Islam is barbaric! Seventh century barbaric! Whereas for centuries Christianity and Judaism were also barbaric and held back the progress of mankind for centuries like Islam, they eventually both underwent reformations that allowed for the further evolution of mankind into modernity. The harmful and inferior aspects of Christianity and Judaism were cast aside while the beneficial and superior aspects were retained.

Further, the holy books of Christianity and Judaism never purported themselves to be the direct, divine, and immutable word of God, so they never were understood to be taken literally, whereas, on the other hand, the holy book of Islam, the Quran, has always been said to be the direct, divine, and immutable word of God and so can only be taken literally.

Islam in effect is a bastardization of both Christianity and Judaism and to make his religion supreme over all other religions, Mohammed claimed that he was God’s final prophet and that his message superseded the messages of all other prophets before him and also that there would be no prophets after him. To further make his religion supreme above all others, Mohammed also claimed that his message was the direct word of God as delivered to him by the archangel Gabriel.

Originally Posted by Joeblough Islam is barbaric! Seventh century barbaric! Whereas for centuries Christianity and Judaism were also barbaric and held back the progress of mankind for centuries like Islam, they eventually both underwent reformations that allowed for the further evolution of mankind into modernity. The harmful and inferior aspects of Christianity and Judaism were cast aside while the beneficial and superior aspects were retained.

They "reformed" by picking and choosing which parts of their holy book to ignore and which parts to follow. It does not erase the fact that there are many, many references to the horrible treatment of women and the fact that women are less-than in comparison to men in those texts. They are just ignored (by many).

I have never heard that the holy books of Christianity and Judaism are not the direct, divine, and immutable word of God. Never. This is the absolute first time I am hearing this. There is soooo much debate saying that it IS... that I don't actually even know where you are getting that idea from.

Only the 10 commandants are the direct word of God.

It is assumed that the Old Testament had numerous authors and the apostles wrote the New Testament.

Originally Posted by Izzibeth Sorry but... God says to women "submit and serve" and says to men "love like you love yourself". I would say that the burden falls on the women.

Originally Posted by Izzibeth That's... pretty irrelevent. It says plain as day right there that the man is head of the woman. The rest can be interpreted in a number of different ways, but mostly "awww, isn't that sweet?" kind of way. It is metaphorical. "Man is head of the woman" is not metaphorical. It is straight up.

Originally Posted by Izzibeth It also says that man should know that he comes from a woman. Of course I am not condoning the treatment of women by Islam. But how some people can sit here and say "barbaric!" and then go home and choose to read specific chapters in a book that they are supposed to be living by in it's entirety that happens to have the exact same things written in it... makes no sense to me. Yes. Islam is barbaric in the way it treats women and expects women to behave. But the Bible says the same thing. What does that make you?

Actually, I’m an agnostic but the difference is Christianity and Judaism has undergone reformations whereas Islam has not.

Why one religion is worse than the other religions is because Islam has several major and unique problems the others don’t have. For instance, if one is a Catholic he or she can choose to simply stop attending church services at any time. In Islam that is considered to be apostasy and apostasy under Islam is punishable by the pain of death, although today with the infiltration of Muslims into the West it no longer is always enforced but still always remains a constant threat for those who do choose to openly leave Islam. Additionally, if one is a Catholic, one can also choose to change denominations at anytime. Again in Islam, that would be considered apostasy.

As I already explained Islam considers itself as being supreme above all other religions and it believes that all other religions must be made to submit to Islam. As a matter of fact, Islam divides the world into two spheres, the house of Islam (dar al Islam) and the house of disbelief (dar al Harb), or in other words, between believers and unbelievers, and Islam commands all Muslims to eliminate the house of disbelief until all that remains is the house of Islam so that Allah’s writ (Islamic Sharia Law) can be imposed upon it, and once Allah’s writ has been imposed, non-Muslims are to be converted, subjugated into Dhimmitude, and/or killed.

As for as I know, neither Christianity nor Judaism has anything remotely resembling that kind of supremacism that calls for world domination with the subjugation or death of non-believers, and the way Islam treats apostasy is more like a cult than a religion.

Originally Posted by perdidochas It says "25 Husbands should love their wives, just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her." That means that a man should serve his wife and give his life up for her, if needed. That's a pretty damned big responsibility.

Christ doesn't beat up his Church, so men shouldn't beat up their wives. The relationship is the same--a husband should treat his wife, like Christ treated his followers. While a man may be the leader of his family, that doesn't make him the owner of them. He should be giving up his life for their sake.

Originally Posted by Joeblough Only the 10 commandants are the direct word of God. It is assumed that the Old Testament had numerous authors and the apostles wrote the New Testament.

perdidochas: In terms of quote 5, you forgot the rest of the passage, which, if anything, puts more burden on the man.