Category: Christianity VS Islam

Fundamentalism, as it pertains to religion, is defined as “a form of religion, especially Islam or Protestant Christianity, that upholds belief in the strict interpretation of scripture.” In our day, the term is typically used as a criticism. Note this quote from Wikipedia: “Depending upon the context, the label “fundamentalism” can be a pejorative rather than a neutral characterization, similar to the ways that calling political perspectives “right-wing” or “left-wing” can have negative connotations.

Such a characterization is understandable, as Islamic fundamentalists often use force in an effort to make the world conform to their religious views. As an example, the Iranian government has recently come under criticism for its response to women who do not conform to the fundamentalist views of modesty. A “morality police” actively cited and arrested women for their violation of the code, and at least 508 protestors have been killed and another 19,000 arrested in recent conflicts over the laws. Continue reading “Religious Fundamentalism” →

A few days ago MSNBC carried a discussion between Time Magazine’s World Editor, Bobby Ghosh and MSNBC show host Chuck Todd.

Ghosh, who was apparently being presented as some type of expert on the matter, was quoted as saying that the Koran is held by Muslims to be more sacred than Christians regard their Bible to be. Note the dialogue:

Continue reading “In the News: The Difference – Christians VS Muslims” →

The sermon is a simple comparison between the two faiths of Christianity and Islam. In the comparison, Islam is found greatly wanting.

Sermon Audio: Click Here .

Four Algerian Christians accused of converting Muslims were each handed suspended jail sentences and fined Tuesday, according to reports.

The sentence is the latest to spark ire in the West, where Christian groups accuse the Algerian government of harassing Christians. The Higher Islamic Council, a state-appointed group, claims that Protestant evangelicals are secretly trying to divide Algerians for colonization, Reuters reported.

The four Christians, who admitted to converting to Christianity but contest the charges, said they planned to appeal the ruling.

“The verdict confirms an attitude of lack of respect for freedom of conscience,” defense lawyer Khelloudja Khalfoun, told Reuters.

A law passed in 2006 forbids non-Muslims from trying to convert Muslims and confines religious worship only to buildings approved by the state, according to the BBC. Under the law, more than a dozen churches have been closed in the past six months.

There are about 10,000 Christians in Algeria, the BBC reported.

FOXNews.com

Analysis:

We live in a country where religious freedom has long been respected. In fact, it is one of the founding principles of our society.

Continue reading “In The News: Christians Get Suspended Jail Terms for Converting Muslims in Algeria” →

A comparison of the two religions, Christianity and Islam, finds Islam wanting, and Christianity the true religion from God.

Sermon PowerPoint: Click Here .

Sermon Audio: Click Here .

OSAMA BIN LADEN’S quotation that “Islam is the only source of the rulings and laws” (editorial, Jan. 4) is frightening in its total rejection of the principle of separation of church and state. But we should not forget that his ideology is founded on the belief, which is central to most all deistic religions, that “God” is the only true source of morality and moral behavior.

That erroneous idea is a potentially dangerous source of rigidity and absolutism in moral thinking and behavior, and readily leads to efforts to impose one’s own group’s “true” morality on others, or to regard the “infidel other” as not worthy of the beneficence of that morality.

As is all too obvious these days, wars are fought under the self-righteous and self-justifying conviction that “God is on our side.”

The rational, secular view of morality is that it is generated only in human minds and is shaped over time in the real world by negotiating competing needs and shared benefits. There is no “Big Daddy” or “Big Mommy” up there, or out there, to tell us how to behave, or to punish us with natural disasters if we go astray. There is, however, good reason to believe that, along with murderous aggressivity, some fundamental altruistic urges have been built into the human genome by Darwinian evolution.

Given a framework of secular civil laws and enforcement, human compassion, conscience, and “the Golden Rule” of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” will take us a good long way.

RICHARD H. WOLFF
The Boston Globe

Analysis:

The Preceding opinion piece which appeared in the Boston Globe on January 10, proclaims the typical secularist attitude toward morality.

Continue reading “‘God’ Isn’t Only Source of Morality” →