Hi Chris.
Quoting the Christian Bible does not support your belief that the Christian God is the deity of a True Religion.
You write:
<<In as much as such teachings do not conflict with what Jesus taught they are TRUE religion. Only in aspects which violate his teaching by advocating or excusing inhumane treatment of others would those teachings be FALSE religion. >>
This sort of thinking only makes it convenient for you to declare one true and another false. It does not make it so.
You write:
<< Neither are they the ones who TRULY represent Islam, any more that Christianity is TRULY represented by the KKK.>>
Actually, they represent Islam much more devoutly than do moderate Muslims. The base of their belief is held by most Muslims, although not acted upon. Caliphate, Sharia Law, Armageddon, enslave or kill the infidel, death to apostates and deviants, submission to Allah, follow Mohammed's teachings and allow nothing to change from his example of how to behave.
The KKK only represented the Establishment Democrat Party, as it was their military arm, which quoted Biblical sources for their excuse to rampage, burn and murder. How many Christians agreed with their ravings and tactics? 60%? 80%? I doubt it. How many of the Establishment Democrats? Probably most.
You write in response to this statement " Islamists consider ONLY their brand of Islam to be The True Religion" the following:
<<Just as Atheists consider ONLY their philosophical position to be correct. How very human! >>
Islam is a deity belief with a religion that supports it. Atheism is not a religion. Atheism only means one has no deity belief and therefore no religion to support a deity belief.
There is NO atheist philosophical position. Atheists are a totally random and fairly disconnected bunch and may once have been influenced by Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, etc. We cannot consider our philosophical position to be the only one or the correct one, because we each have our own.
If you mean to say a Humanist philosophical position, then that is different. You can find it within the Humanist Manifesto at the Secular Humanist website and it used to read a a very positive and benign document that could be adopted by any theist who loves human life and enlightenment.
As for the saving of knowledge by non-Christians during the Dark Ages, I agree with you it was fortuitous that intelligent and enlightened people of various faiths and no faith disagreed with the ignorant and evil Christians who sought to obliterate the concept of human intelligence from the known world. It was not the faith, but their intelligence that saved much knowledge. Just as it was not the faith, but the arrogant stupidity of the Christians who destroyed much of it and the people along with it.
The Christian Church behaved just as the Islamists who seek to obliterate all knowledge and people they oppose in our time.
And I, Chris, am only here to explain to you why you or your belief or your scripture does not support for those of other deity beliefs any reason for them to consider your statement on the trueness or falseness of their deity belief.
Which then of all these deity beliefs of unproven veracity should be taught in public schools? The powers-that-be must accept that not each can be true and that each may not be true. It should be left up to the believer to decide what is taught to their children.
Any teaching about deity beliefs must be kept shallow and in subjects that keep it so. And...parents must always be allowed to opt out of any teachings they believe may inculcate their children. Plus...either all deity beliefs must be taught about, or none.
Choosing a couple of major ones to teach about in public schools smacks of State-sponsored religions. So the best choice is to include a comparative religion class that starts from the very beginning and covers all in a cursory manner...because there are a lot of deity beliefs that have been of importance to humanity.
-Jeanne
"The Ox is slow, but the Earth is patient."
Quoting the Christian Bible does not support your belief that the Christian God is the deity of a True Religion.
You write:
<<In as much as such teachings do not conflict with what Jesus taught they are TRUE religion. Only in aspects which violate his teaching by advocating or excusing inhumane treatment of others would those teachings be FALSE religion. >>
This sort of thinking only makes it convenient for you to declare one true and another false. It does not make it so.
You write:
<< Neither are they the ones who TRULY represent Islam, any more that Christianity is TRULY represented by the KKK.>>
Actually, they represent Islam much more devoutly than do moderate Muslims. The base of their belief is held by most Muslims, although not acted upon. Caliphate, Sharia Law, Armageddon, enslave or kill the infidel, death to apostates and deviants, submission to Allah, follow Mohammed's teachings and allow nothing to change from his example of how to behave.
The KKK only represented the Establishment Democrat Party, as it was their military arm, which quoted Biblical sources for their excuse to rampage, burn and murder. How many Christians agreed with their ravings and tactics? 60%? 80%? I doubt it. How many of the Establishment Democrats? Probably most.
You write in response to this statement " Islamists consider ONLY their brand of Islam to be The True Religion" the following:
<<Just as Atheists consider ONLY their philosophical position to be correct. How very human! >>
Islam is a deity belief with a religion that supports it. Atheism is not a religion. Atheism only means one has no deity belief and therefore no religion to support a deity belief.
There is NO atheist philosophical position. Atheists are a totally random and fairly disconnected bunch and may once have been influenced by Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, etc. We cannot consider our philosophical position to be the only one or the correct one, because we each have our own.
If you mean to say a Humanist philosophical position, then that is different. You can find it within the Humanist Manifesto at the Secular Humanist website and it used to read a a very positive and benign document that could be adopted by any theist who loves human life and enlightenment.
As for the saving of knowledge by non-Christians during the Dark Ages, I agree with you it was fortuitous that intelligent and enlightened people of various faiths and no faith disagreed with the ignorant and evil Christians who sought to obliterate the concept of human intelligence from the known world. It was not the faith, but their intelligence that saved much knowledge. Just as it was not the faith, but the arrogant stupidity of the Christians who destroyed much of it and the people along with it.
The Christian Church behaved just as the Islamists who seek to obliterate all knowledge and people they oppose in our time.
And I, Chris, am only here to explain to you why you or your belief or your scripture does not support for those of other deity beliefs any reason for them to consider your statement on the trueness or falseness of their deity belief.
Which then of all these deity beliefs of unproven veracity should be taught in public schools? The powers-that-be must accept that not each can be true and that each may not be true. It should be left up to the believer to decide what is taught to their children.
Any teaching about deity beliefs must be kept shallow and in subjects that keep it so. And...parents must always be allowed to opt out of any teachings they believe may inculcate their children. Plus...either all deity beliefs must be taught about, or none.
Choosing a couple of major ones to teach about in public schools smacks of State-sponsored religions. So the best choice is to include a comparative religion class that starts from the very beginning and covers all in a cursory manner...because there are a lot of deity beliefs that have been of importance to humanity.
-Jeanne
"The Ox is slow, but the Earth is patient."