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Having read this since this thread started, and also being something of a
Pentecostal (read "fundamentalist") Christian myself, this is what I come up
with: There is enough evil and to spare in any religion if you want to look
hard enough. Sometimes you don't have to look all that hard, either. My
faith has had times of the most terrible things one man can do to another in
the Name of God, things which God would find detestable. Some of it is Dark
Ages stuff, but you can find examples today of people doing detestable
things to other people in the Name of God. Notably, this is happening in
Northern Ireland, where the Catholics and the Protestants just can't seem to
get along with each other. (Note: On closer examination, this is actually a
political battle; the Catholics want one Ireland, driving the British out,
and the Protestants have strong ties to England dating back to the days of
William of Orange, they wish to keep political arrangements the way they
are.) Here in America, we have the "Christian Identity" movement of White
Supremacists, who seem to think that God hates everybody just like they do
and sometimes resort to violence to make their point.
My personal experience with Muslims is pretty limited. While it is
impossible to spend as much time in as many parts of the Chicago Metro Area
as I do without coming across a fairly large number of them, the fact is
that I haven't spent any time in depth in their community. Most of the ones
I've met seem to be decent enough folk, trying to make a living and worship
God according to their beliefs. The problem we have right now is that there
is a vocal and rather militant group that seems to want to destroy anybody
else (including you and me) who do not subscribe to their particular brand
of Islam.
I'll freely confess here that I've never run across any militant Jews in my
travels. I've met plenty of Jews, they populate a fairly large part of the
North Side of the City and Near North suburban area, again most seem to be
trying to live and worship according to their beliefs, and the ones I've
spent any amount of time with have been decent folk.
On Tuesday, August 10, 2004 9:29 AM, WEBMASTER wrote;
Anthony: Ancesters yes, but with the Reformation and actually before with
Spinoza, all that changed considerably. It was not that way in the period
of the Roman conquest. You are talking really ancient history, which is
heavily laden with Pagan influence and these are Pagan rites and
traditons. How many times must I state here that even the orthodox do not
observe these as commandments. I suggest you reference the Halacha and not
the SIX books of Moses as your source for customary practices of the
fundamentalists. Secondly, as I have stated before, over 80% of all Jews
are NOT orthodox and many of them are atheists, more than in any other
religion. The religion of Judaism even encourages challenges old ideas and
free thinking - more than any other creedo I know. It is really apples
and oranges to set up these kinds of comparisons Anthony and often the
method of antisemites and not what I would expect from you.
Hank
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