Originally Posted by Iriemon
Jews have lived in Iran, and Christians have lived in Iraq, for many centuries.
Apparently those countries have been led by moderate Muslims who were not and are not not following their religion. Either you and the terrorists are twisting the Koran, or maybe the religious leaders of Iraq and Iran over the centuries just never bothered to read it.
This is my key question: Either moderate Muslims are not practicing and not doing what their religion tells them to do or the terrorists are twisting their religion and taking quotes from the Koran out of context. Those violent quotes from the Koran need to be explained. Do you agree?
Explained to whom? The fact that Muslims have lived with Christians and Jews for centuries means that your and the terrorists' reading of the Koran that it mandates killing infidels is incorrect, or only followed by terrorists and those who want to make war against Islam. The vast majority of Muslims interpret the Koran differently, they take the passages to which you refer and take them in context with related passages, read them in context to the teaching of the Koran as a whole, or just ignore them. Otherwise, the "infidels" living in Iraq and Iran would have been slaughtered centruries ago.
In fact, there are many parts of the Koran that suggest that Christians and Jews should not be killed:
[2.62] Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.
[5.69] Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah and the last day and does good-- they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve.
[5.82] Certainly you will find the most violent of people in enmity for those who believe (to be) the Jews and those who are polytheists, and you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly.
There are other verses that talk about the differences in belief and that there beliefs are wrong, but I searched the Koran, and
I didn't *any* passages that instruct Muslims to kill Jews and Christians.
These passages certainly don't suggest to mean that Muslims are instructed to go out and kill Christians and Jews. What you and the terrorists are doing is taking selected text out of context, and ignoring the rest of the Koran in deciding your interpretation is the correct one.
You can do the exact same thing with the Judeo-Christian Bible. Just some snipets from the OT:
Exodus 21:18 "Do not allow a sorceress to live.
Exodus 21:20 "Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed.
Lev 20:1 'Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives [a] any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the community are to stone him.
Lev 20:27 'A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.' "
Lev 24:13 "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. 15 Say to the Israelites: 'If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; 16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.
Does those violent quotes from the Bible need to be explained? Does this text mean that moderate Christians and Jews "are not doing what their religion tells them to do?"
You argue that the Koran mandates Muslims to kill infidels. But very few Muslims agree with your interpretation, just as very few Jews or Christians think we should be going around putting to death anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord, is a medium, or sacrifices to another God.
Now some extremists takes these writings and justify their acts in the name of their religion. And in times throughout history, particularly when they felt threatened, Christians did the exact same thing. I don't think I even need to identify some of the many examples of this, unless you deny it.
It is true that at this time in history, there is a small faction of Muslims that have turned to extreme interpretations. This is one thing I agree with GySgt with -- that is a result of conditions that reflect problems in their cultures, and the fact that they feel threatened by external forces. And when the great Christian power, the US, closely allies itself with Israel and attacks and invades their holy lands without justification, more Muslims are motivated to follow this extreme view.
But really, what I find most ironic, is that the two groups that promote this extremist interpretation are the terrorists, and folks here like you that want to inflame hatred and warfare against their religion. The irony is that you criticize those Muslims who read the Koran as a means for violence, but you are doing the exact same thing as a means to promote violence against Islam.
