Let's hope Foxy's silence indicates she is reading :)

Dear Proxy,

I haven't read the Qur'an, but then I
haven't read many other religious
texts. I am not a theologian. I have
my own religion.

In order for me to be
able to make any sort of judgement on
anybody else's religious texts -
I would have to spend years studying
them, and even then - the texts are
open to individual interpretation,
a person's personal orientation,
knowledge, experience, and of course -
bias.

Barbara Thiering spent over 20 years
in her studies, prior to writing the
book, "Jesus The Man." She presented the
virgin birth, the miracles, and the
resurrection in an entirely new light.
And as she pointed out - they were never
literal events --- nor were they myths,
traditional legends, as scholars have
often held. Something really did happen,
and what happened opened up a whole new
understanding of historical Christianity.

Dear Steven,

It may help you instead of counting how
many times Israel is mentioned (or not)
in various threads - to take a look at
the context in which it is being mentioned
and why.

Dear Foxy....you said:

//I haven't read the Qur'an, but then I
haven't read many other religious
texts. I am not a theologian. I have
my own religion.//

Fine..but if you have not read the Quran...on what basis can you (or Morgan or Pericles) condemn those who have...as being "Islampophobic"?

It makes no sense at all.

You don't need to read it all..nor do years of study. Common sense should tell you that you only need look for the core teaching, and it's summarized in many places. Then.. the wise enquirer would look for criticisms... and then.. look at the grounds and basis for those criticisms..and do a bit of comparative reading..and then form a conclusion based on the above.

You only need to know that (for example) "Judaism advocates the killing of all non Jews".. just that ONE bit.. is enough for you to explore the claim (which is false by the way).. see on what evidence it might be based...and finally.. put it all together on a balance of probability.

Say for example.. Judaism says:

-Respect your parents.
-Love your neighbour.
-Help the fatherless.

You think. WOW..all that is really great !

Then you look for 'criticism of Judaism' and a wiki article will generally include that.

So..click click.. you open up Wikipedia and type "Judaism" then you see the headings "controversies"

-Kill non Jews.

Now..in such an article, it will have information about 'who' makes this claim.. and on what such a claim is based. Then..you can see their sources.. and evaluate their arguments.

It's not that hard

If you make pronouncements on other peoples motives or arguments without exploring their reasons why..that is irrational and a phobia :)

Dear Al,

You have created the perception people
have of you.

Deal with it.

Well said, Foxy.

He doth protest too much, methinks :)

Dont worry Foxy; you are too witty and intelligent for those new souls with a great deal to learn. Keep educating [as you do best in your profession]:students can be rather nasty and hurtful, part of the process of learning for some [admittedly myself on occasions too].