Hi Fester,

Prior to 1948 about 650,000 Jews lived in Palestine, they coexisted with Arabs under a British mandate, before that under Ottoman rule. The Ottoman's (Muslims) had no problem with the Jews or their religion, in fact over the centuries they had far more problems with the Christian Europeans than they did with Jews. To say; "religious duty to exterminate the Jews" not true, from a biblical sense, Muslims view Jews as a branch on the same tree as them. There was never any attempt by Muslims to convert Jews to Islam, like Christians they believe in one common God.

Hi Paul,

Yes, we live in a dynamic world, and the practice of religion varies. What's relevant is how Islam is being practiced by Palestinians, and that seems to involve bringing up kids with the desire to exterminate the Jews and become martyrs. UNRWA is involved with this child abuse, and thanks to Albo and Penny, Australians are supporting the abuse of children financially.

https://palwatch.org/page/34796

Dear Paul,

Indeed, Islam has no problem with Jews and indeed the whole Middle-East situation has little to do with religion.

What Arabs (which only happen to also be Muslim) do have a serious problem with, is the modernity and progress brought from Europe by the Zionist movement, threatening the rule of clergy and of men over women. The Arabs initially welcomed the Zionists and certainly welcomed their money, but then it was the clerics and Muftis who incited the masses against the Zionists. They may have used the word "Jews" as pretext, but they were fine with the Orthodox Jews who already lived among them.

As the Arab world gradually comes out of the Middle Ages, more Arab countries are happy to make peace with Israel. Indonesia too is now about to normalise relations with Israel.

The reality is that conservatives of any religion are happy to live with each other and so are progressives of any religion.

Hi Yuyutsu,

Something I think we can agree on, the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are in different stages of religious and social development. I believe Christianity is the most socially developed of the three, although Judaism is the oldest, and Islam the youngest. Fundamentalism and orthodoxy are far more evident in Judaism and Islam than it is in Christianity, which has very much past through that phase of its development, "thank Christ for that", and thanks to the Age of Enlightenment which swept across Europe starting in the 17th Century, but still remnants of Christian fundamentalism and orthodoxy still exist. I think you may find some of that in the stabbing of the Assyrian Orthodox Christian Bishop in Sydney, and the subsequent riot by his followers. I believe fundamentalism of religion in any form has no place in a modern progressive society like ours.

Dear Paul,

To begin with, I do not believe the "three Abrahamic religions" to actually be religions.

That doesn't mean that people cannot successfully utilise and incorporate elements of Judaism, Christianity and/or Islam as part of their own religion - many in fact do!

While Christianity was kicked off by the followers of an enlightened sage, Jesus Christ, it quickly deteriorated into a political movement, then split into several factions, most of which later transformed into social movements.

Islam is one of these factions, originally started as an heretical Christian sect.

Judaism on the other hand, is a national movement from the start. While its legends go earlier in time, what most consider to be its religious aspects as are known today, are not that old and dated around 800 A.D., likely following Christianity's example.

This could possibly explain your thesis why fundamentalism is still relatively more evident in the younger Islam AND Judaism than in the older Christianity.

We don't like fundamentalism, but it is a fact which provides a better explanation as to what occurred in Israel during the first half of the 20th century when old and new clashed.