Is Islam A Religion of Peace?

Here is the debate

http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/573-islam-is-a-religion-of-peace

What do you think?

Of the religions that participated in the Crusades, only the Muslims are still fighting and killing people in the name of their allah.

In a world filled with cotton candy and lollipops I suppose we could say the factions of violent Muslims screw it up for the peace loving ones.

Perhaps, just as one would view fanatics in western religions, the Muslims in the limelight are not representative of Muslims worldwide and Islam.

Overall, when reading passages from the Koran, peace does not seem foundational.

But then when one reads the Bible, especially the old testament, peace does not reign either - although, peace and hope are prophesied. Not sure if that is a theme in the Koran. I've not studied it.

World view and context, while sitting on my sofa, is probably not the place to draw the conclusion, as a whole, for Islam.

The best way to defeat the intolerance of the extreme beliefs of islamists is to open up the societies to free info and education.

Their control is based on keeping the dark ages alive... bombing probably helps that cause.

by SheWrites Today at 8:55 am
In a world filled with cotton candy and lollipops I suppose we could say the factions of violent Muslims screw it up for the peace loving ones.

Perhaps, just as one would view fanatics in western religions, the Muslims in the limelight are not representative of Muslims worldwide and Islam.

Overall, when reading passages from the Koran, peace does not seem foundational.

But then when one reads the Bible, especially the old testament, peace does not reign either - although, peace and hope are prophesied. Not sure if that is a theme in the Koran. I've not studied it.

World view and context, while sitting on my sofa, is probably not the place to draw the conclusion, as a whole, for Islam.
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Get out of the Old Testament.

1.6 billion Muslims. Conservative estimates are that
20-25% are jihadists. More than that don't even say a word or bat an eye as ISIS does their thing. What does that tell you about the percentage you think are gonna be nice to you?

by PACEDOG#1 Today at 8:59 am
Affleck is an apologist and sympathizer obviously. He doesn't get the idea that 20% or more of 1.6 billion people are against women's rights, will put you to death for criticizing or blaspheming Allah and Mohommmed in words or pictures, will put their daughters to death in honor killings, will participate in the mutilation of female body parts, will put you to death if you are Muslim and decide to leave the religion, will martyr themselves as a point of their religion to kill nonbelievers et al. There's no other religion doing such in the rest of the world. Maher and the other guy hit the nail on the head. The guy on the right of Maher speaking believes 20% is a conservative estimate. He's probably right and then you have Affleck wanting to call those who criticize the aforementioned acts racist. He'd be all about criticizing Christians or anyone else if they engaged in that behavior. It shows how much of a hypocrite the left has been in regards to Islam which Maher candidly points out and is big of him in a huge way because liberals tend to never critique each other on their behavior.

It would wind up alot cheaper to hook up internet and give every muslim an ipad... the repression and isolation are the enemy.

Th Dude wrote:It would wind up alot cheaper to hook up internet and give every muslim an ipad... the repression and isolation are the enemy.

I used to believe the same thing,  Dude.  I thought surely when people get access to the information superhighway,  the human condition will improve.

But the most ironic and depressing thing has happened.  As more and more people in the United States,  and now it's virtually everyone,  got access to all this information,  the masses seem to be just as dumb as they were before.  Go figure.
Not to mention that a great many people in the middle east are now on the internet.  And yes apparently that has contributed to the advent of an "arab spring".  Mainly because the people are now connected to each other.
But it's debatable whether the arab spring has led to anything better than what they had before.
And remember that most all of those violent muslims are also now on the internet with their hate websites and hate blogs.  That access to the information superhighway has connected them together too.  And rather than it making them any smarter,  it just seems to have given them another place to rally the hate and violence of a sadistic religion.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nigeria-boko-haram-torch-185-churches-captured-towns-borno-adamawa-1468763

Islamists torch 185 churches... Yes religion of peace

Bob wrote:

Th Dude wrote:It would wind up alot cheaper to hook up internet and give every muslim an ipad... the repression and isolation are the enemy.

I used to believe the same thing,  Dude.  I thought surely when people get access to the information superhighway,  the human condition will improve.

But the most ironic and depressing thing has happened.  As more and more people in the United States,  and now it's virtually everyone,  got access to all this information,  the masses seem to be just as dumb as they were before.  Go figure.
Not to mention that a great many people in the middle east are now on the internet.  And yes apparently that has contributed to the advent of an "arab spring".  Mainly because the people are now connected to each other.
But it's debatable whether the arab spring has led to anything better than what they had before.
And remember that most all of those violent muslims are also now on the internet with their hate websites and hate blogs.  That access to the information superhighway has connected them together too.  And rather than it making them any smarter,  it just seems to have given them another place to rally the hate and violence of a sadistic religion.

What you say rings true for the present... but I think we'll see a change as generations are born into open information. We've seen our culture and even tolerances evolve as technology has. It's just going to take much longer... as they are living atleast a few hundred years in the past... or I could be completely wrong... lol.

Nothing will change in the Muslim world until moderate Muslims stand up for themselves and others in relation to their violent 20-25%.

PACEDOG#1 wrote:Nothing will change in the Muslim world until moderate Muslims stand up for themselves and others in relation to their violent 20-25%.

Yes while President Obama estimates 5 percent of Muslims are extremists the Pell is closer to 25 percent.

Nowhere in the Bible is the command to destroy Infidels an open ended command. In the Old Testwment Israel was at war. The commands from Yawheh only extended to those temporal events. This is not true for the Koran.

