2 comments

• jmorton8

  March 26, 2017 9:02 pm

  

  I agree but what is the point..Are you trying to make a parellel, between Christian and Islamic extremists? Extremists from both religions m are by false ideology compelled into extreme actions. It doesn’t make either one right, nor is one more justified by another. While neither is justified, we have a crisis where an organized militant faction within the Islamic world has taken root and 100,000’s are dying as a result or a direct result of Islamic extremism. That doesn’t excuse this behavior or more extreme cases, but to act as they are one in the same is also just not the reality on the ground. Christianity certainly had its hay-day as the most oppressive and persucatorial religion. This gave rise to seperation of church and state. In this reformative period, the power of the church was stripped of its legal authority and the modern world adopted secular law concerning civil matters. In much of the Islamic world, this hasn’t taken place and many of the systemic issues that surrounded the earlier Christian church has not undertaken the same reformation. By specific doctrines but more importantly the doctrine of Sharia “law”, Islam has an interwoven governments into a religious authoritative body and in many countries the church and the civic law are one in the same. This is why the weat rejects and will always reject the concept of Sharia law, because our ancestors have bore the brunt of the church and its former oppressive practices. Thisnis much like Muslims who are now suffering the brunt of Islamic extremism. The concept of Sharia as guidance towards a more perfect life is not rejected, but when it is imposed as “law” it becomes just another zealous crusade. So while the mechanism is fundamentally the same, if you focus on countries where Christianity is more prevelant you will find that the church doesn’t hold the same power or authority regarding legal/civil matters. As a result of secularism, we can see where people stray from scriptural law as they are given the freedom to believe what they believe. Many in the Islamic world who have come from repressive regimes, see this lack of order as chaos and they denounce the modern world as infidels and blasphemers. At the sametime, leaders of Muslim countries even use Islam as justification for more human attrocity. Should we be killing people who have affairs? Should we chop off hands if someone steals? Should we fight over territory based on our faith or our ancestral interpration of The Bible or The Quran? Should we hate people or kill them because they don’t believe in our religion? No, No, No..But aside from a few insular cults which we have also to deal with, Christianity has been placated by secular bodies and whether the church wants to challenge it or not we all answer to the same law that is neither Christian, Jewish or Islamic. In Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Syria and many predominantly Muslim countries, zealots & opportunists of Islam take advantage of people’s devotion and distort laws and basic human decency as means to seize power and manipulate religion for their nefarious ends. While I have nothing against Islam in and of itself, I will never accept nor trust any religious organization who govern people and impose their will as the standalone authority. If the Islamic world doesn’t reform to this standard they will live in the dark ages until they do, and their zealots and corrupt officials/priests will oppress their people and essentially try and impose their will on all the world. The Middle East has many natural resources and should not be as impoverished as it is, but because people put their trust in man to carry out the word of God as opposed to trusting in God to do His bidding, they are continuously subjugated by systemic failures and corruption. As a conscious observer I have found that Muslims look to blame everyone Jews, Christians, the “west” and so forth as the root to so much strife. Now I am not ingnorant and I do have my reservations about the treatment of Palestinians, I also feel that Jews have an ancestoral right to exist in Israel as they had been there for 1000’s of yrs. However, aside from that land dispute is a collective system of governments who inflict inhumane and severe punishment based on a skewed understanding regarding the purpose & implementation of Islamic law. These issues are much larger and terribly more difficult to deal with because they give way to Tyranny and allow the true infidels to amass power in the name of a false god. The closest Christianity may have to power is through the vatican and I am not a big supporter of their interpretation of Christian values..We have seen where they too have been corrupted and when their own gov’t becomes corrupt then it reflects as Christianity being corrupt. Im Christian but I don’t feel affiliated in any way with Catholic dogma, not how they are a heirarchal organization. By having so much money, they too flirt with too much power within the political structure of many nations. However, by trying to equate an isolated incident or an exception and compare it to Islamic terrorism is not accurate and the two are not the same. I in no way justify this act ir any act by fear-mongerers who assume all of Islam is at fault, but I also think Muslims worldwide need to consider how they practice Islam and if they determine Mosque’s and sheikhs should be writing, preaching and enforcing the law of the land, or impose sharia then it will be denounced and correctly assessed as a corrupt institution. I say that only from what history has taught us, not because I am Christian.
• Shaad Rangila

  September 23, 2017 1:05 pm

  

  I don’t understand why you think he’s making a parallel….he’s simply narrating an incident and if i was a christian i would simply agree with the author and condemn these actions instead of writing a long paragraphs about Islamic extremism and sharia law…