. . .The Quran said Muhammad was sent to show the mercy of God to the world. But became a military dictator, attacking, killing and taking plunder to finance his empire. How is that showing mercy? Allah, the god revealed in the Quran, is not a loving father. It says that he desires to lead people astray (Surah 6:39, 126). He does not help those who are led astray by him (Surah 30:29) and desires to use them to populate hell (Surah 32:13) . . . Islam is full of discrimination—against women, against non-Muslims, against Christians and most especially against Jews. Hatred is built in to the religion. . . . The history of Islam, which was my special area of study, could only be characterized as a river of blood. . . .I was questioning the faith and the Quran with my students at the university. Some of them were members of terrorist movements, and they were enraged: “You can’t accuse Islam. What has happened to you? You have to teach us. You have to agree to Islam.” The university heard about it, and I was called in for a meeting in December 1991. To summarize the meeting, I told them what was in my heart: “I can no longer say that the Quran comes directly from heaven or from Allah. This cannot be the revelation of the true God.” . . .These were very blasphemous words, in their opinion. They spat in my face. One man cursed me, “You blasphemer. You bastard.” The university fired me and called the Egyptian secret police. . . Suggest you Google his full testimony and make up your own mind

R0bert

"Jardine K. Jardine, the christian scriptures have enough places with commands about killing."

The New Testament doesn't, and the whole point about being Christian, is that they believe that Christ came to put in place a 'new covenant', in other words, to supersede the Old Testament's ethic of an 'eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' with 'love God above all and your neighbour as yourself', 'love your enemy', 'turn the other cheek', 'go the extra mile' and all that jazz. That's what distinguishes Christians from Jews. However Christ was a Jew and in common with Christians he believed in the Old Testament book of Genesis, with its account of original sin, because without that, there would be no need for Jesus to save man from sin. The whole point about being Christian is that they don't share the Jewish belief in the Old Testament, otherwise they'd be Jews. In particular, they don't share the old ethic of divine favour based on ethnicity and violent chauvinism, but replaced it with a doctrine of divine favour based on grace and faith in Jesus and good works and love your brother man. All they're missing is the mung beans - and the promiscuous sex.

I'm well aware that Christians have done lots of persecuting down through the ages. In fact Edward Gibbon, in his excellent history of the early church in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, said to the following effect: People make much of the persecution of the Christians by the Romans. But the persecution of the Christians by the Romans, was nothing compared to the persecution of the Christians by the Christians.

But the point is that, in doing so, they are not doing what Christ told them to do, they are doing what Christ told them not to do.

Dear SPQR,

Please mate don't inflict another Israeli propaganda site on us. Gather your own information, find your own source documents, make your own assessment, draw your own conclusion, then state your case. It really isn't that hard. Almost every other poster here is capable of it so give it a try. I promise to respond when you do.

Dear Jardine K. Jardine,

What on earth are you talking about?

Christ called non-Jews dogs and swine. He referred to Jews who were not of his sect as serpents and vipers destined for the damnation of hell.

You tell us;

“People make much of the persecution of the Christians by the Romans. But the persecution of the Christians by the Romans, was nothing compared to the persecution of the Christians by the Christians. But the point is that, in doing so, they are not doing what Christ told them to do, they are doing what Christ told them not to do.”

I repeat Christ's words which you seem to want to deny;

"Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against three . . . "

Cont...

Cont...

That household is of course the Christian community and wars between Protestants, Catholics ,Orthodox Christians etc have been of horrific proportions. But for me the greatest tragedy was the slaughter of the followers of the Carthar faith.

“Jonathan Barker cited the Albigensian Crusade, launched by Pope Innocent III against followers of Catharism, as an example of Christian state terrorism. The 20-year war led to an estimated one million casualties. The Cathar teachings rejected the principles of material wealth and power as being in direct conflict with the principle of love. They worshiped in private houses rather than churches, without the sacraments or the cross, which they rejected as part of the world of matter, and sexual intercourse was considered sinful, but in other respects they followed conventional teachings, reciting the Lord's prayer and reading from Biblical scriptures.”

“They held that the physical world was evil and created by Rex Mundi, who encompassed all that was corporeal, chaotic and powerful; the second god, the one whom they worshipped, was entirely disincarnate: a being or principle of pure spirit and completely unsullied by the taint of matter – He was the god of love, order and peace. According to Barker, the Albigenses had developed a culture that "fostered tolerance of Jews and Muslims, respect for women and women priests, the appreciation of poetry, music and beauty, [had it] been allowed to survive and thrive, it is possible the Europe might have been spared its wars of religion, its witch-hunts and its holocausts of victims sacrificed in later centuries to religious and ideological bigotry". When asked by his followers how to differentiate between heretics and the ordinary public, Abbe Arnaud Amalric, head of the Cistercian monastic order, simply said "Kill them all, God will recognize his own!"

By your measure Catholics are not Christians then.

Steele, "That household is of course the Christian community and wars between Protestants, Catholics ,Orthodox Christians etc have been of horrific proportions."

I read the 'household' as Jewish, split by Christ's teachings. Here is the deepest analysis I've found, but please do provide alternatives.
http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/matthew_10_34.htm

Poirot, it's just as important to you to throw all religion into equivalence because you abhor social division. You're not alone, but look:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-cover-we-are-not-charlie-say-the-dissenting-voices-angered-further-by-french-solidarity-9976166.html

This doesn't bode well for future social solidarity, but it's a fact of life that I am sure you will fit to your own narrative. It's not religion, right?

I am an atheist, honest. Should it disqualify me from religious discourse?

Luciferase,

"I am an atheist, honest. Should it disqualify me from religious discourse?"

No,of course it doesn't - go ahead.

Forgive me if I get a little weary of the never-ending cherry picks.

It's just that humanity is at once reasonable and insane, compassionate and savage, physically earthbound and psychologically transcendent.

And most of all, it reeks of hypocrisy.

Gets a bit much to stomach at times.