Yeah, I said "and others", too, Josephus. You even quoted me saying that.

<<They themselves are the absolute authority!>>

Nothing "absolute" about that. Nor is it any different to theists. Theists simply attribute the same conscience and faculties to a god instead; a god that'll always agree with them anyway.

Are you going to actually mount a serious argument by responding to everything I say, rather than simply cherry-picking, or are you just going to sit there and waste both our posting allowance with demonstrable nonsense all night?

//And what does it mean to be “absolute”? Sounds like New Age mumbo jumbo to me.//

There are only two things that are absolute, pure logic and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

//They themselves are the absolute authority!//

Shocking, right!? I mean, people just shouldn't be trusted with their own morality: hang your conscience and your critical faculties, and just do whatever the nice, charismatic young man with the good speaking at the front says you should do. His moral judgement must be way better than that of us regular people, because pastors never, ever do anything naughty like raping children. If you check your scriptures, you'll find that whoever wrote that particular bit loves sheep and hates goats. That's because sheep are easily (mis)led, whilst goats have this annoying tendency to think for themselves and resist being herded as easily.

Dear Josephus,

You wrote: “The only way one can compare Islam and Christianity is to look at the lifestyle and teachings of its founders.”

There is a better way, and it can found in the Bible. Matthew 7:16 By their fruits shall ye know them.

In a previous post I mentioned some of the bloody fruits of Christianity.

Unfortunately Christians tend to disavow the acts of other Christians by attacking them as not real Christians because they don’t like what they do or by attacking them because they belong to another denomination as you did in attacking Catholicism.

In regard to the first disavowal one can ask why didn’t their religion make them behave better.

In regard to the second disavowal one can find many instances where different Christian sects act the same.

In 1553 Michael Servetus who made discoveries about pulmonary circulation was burned at the stake in Protestant Geneva.

In 1600 Giordano Bruno who thought that the stars could be distant suns with planets revolving around them was burned at the stake in Catholic Rome.

david f,
Where does Christ say or encourage to burn people at the stake? Both were and are political systems of Government. Christ neve aligned himself with a political system. They are both systems of human control over others. Christ appealed to the individual not the State, "follow me".

Dear Josephus,

By their fruits shall ye know them. Where do Christians get their bloodiness? Jesus claimed that only through him could one enter the kingdom of heaven. It doesn't matter how good a life you lived or how decent a person you were. Only if you accepted the mumbojumbo of Jesus were you ok. Jesus was a bloody bigot, and the religion established in his name reflects his bigotry.

Jesus also said that you were either with him or against him. There were many mumbojumbo artists who could say the same thing. I would place Jesus along with Moses, Mohammed, Lao Tze, Buddha etc. and say I am neither with nor against any of them. All the foregoing promulgated various delusionary systems, and I think humanity can dispense with all of that nonsense.

david f,
You miss the point of his words. You are still fighting in your own mind. Look at the example of his life, is it the way, the true way the type of life a society should function. He refused to follow the religious zealots of Israel who wanted to fight Rome. He instead cared for the Romans and healed a daughter of a Roman guard. Living in God's kingdom meant being selfless and caring for others, including one who is an enemy. No one realizes the true nature of God's kingdom until one can truly care for one's enemies well being. "Forgive them they know what they do"