Moslems vs Christians

Apologists for Islam, when shown verses in the Kuran that explicitly ask moslems to liquidate non moslems, are quick to point to violent verses in the Bible. This is a standard trick used by apologists, and it deserves a response:

1. First of all, most of these verses in the Bible are in the OLD testament (mostly in the book of deuteronomy), not the New Testament.

2. The Old Testament does have some violent verses, but that has largely been over ridden by the message of compbuttion and "turning the other cheek" of the New Testament. In sharp contrast, the Kuranic message of KILL KILL KILL has never been so overridden by any message of compbuttion.

3. There is no strand of "turning the other cheek" in Islam - either in the Kuran or in Islamic history. Islam is a religion and history of aggression.

4. Here is perhaps the most important difference - most christians do not follow their Bible to the word, nor think that it is verbatim the word of God. Indeed, it cannot be - the 4 gospels are written by 4 humans. The Kuran is different - muslims believe that it is VERBATIM the book of God. In other words, it is never to be questioned, and every last word in it is 100% from God.

5. In nominally christian communities, such as the west, very few people are actually christian. Most are secular. Moslem societies in sharp contrast are highly believing. They have little or no secular populations. There are very few "agnostic" or "atheistic" moslems. Therefore there is no intellectual counterbalance to Islamic thought in moslem countries the way there is in the west. In the west, there are large insbreastutions which are totally secular. Islamic countries do not have any such counterparts.

In summary, nominally christian societies are for the most secular, with small religious components. In contrast, moslem societies are highly religious and very rigid in their view of the Kuran as being the ultimate word of God.

It would be fair to say that even secular moslems, in the rigidity of their faith, are comparable to the most ardent evangelical christians. So the most "liberal" moslems are comparable to the most religious christians. This is the problem. Islamic societies as a whole are just far too religious and have no significant secular thinking that can balance out the radicals.