It's not a dichotomy
I just want to point out, in light of certain controversies floating around today, that people tend to take one of two tacks:
1. Islam is a peaceful, progressive religion that has been hijacked by a few radical elements who believe that violence is the answer.
2. Islam is a violent, murderous religion that inherently encourages its followers to annihilate all unbelievers and peace is impossible when it exists.
Neither of these positions is true -- they are both too simple.
The fact is that Islam, like Christianity and like most Western religions, has a lot of violence at its heart. While the Qur'an itself may not expressly advocate violence against the unbeliever, the Hadith certainly do, and these are widely used by Muslims of each denomination to interpret the Qur'an. While I haven't READ the Qur'an and all the Hadith, I've been informed by a number of scholars who HAVE that there is a great deal of violence advocated in the latter, and absent any reliable information otherwise, I'm inclined to believe them.
My first exposure to Islam was via a coworker who, on learning that I was gay, telling me, "You know, technically, as a Muslim, I'm supposed to kill you." He then reassured me: "...but don't worry. I'm not going to." As much as an impediment to our empathy as it may be, most Islamic societies do not resemble Western societies and they do not share our values. That is AS true of these societies as it is of most others throughout the world. Trying to PRETEND that these countries are the same, and that they do share our west-coast liberal ideology somewhere down deep is only an impediment to understanding them, not a path to it.
Religions drive cultures, and then those selfsame cultures reflect those religions. Many Christian nations were bloody and ruthless in the past. They did this in the name of Christianity. At the same time these bloody, violent Christian nations existed, there were peaceful nations that were also Christian. Could it be said that Christianity is a religion that advocates violence and bloodshed? Absolutely. You would have to read the Bible with blinders on not to see it. Could it be said that Christianity is a religion that advocates peace and understanding? Again, you would have to willfully ignore parts of the Bible not to see them... although interestingly, the parts of the Bible that talk about compassion and understanding are much... SHORTER... than the parts that talk about violence and bloodshed.
So is Christianity to blame for the violence of Christian nations? Yes, in part. And it is partly to be credited for the peaceful ones. But it is more the culture of these nations that determined which parts of the Bible and Church teachings the nations focused on. As Western nations began to painfully adopt progressive ideals, they began to change which parts of the Bible they focused on: after slavery was banned, people began focusing a bit less on those parts of the Bible that talk about how to treat their slaves, for example. After women's rights advanced, that bit of Acts of the Apostles in which the apostle Paul orders, "Wives, be submissive to your husbands," fell out of favor in many churches, and many others scrambled to try to determine how that passage could be interpreted in a way that was not misogynist.
See, Christians who follow a version of Christianity that is more violent and conservative bring up the parts of the Bible that speak to them personally: see Fred Phelps; see the Spanish Inquisition. They conveniently ignore those parts of the Bible that talk about turning the other cheek and loving your neighbor as yourself. The religious right don't want to think about how Jesus taught against wealth, how he taught that anyone who wished to find salvation had to surrender his riches. And those Christians who like the the part of the Bible that emphasizes peace and compassion quietly skip those parts of the Bible that talk about murder, rape, incest and bloodshed. They will tell you that Christianity is about love.
To say that violence, genocide, and hatred are not part of Christianity is to blind yourself to part of it.
To say that love, compassion, and forgiveness are not part of Christianity is to blind yourself to part of it as well.
You can't say it is one religion or the other. It is both, and everything in between. It encompasses and reflects the cultures of the people who practice it.
The same thing is true of Islam.
1. Islam is a peaceful, progressive religion that has been hijacked by a few radical elements who believe that violence is the answer.
2. Islam is a violent, murderous religion that inherently encourages its followers to annihilate all unbelievers and peace is impossible when it exists.
Neither of these positions is true -- they are both too simple.
The fact is that Islam, like Christianity and like most Western religions, has a lot of violence at its heart. While the Qur'an itself may not expressly advocate violence against the unbeliever, the Hadith certainly do, and these are widely used by Muslims of each denomination to interpret the Qur'an. While I haven't READ the Qur'an and all the Hadith, I've been informed by a number of scholars who HAVE that there is a great deal of violence advocated in the latter, and absent any reliable information otherwise, I'm inclined to believe them.
My first exposure to Islam was via a coworker who, on learning that I was gay, telling me, "You know, technically, as a Muslim, I'm supposed to kill you." He then reassured me: "...but don't worry. I'm not going to." As much as an impediment to our empathy as it may be, most Islamic societies do not resemble Western societies and they do not share our values. That is AS true of these societies as it is of most others throughout the world. Trying to PRETEND that these countries are the same, and that they do share our west-coast liberal ideology somewhere down deep is only an impediment to understanding them, not a path to it.
Religions drive cultures, and then those selfsame cultures reflect those religions. Many Christian nations were bloody and ruthless in the past. They did this in the name of Christianity. At the same time these bloody, violent Christian nations existed, there were peaceful nations that were also Christian. Could it be said that Christianity is a religion that advocates violence and bloodshed? Absolutely. You would have to read the Bible with blinders on not to see it. Could it be said that Christianity is a religion that advocates peace and understanding? Again, you would have to willfully ignore parts of the Bible not to see them... although interestingly, the parts of the Bible that talk about compassion and understanding are much... SHORTER... than the parts that talk about violence and bloodshed.
So is Christianity to blame for the violence of Christian nations? Yes, in part. And it is partly to be credited for the peaceful ones. But it is more the culture of these nations that determined which parts of the Bible and Church teachings the nations focused on. As Western nations began to painfully adopt progressive ideals, they began to change which parts of the Bible they focused on: after slavery was banned, people began focusing a bit less on those parts of the Bible that talk about how to treat their slaves, for example. After women's rights advanced, that bit of Acts of the Apostles in which the apostle Paul orders, "Wives, be submissive to your husbands," fell out of favor in many churches, and many others scrambled to try to determine how that passage could be interpreted in a way that was not misogynist.
See, Christians who follow a version of Christianity that is more violent and conservative bring up the parts of the Bible that speak to them personally: see Fred Phelps; see the Spanish Inquisition. They conveniently ignore those parts of the Bible that talk about turning the other cheek and loving your neighbor as yourself. The religious right don't want to think about how Jesus taught against wealth, how he taught that anyone who wished to find salvation had to surrender his riches. And those Christians who like the the part of the Bible that emphasizes peace and compassion quietly skip those parts of the Bible that talk about murder, rape, incest and bloodshed. They will tell you that Christianity is about love.
To say that violence, genocide, and hatred are not part of Christianity is to blind yourself to part of it.
To say that love, compassion, and forgiveness are not part of Christianity is to blind yourself to part of it as well.
You can't say it is one religion or the other. It is both, and everything in between. It encompasses and reflects the cultures of the people who practice it.
The same thing is true of Islam.