Evil Muslim conspiracy...

This will be my last question. Suppose Exodus 22:18 had been rewritten as, "Do not harm witches. They are your equals." Do you think the death toll would have been pretty much the same?

Yes.Remember certain people have been considered outcasts in just about every society.

---

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

Thank you, jar, I have no more questions.

I hoped that the line of questions with jar would illustrate my arguments and make the opposing view seem absurd, and I can only hope I have done so to some of us, though maybe not to the diehards.It should make plausible explanatory sense that religions can strongly influence human behavior, either for good or for evil. Religions intimately relate to the fundamentals of what motivates human beings, and religions go to the extremes with them--a promise of eternal life, a threat of eternal pain, a supremely important purpose for living, an absolute universal morality--with all of the methods of persuading people of beliefs that shape behaviors, including prayers, preaching, reading the scripture, and social reinforcements.What, then, should stop religions from affecting behavior for the worse? Are religions really so ineffective and insignificant? Are millions of people only faking it, that the true motivations for their actions have to do with something other than the religion they seem to adhere to with such seeming strength?That has been the argument of people who defend Islam from accusations that it is a religion that tends to motivate violent behavior. Islamic terrorism is an old and enduring practice, but, especially since the 9/11 attacks, the lines have been, "They are not motivated by the religion. It is about politics." Or economic inequality. Or poverty. Or madness.To many such people, I suppose, nothing can convince them that anything is wrong with the religion of Islam. Since religions are merely viral informational systems of the human minds, and human behavior is always affected by much more than just religion, then absolutely any ill behavior of the human adherents can be attributed to causes other than the religion, if people wish to point the fingers away--even if all signs seem to point to the religion as the primary cause.There are some people, I hope, who will accept the best explanations, who accept the explanations that directly follow most plausibly from the whole of the evidence.

If there was something "wrong" with the religion of Islam, what could you do about it? How does it benefit you to know something is "wrong" unless you can do something about it?

---

"I'm Rory Bellows, I tell you! And I got a lot of corroborating evidence... over here... by the throttle!"

Islamic terrorism is an old and enduring practice, but, especially since the 9/11 attacks, the lines have been, "They are not motivated by the religion. It is about politics." Would you like to discuss this example of terrorism?

---

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

quote:

---

If there was something "wrong" with the religion of Islam, what could you do about it? How does it benefit you to know something is "wrong" unless you can do something about it?

---

When the religion of Islam itself is blamed for the violent actions of the adherents, when the danger of the religious scriptures that they believe are made clear, then it will be weakened among the generation who inherits the religion. They will either become less likely to push their religion, or they will adapt it to be less dangerous, much like what happened with Christianity. The relatively peaceful form of Christianity we have today emerged from centuries of criticism from the inside and the outside.

quote:

---

"Islamic terrorism is an old and enduring practice, but, especially since the 9/11 attacks, the lines have been, 'They are not motivated by the religion. It is about politics.'"

​

​

Would you like to discuss this example of terrorism?

---

Sure, if you like. What can you tell me about it?

That it is the King David Hotel.

---

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

quote:

---

That it is the King David Hotel.

---

Great, the bombing has its own Wikipedia page. The site of Palestinian government. Bombed by Zionist terrorists in 1946. Doesn't get much attention by westerners, but it must be heavy on the minds of modern Palestinians. Is there anything else you would like to say about it?

That the bombing was not about religion but rather about driving the occupying power out of Palestine maybe?

---

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

Blaming the religion itself instead of the people who are to blame will only alienate the good ones like the ones in the OP and enflame the bad ones. The changes in Christianity have more to do with political changes - e.g. democracy - than with criticism from inside or outside.

---

"I'm Rory Bellows, I tell you! And I got a lot of corroborating evidence... over here... by the throttle!"

quote:

---

That the bombing was not about religion but rather about driving the occupying power out of Palestine maybe?

---

Sure, that's plausible enough. It can be argued that the Judaic religion (Zionism) also played a huge role in that bombing, though I don't think it would be worth it. I see no good reason that there can not be some terrorist acts that are entirely political and not religious at all.

Okay, then let's try the next step.How much do you know about the organization of the "Zionists" at the time?

---

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

I know scarcely anything about the Zionists of the 1940s. You can educate me.