Any literal reading of Jesus' teachings cannot be construed to condone killing his enemies as infidels, yet this is exactly what Muhammed teaches throughout the Koran.

In any literal reading of the Koran lteaches killing anyone who disagrees with Muhammed most especially Jews and Christians by beheadings crucifixion etc.

There is no such thing as an Islamic seminary etc there are as many variations of Islam as there are Muslims.

In the end the Koran is a book penned by a psychopath to get his own earthly treasures including rape sodomy and murder.,....

Islam is a religion of hate and violence.

The Dude wrote:

PACEDOG#1 wrote:Nothing will change in the Muslim world until moderate Muslims stand up for themselves and others in relation to their violent 20-25%.

Yes while President Obama estimates 5 percent of Muslims are extremists the Pell is closer to 25 percent.

Nowhere in the Bible is the command to destroy Infidels an open ended command. In the Old Testwment Israel was at war. The commands from Yawheh only extended to those temporal events. This is not true for the Koran.

Any literal reading of Jesus' teachings cannot be construed to condone killing his enemies as infidels, yet this is exactly what Muhammed teaches throughout the Koran.

In any literal reading of the Koran lteaches killing anyone who disagrees with Muhammed most especially Jews and Christians by beheadings crucifixion etc.

"literal reading".  

I love that term.  Anything written in these religious texts which is found to be unacceptable,  is explained away by saying it means something other than what is actually written.

Either he turned the water into wine or he didn't.  There is no such thing as "we're not supposed to believe he actually did it,  but in the story he did."
Either he did or he didn't.  Any other option would be the Oliver Stone school of reporting.
Just like a "literal reading" of all the Quran verses which spell out Allah wwanting us to kill all non-muslims. He either orders it or he doesn't. There is no creative license to apply to this. And the words say he did.

Correct Bob. Notice whenever someone wants to defend the Koran it is always attempted to put it into a "contextual setting" be that historical allegorical etc.
The only reason any Muslim is not killing anyone who. Disagrees wih him or her is that they are ignoring major parts of the Koran.

Christian terrorists horrified this country for a century, and they found textual basis in the bible, and great sympathy from certain geographic areas of this country. Do we need to attack the bible or the Koran to understand the actions of the extremist and terrorists? A simple No. Most Christians do not approve of the acts of Christian terrorists, nor do they agree with their interpretations of the bible. Most Muslims that I personally know do not approve of acts of Islamic terrorist, nor do they agree with their interpretations of the Koran. Context is all we have.

2seaoat wrote:Christian terrorists horrified this country for a century, and they found textual basis in the bible, and great sympathy from certain geographic areas of this country.  Do we need to attack the bible or the Koran to understand the actions of the extremist and terrorists?  A simple No.  Most Christians do not approve of the acts of Christian terrorists, nor do they agree with their interpretations of the bible.  Most Muslims that I personally know do not approve of acts of Islamic terrorist, nor do they agree with their interpretations of the Koran.   Context is all we have.

No one is attacking the Koran just reading it. And YES you have to READ the the Koran to understand their actions which they consider and ARE in fact consistent with the teachings of Muhammed. 25 percent of the Muslim population are quite a number of people who read the Koran literally. it's fairly incredible to think that anyone would defend Muhammed's own actions.

However for someone who has been on death's door for 10 years well I need your secret Sea Oat

However for someone who has been on death's door for 10 years well I need your secret Sea Oat cheers


Seven years battling cancer and now losing, I am happy to accept muslim, Christian, and anybody who prays.......do I believe the text literally.....nope. Have I ever met a Muslim who was wild eyed, radical, and cruel. No. I have only met gentle kind people who are persecuted. Have I met radical Christians, yes......but I do not judge Christianity by the nuts.....no. I can find text within the bible which is hard to take literally, but my faith remains.

The idea that a particular religion has a bad idea is not exclusive to any religion, nor does it condemn all religion.

by 2seaoat Today at 4:58 pm
Christian terrorists horrified this country for a century, and they found textual basis in the bible, and great sympathy from certain geographic areas of this country. Do we need to attack the bible or the Koran to understand the actions of the extremist and terrorists? A simple No. Most Christians do not approve of the acts of Christian terrorists, nor do they agree with their interpretations of the bible. Most Muslims that I personally know do not approve of acts of Islamic terrorist, nor do they agree with their interpretations of the Koran. Context is all we have
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Show me a Muslim making a public appeal to his violent counterparts. I don't want to hear that your poker playing Muslim friends are against this violence unless they are going to do something about it.

Show me a Muslim making a public appeal to his violent counterparts. I don't want to hear that your poker playing Muslim friends are against this violence unless they are going to do something about it.



They are simply living the American dream raising their families. You make it sound like every American is facing a risk from Muslims. That is crazy talk. It would be like saying a church in Milton needs to control the Christian terrorists in Idaho.

If you watched the debate Sea Oat you would have listened to the greatest Muslim apologist I know of today. He agrees with everything I posted except that you must contextualizing the writings of The Koran. He will not defend even Muhammed. Muslims have decided to see themselves as the trodden underfoot whithout understanding it is their very belief system responsible not Christians Atheists Agnostics Or Jews.

Pacedog number 1 and 2 is correct, although some Muslims are speaking out the numbers are extraordinarily small. Thst speaks volumes in itself

Modernity tempers religion.