective hubris, and Islam simply took both the Sun Tzu and Von Clausewitz’s military strategy view that the best defense is offense. Hence, Islam has been on the offence since the 7th Century and the words of Emperor Manuel are correct, true and complete in the very first sentence “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith that he preached.” The answer is simple – absolutely nothing. As much as “affirmative action” was a poorly chosen remedy for the social ills of the African Americans some 20 or 30 years ago, and ineffective in reversing the slavery issues, so is the “tolerance and understanding of Islam” a poorly chosen remedy for what we call “interfaith relations”.
Wasn't it not so long that we had Islam cry foul at the Danish cartoons?
Let's not even ask the obvious: Pope mentions that Islam is violent and Islam reacts with violence (?)
What's up with that flawed logic?
In much of my reading and learning I failed to find any of the constituent elements of faith within the application of Islam. Unlike Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism, which all have both the inner elements (love, devotion, belief, benevolence, salvation, forgiveness, support, care, mercy, etc.) and outer elements (a building of some kind (a temple, church), a ritual of typical following (prayer, wish for common good). It is sorely evident that Islam only has the “cosmetic” elements of faith (a temple and a ritual), while any other more deeply rooted elements of faith remain non-existent. To me, Islam has always been much like any sect with a strong following, but it seems that the cosmetic application and a steady performance of the rituals has convinced the previous worlds that Islam is a bona-fide religion, in spite of the fact that doesn’t offer salvation, does not have any benevolent elements of charity, mercy, compassion, love, loving kindness or similar charitable based elements.
So how is it that we all got so duped?
Simple. It is a deeply rooted Christian doctrine to be of accepting nature as much as it is to turn “the other cheek”, as much as it is to take things “at face value”. It is therefore simple to see that our Christian values were escalated into our collective hubris, and Islam simply took both the Sun Tzu and Von Clausewitz’s military strategy view that the best defense is offense. Hence, Islam has been on the offence since the 7th Century and the words of Emperor Manuel are correct, true and complete in the very first sentence “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith that he preached.” The answer is simple – absolutely nothing. As much as “affirmative action” was a poorly chosen remedy for the social ills of the African Americans some 20 or 30 years ago, and ineffective in reversing the slavery issues, so is the “tolerance and understanding of Islam” a poorly chosen remedy for what we call “interfaith relations”.
Wasn't it not so long that we had Islam cry foul at the Danish cartoons?
Let's not even ask the obvious: Pope mentions that Islam is violent and Islam reacts with violence (?)
What's up with that flawed logic?
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