Reply #18: Four and Six

[Onus]

Suras Four and Six are both pretty graphic. During the run up to the last election I bought a Koran and read it. I had the same question as Rocknrule.

In a historical context Christianity and Islam have been the most violent religions - to those of other faiths. With respect to Christianity this is somewhat odd because the New Testament - the part that Christianity is based on - doesn't contain a single call to violence. It actually preaches a "turn the other cheek" theme embodied by someone like Gandhi. Over time that message has finally come through. More than likely brought about by moderates who got rid of the extremists. I suspect that the violence was committed in an attempt to convert (subjugate) followers of other religions.

With it's more violent Holy Book, Jewish violence toward other faiths has been virtually non-existent. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Torah does not call for the conversion of followers other religions.

Islam on the other hand calls for conversion of non-believers, and subjugation of other religions in a violent manner. The theme that is repeated over and over is: a) conquer a given area b) impose Sharia c) repeat. Does the book make them do it? No. As someone else has already pointed out - extremists use it to justify their actions.

Under Sharia non-Muslim residents are to be treated as follows:

It is up to the conquering leader to decide whether to a) kill all the non-believers b) allow them to convert or to remain non-believers and pay a tax c) make them slaves or d) ransom them. According to the Koran the preferred method is 'b' because it allows Muslims to keep the yoke on non-believers.

The "people" that practice Islam aren't any better or worse than the "people" that practice any other religion, but the "religion" is without a doubt more violent than most. The end result is that today most of the fighting and bloodshed today is being ignited by Muslims. (Yes I realize that Iraq was invaded by a Christian. That's why I said 'most' and not 'all'.)