Isn't it about time we admit that both Christianity and Islam come from a more repressive time in the distant past and that both have some good laws and both have some horrific ones that most modern people would hate to live under?

I agree with the half-pregnant statement, there is no point ignoring the bad bits if they are obviously as unacceptable as they are.

As long as you are picking pieces from the Koran here are some oppressive and unacceptable laws from the New Testament. Go look them up:

Support for the'divine right of Kings' (dictators) to rule:
1 Pet. 2:13,14 Rom.13:1-2 Luke 19:12-27

Those who don't work should starve:
Galatians 3:10 - (no mention of the sick)

Women Rights:

Abuse of Widows:
1Tim.5:9-5:14

Restrictions on women's dress:
1Tim.2:9 modestly covered and no decorations
1 Corinthians 11:6 If a woman not cover her head (when praying) then her head should be shaved (men don't have to because he is the image of God)

Women not to teach the word.
1Tim.2:12

Women not to speak in church:
1Corinthians14:34

Women to be taught by husbands:
1 Corinthians14:35

Women subjected to men:
1Tim.2:13-14
1Peter3:1
Colossians 3:18
Eph.5:22-24

Women who study are silly and sinladen:
2Timothy.3:6-7

Women were created for the benefit of man and not the other way round:
1 Corinthians11:9

Peter 2:8 Calls Lot a righteous man even though he knowingly gave up his two daughters to be raped and murdered by the crowd in order to protect his guests.

Animals:
1 Corinthians 9:9-10 God doesn't care about animals

All must become christians
Phillipians2:10

Approval of Slavery:
Eph.6:5
Col.3:22
1 Tim.6:1
Titus 2:10-11
Even against abusive masters slaves should not protect themselves:
1 Pet.2:18-2:20

Philemon1:10-1:19 Paul returns a runaway slave to his master

Christians not to sue Christians (others are fair game)
1 Corinthians.6:1-7

Unacceptable people, to be shunned, caste out of the Christian community and caste into the pit by God after death:

Jews, Idolators, witches, heretics, anyone who disagrees with Paul, Cretans, Jesters, homosexuals, adulterers, unbelievers (not to marry or to be friends with as well), greedy people, fornicators, the effeminate, drunkards, extortionists, revilers, Edomites, unbaptised, Canaanites, sorcerers, liars,etc and very hard for the rich

And that is just the New Testament, so what about the Old Testament?

Mathew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

The Old Testament is full of horrific laws and although a lot of Christians like to ignore it, it is approx 3/4 of their Holy Book and approved by Jesus himself.

Jumila there are plenty of exhortations against witches in the Bible and:

Exodus 22:18"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"
Levitucus 20:27 "A man or woman in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die: they shall stone them"

were the basis of the witch trials.

Fellow_Human,

Sorry I was talking about your alleged prophet and my God Jesus.

I agree with GZ Tan that intellect is not one of islam's genetic traits.

I have given you a summary of your prophet’s career –

YOUR RESPONSE? TRUE or FALSE?

If you were a soldier in the Australian Army – and lo and behold Indonesia decides to invade us …

Will you as a muslim aim at your muslim brothers and kill them?

Will you quit the army on moral grounds?

Will you fight with your muslim brothers against the Australian infidels?

_____________

On that inheritance thingy – I wonder if your daughters know that under Sharia they will only get one eighth of half of what their brothers will get.

So if “consenting adult women” prefer to be treated that way, they should continue to get what they rightly deserve from islam.
_____________

Thanks for recommending that site: http://www.freemuslims.org/

From which I quote:

Sharia is the constitution of the institution of Political Islam, which is defined Maolana Mawdudi (1903-1971), the father of modern Political Islam:

"Where an explicit command of God or His Prophet already exists, no Muslim leader or legislature, or any religious scholar can form an independent judgment not even all the Muslims of the world put together, have any right to make least alteration to it".

and,

"Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere in the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam?.. If the Muslim Party commands adequate resources it will eliminate un-Islamic governments and establish the power of Islamic governments in their stead."

Yet Sharia is not merely a codification of laws. It is the main pillar of Islamic theocracy. To its followers it is God's divine command to establish a global Islamic State in order to apply Sharia.

Believing so is regarded as alliance to Islam itself. All books on Sharia law univocally maintain this dictum.

End quotes

Lets get some perspective here.

Yes, Christianity and Islam (as outlined in their holy books), do have unacceptable presscriptions for modern life. The difference between the two is that in the west we have secular states, and nowhere is the New Testament directly imposed on citizens as law. Sharia, for its part, is the explicit maifestation of Koranic teachings as the law for those nations that are Islamic.

I know which type of country I would rather live in.

As a "christian" I would never advocate that we live according to the biblical laws written two thousand years ago. Times change, everything changes.
That is the peril with Islam, nothing has changed, they still slavishly follow the dogma written fifteen hundred years ago and would force the rest of the world to do the same.
I agree with Arjay. There has been a little nibbling from the Muslims wanting Sharia. They have gone quiet but when the time is ripe , they will try again. Maybe getting a little bit then another and another until they win.
The old 'marginalising' trick will be pulled again with the unsaid threat always in the background.
They will not give in and we must be vigilant that our coming generations do not live under the oppressiveness that is Islam.

Response to Fellow_Human:

I stand corrected – I cannot find any references to Islamic leadership advocating changes to our legal system to accommodate Sharia law.

This is beginning to look like a dastardly plot by imaginary pro-sharia muslims agitating for widescale changes to our legal system. The whole thing sounds scary but when you scratch the surface and there is nothing there but a few random nutters with virtually no support. There are enough issues to deal with integrating Australian Muslims with mainstream society without making new ones up.

Can anyone on this forum show me an example of remotely mainstream Australian Islamic leadership calling for changes to our legal system to accommodate any form of Sharia law?

Leaving aside the “Islam is evil” and “they are all lying to you” arguments for a minute – can anyone tell me what is wrong with people trying to follow their interpretation of civil Sharia law within the current Australian legal framework?

On a more worrying note, I have noticed that the Muslim population was 500,000 mid last year according to an ABC news article, another article two weeks ago measured it at 300,000 and one last week was 400,000. I think the Muslims are up to something nasty here – they have made 200,000 people disappear and managed to increase their population by a third in one week. This is an issue that warrants further investigation!