Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Rob Instigator
Wasn't the Ottoman Empire a Muslim one?
at least the Ottoman empire welcomed science and learning and knowledge and collected and protected the knowledge for westerners to catch up on later.
when the christians take over they tend to see all knowledge that does not come from the bible as evil and worthy of being burned, destroyed, forgotten.
|
This is true in many cases, and is the very reason why many are confused into thinking this nation was founded by Christians, on Christian principals. It's sad. Things are getting better in some cases, but there are still those that believe totally absurd bullshit like "if there is extra-terrestrial life, it must be of Satan because the Bible doesn't mention it", not to mention totally bypassing facts such as evolution that have been scientifically proven. You'll have some preacher say something completely ill-thought like "haha, I didn't come from no monkey", which just goes to show how much they have actually studied on the topic. All of this said, I find most atheist (sadly...) kinda do the same thing when discussing the Bible. Basically, it's clear they haven't read it and sometimes make outrageous claims based on things they've heard, as opposed to have actually researched/read. Which brings me to the topic of this thread.....
As far as this Terry Jones thing, he seems to feel as if these books should be burned because of a religion that he thinks supports violence. I just wish he'd consider all of the violence that has spawned as a result of Christianity. "Ask a Native American about Christian love" and all that jazz. There has, beyond any shadow of a doubt, been more bloodshed as a result of Christianity than perhaps all other religions put together. Some shit like 9/11 happens, we are still talking about it nearly 10 years later as if it was yesterday. I DO think it's an event that should be remembered, but finger pointing and blaming (still....) this far in the game is insane. What about radical christians and the shit they have been responsible for? What if I were to judge every Christian out there based on the actions of Tim Mcveigh or Christopher Columbus? Totally not fair.
People interpret the text of the Bible very differently, and respond to it as such. People read what they want to read. Christians often disregard the Old Testament (an extremely violent group of books) as not meaning much because of Jesus...when in all actuality, Jesus came in SUPPORT of the Old Testament, even if perhaps adding a little common sense to it (i.e. it being OK to work on the Sabbath if necessary).
From what I gather about the Koran, (and I am by no means an expert on it) is that their version of the Old Testament was mostly peaceful, the new one got violent. Polar opposite of what we see in the Christian version of the Bible (Christian New Testament is wildly violent as well...Jesus was not a hippy, sorry...just not as violent as the Old Testament).