Saturday Morning Confusion #496

This morning I am so confused that it makes my head ache.

I am reading the Saturday morning paper and noticed an article about the "Religion of Peace," and how a British exchange teacher Gillian Gibbons allowed one of her students in Sudan to name his teddy bear Mohammad.

So what, you say!

Well, "what it is," is that Islam is no more a "Religion of Peace" than I am the King of Bavaria.

The Sudanese people got so upset over this "insult" to Mohammad that they are now holding mass demonstrations calling for the EXECUTION of poor old Gillian.

No slap on the wrist, no comments such as; "that ain't nice," or no "tsk tsk" under their breath, NO! Everyone jumped up and started yelling "KILL THE BITCH!"

This naturally brings us to the question; "Is Islam a religion of Peace?" NO!

Let me give you a quick quote from my book "The Plain Truth About God" where we turn our attention from Christianity to the tenants of Islam!

Islam was born out of war and conquest over 1300 years ago and has remained violent ever since.

(It remained violent, but has not progressed in any way shape or form since. The mindset of the average Muslim in the Middle-East is still firmly anchored somewhere between the eighth and twelfth century.)

Traditional authorities, beginning in the time shortly after Muhammad, viewed holy law as the revealed will of God and subordinated politics to holy decree.

Historically however, it was politics (tribal or otherwise) that invariable shaped Islamic law and led to complex discourse on a subject that was contentious on the surface but at its base rather simple.

The religious precepts are pretty straightforward, but the task of explaining them and choosing a method for their application is left in human hands. This means they are automatically constrained by human limitations.

On top of this, Muslims became politically divided early in their history with the division into the Shiite and Sunni sects and that oriented their respective understandings of the law and its applications.

After Muhammad’s death, Islam also got off to a rocky start when warfare was used to spread the faith and three of the first four Caliphs died by violence.

The fourth Caliph, Ali, was a cousin of Muhammad and his followers then tore the community in two by claiming that Ali should have been the first caliph by virtue of his blood ties to Muhammad.

As we said, Islam became highly divisive right from its inception when it split into the Sunni, Shiite, and Sufi sects. Add to this the fact that Islam was spread through war and conflict as opposed to the philosophy of “love thy neighbor” that was the foundation of Christianity, and we have a religion that is ripe for dissension and conflict.

On top of the divisiveness amongst the practitioners of Islam, we can see how the faith slides still further with the triumph of fundamentalist interpretations of the Koran in the 11Th century.

This resulted in the triggering of major conflicts amongst the population of the region and the gradual decline of Islamic, and then by default, Arab civilization.

As you can see folks, one of the main problems with Islam is it's refusal to adjust to changing times and circumstances and the only way to cure this is through education of the masses.

(Perhaps what Islam needs is a “Reformation” along the same lines as the upheaval of the Catholic Church by Martin Luther.)

AND SPEAKING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH............... don't think they are any better.

Don't forget we are dealing with Religions that started out with the supposed word of God and then became corrupted by human interpretation and hidden agenda's.

Pope Benedict criticized modern day atheism in a major document released yesterday, saying it had led to some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known!!!

Jesus Christ, talk about the kettle calling the pot black!

That is about the greatest amount of hypocrisy I have seen in a long, long time!

Here is a religion that was responsible for the Inquisition, The Crusades, the persecution on non-believers and heretics and all manner of lying, cheating, duplicity and subterfuge that has the audacity to call atheists the villains!


Let me tell ya folks, this is why I love GOD but don't trust any of the people that work for him!

Your humble servant;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

"Oh Yea! Well so are you!"

A few words about what the Pope said about Islam this week and how it was recieved by the Muslim community.

Basically the Pope quoted from a fourteenth century document that said "Islam is a religion that is spread by the sword!" (Now this is nothing new since that is exactly how is was spread and as an example three of the first four caliphs to succeed Muhammed were murdered.)

Was it just a quote about a statement made six or seven hundred years ago or used as a springboard to address issues that are relevant today? Was it perhaps used as a statement to expose a flaw in Islam that needs to be addressed.

One of the factors to consider in this whole debate is what was the purpose behind the statement. (Look at the church burnings and murders because of it!) Has the Catholic Church changed its direction and started to address issues it sees in need of correction? Will this "change in direction" lead to further friction between the two great religions? How can the Catholic Church raise these issues with its own history of violence and subterfuge?

To "get things into perspective here," (God I love those words!) don't forget we are looking at two religions that are opposite sides of the same coin.

Muhammed and Islam was in an almost constant state of war from 622 c.e. to 661 c.e., had a civil-war between 656 c.e. and 661 c.e., serious episodes of violence in 680 c.e. and 692 c.e., another civil was between 744 c.e. and 75. c.e. and then further expansion by warfare until the Crusaders arrived.

Chrisianity, meanwhile, spread its influence through force and terror during most of its history. (Helped in no small part by the Hapsburgs)
Including that great party they called the "Inquisition."

So there you have it! Although it has not been declared for many, many years, (war) we have two great institutions vying for power by whatever means possible. For one to criticize the other is like the pot calling the kettle black!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) at; www.God-101.com
And the petition to have people mind their own business instead of yours at; http://www.petitiononline.com/moses/petition.html