Evil Muslim conspiracy...

I imagine you can use that passage, but I would be very interested to see how you can get justification from it. People can of course make almost any interpretation they want from any passage, but that one sure looks really, really weak.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Well, first you need to read it in context, that it was written during the period of actual war. Second, Christians are not infidels. They are people of the book. Third, it is talking about infidels that are actively opposing the Muslims, making war on them.It says if they cease making war, then stop.Here are three other translations by teh way, but you really need to read it in context, that all of Sura 8 is talking about a time of war.

quote:

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008.038
YUSUFALI: Say to the Unbelievers, if (now) they desist (from Unbelief), their past would be forgiven them; but if they persist, the punishment of those before them is already (a matter of warning for them).
PICKTHAL: Tell those who disbelieve that if they cease (from persecution of believers) that which is past will be forgiven them; but if they return (thereto) then the example of the men of old hath already gone (before them, for a warning).
SHAKIR: Say to those who disbelieve, if they desist, that which is past shall be forgiven to them; and if they return, then what happened to the ancients has already passed.

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008.039
YUSUFALI: And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere; but if they cease, verily Allah doth see all that they do.
PICKTHAL: And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah. But if they cease, then lo! Allah is Seer of what they do.
SHAKIR: And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do.

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From here.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Remember that Jews and Christians were considered folk that worshiped Allah. In addition, as I said, look at the passages in context. The whole Sura is talking about a time of war. In fact if you read on it gets into "spoils of war" and how some must be set aside for Allah.Yes, there is definitely a history of tension between the three Abrahamic Religions throughout the world. But it is really less about religion and more about power, land, wealth and power.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Oh, but it is all about power, land and wealth.Yes, it is possible to quote mine the Qur'an just as it is possible to quote mine the Bible.Yes many if not most Muslims are as ignorant of the actual history of their religion as most Christians.But the problem is NOT Islam or Christianity, it is the ignorance of the people that allows the leaders to use quote mined passages.If that actually happened, and I have real doubts that it did, then I would say the explanation is really simple.It is ignorance.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Name the Muslim Nation that invaded a Christian Nation?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

There is a thread here that might interest you: I think it does much to explain the current political and social tensions between the Middle Easter Islamic world and the Western kinda Christian world.You can find it here.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

And in many cases that was exactly what it was about. The Crusades for example were a great example, Christianity used as an excuse to grab power and wealth and redirect violence into someone else back yard.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Sure, sometimes. It is a convenient tool though and a powerful one for controlling the ignorant proles. Religion itself is pretty much harmless, it is how it is used that is an issue.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

The cause is almost always ignorance.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Religion itself doesn't cause anything bad, but it often gets used to do bad things. Religion is neither good or bad, what people do can be.When people use religion as justification for doing bad things, you can say that "religion was a contributing factor." In addition, when we go through history we find acts such as the repeated Jewish pogroms where I would say that religion was predominately the cause. Of course, even there the wealth, property and influence that the Jews had stayed and got incorporated into the estates of the Christians.The problem is that strongly held beliefs, religious, nationalistic, racist, ethnic can all be manipulated to lead folk into very dumb actions.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Not a good question.Sura 8 and Sura 9 are both describing periods of war. In particular, Sura 8:38-39 are setting limits on violence.But it has been used by others to justify violence and as so often the case, ignorance is enough to get people to do really horrid things.You need to separate the religion and religious texts from how they are used.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

I'll try and see if this is what you are asking?Can religion be used to motivate people or to allow them to self-justify what would normally be horrific acts?Is that what you are asking?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

No.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

No.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

No.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!