FIRST LET me say right up front: I am not a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, or a Buddhist, and I never have been. But whenever I talk about Islam to people here in America they almost always bring up Christianity. They compare Christianity with Islam, basically implying that I am criticizing Islam but Christianity is just as bad. Even Christians say this to me.
People who know nothing about Islam try to defend it just because they think of Islam as the underdog (an impression orthodox Muslims have carefully created), and good citizens everywhere instinctively want to defend any group (especially an underdog group) against discrimination or "racism" (even though Islam is not a race).
While Islam looks like other religions westerners are familiar with — Judaism and Christianity — and portrays itself as such, it is profoundly different in important ways.
In response to my statement, "Islam makes the attainment of political goals a religious duty," somebody said to me recently, "Christianity is a political religion too." Below is my answer to him.
This is why I'm worried about Islam's relentless encroachment far more than Christianity's:
- Plenty of people in America and Europe are already aware of the political dangers of Christianity, and have long ago taken steps to prevent it from taking over governments.
- In contrast, very few people in America and Europe know about the dangers of Islam, and, in fact, people are so reflexively against Christianity, they tend to favor Islam and give it the benefit of the doubt. When I talk to people about the most basic principles of Islam, I am often shocked at how little people know about this religion.
- Some Christians have political goals, just as some dog fanciers have political goals.
- But Islam is different in an important way: Muslims have a religious duty to work for political goals — it is a form of devotion and worship — and Muslims don't get to choose what goals they should strive for; the goals have been decreed by Allah. Mohammad was against living in monasteries or living a contemplative life. Muslims do not meditate. The way to show devotion to Allah is to fight for Islam. Literally (and politically).
- As far as I know, no Christians have expressed any desire to kill me. And it would have no doctrinal support from the New Testament if they had.
- Many Jihadis have openly expressed the desire to kill all Americans, many Americans have already been killed by them, and they have plenty of doctrinal support from the Qur'an to justify this killing.
- A Christian can leave Christianity any time they want.
- The penalty for leaving Islam is death.
- When Christians kill, it can only be in spite of Christian teachings.
- When a Jihadi kills, it is likely because of Islamic teachings, and they will tell you so openly and proudly.
- Christians sometimes push for the spread or protection of Christian ideas.
- Jihadis push to do away with hard-earned freedoms and replace the laws of free countries with a repressive, backward system (Shari'a law). It is a religious duty for a Muslim to relentlessly strive for the establishment of Shari'a wherever they are. Allah considers "man-made" governments (democracies, for example) to be illegitimate. The only legitimate laws are Allah's.
- Christian morality insists they tell the truth to all people.
- Islam's morality insists they tell the truth to fellow Muslims but to lie to non-Muslims if it can further the political goals of Islam.
- In battle, Christians will try not to kill innocent bystanders.
- Jihadis don't believe any kafir is innocent and they deliberately kill ordinary (non-military) citizens.
- Christians voluntarily try to follow Jesus's example, and he was peaceful and kind.
- Muslims must follow Mohammad's example (it says so 91 times in the Qur'an they must do so) and Mohammad tortured and killed people.
- For sinning, Jesus advocated forgiveness.
- For sinning, Mohammad advocated stoning and beheading.
- Jesus encouraged his followers to turn the other cheek when people criticized Jesus.
- Mohammad encouraged his followers to assassinate people who criticized Mohammad. Several people who had criticized Mohammad or Islam were killed by Mohammad's followers with Mohammad's consent and approval. One was even assassinated at his request for the sin of criticizing Islam.
- According to Christianity, the guaranteed way of getting into heaven is to believe Jesus died for your sins.
- According to Islam, the only way for a man to guarantee his passage to heaven is to die while fighting for Islam. By the way, these points I'm making about Islam are not a twisting of Mohammad's teachings; they are not an "interpretation" of Islamic doctrine. Well-read Muslims would agree with my statements. This is all based on mainstream Islamic theology.
Those are the main reasons I am more worried about Islam than Christianity. I used to think Islam and Christianity were very similar, but they are not. Why is Islam so different? The reason is historically interesting.
All other major religions were started within an already-existing state. Islam is an historical exception to this rule.
Any organized government will, of course, put a stop to violent uprisings of a rebellious political group. Christianity arose within the Roman Empire, for example. If Christianity had been a militant or political uprising — if Christianity had tried to take over the government — Rome would have killed or imprisoned all the followers. Probably many military or political religions did start up then, but we've never heard of them. They couldn't get off the ground.
But Islam arose in Arabia when there was no central ruling power. The whole area was comprised of individual tribes. Under those circumstances, the most efficient way to gain converts was by force. And that's how Islam came to be.
Mohammad borrowed many ideas from both Judaism and Christianity, and that's why it bears a superficial similarity to familiar religions. But it is fundamentally different. The circumstances of its time and place of origin led to teachings that were written down and declared sacred, and those teachings now rule 1.3 billion people.
Mohammad's life itself is an example of the principle (that when you don't have power, you cannot promote violence). When Mohammad first started Islam, he was one man with no political power surrounded by many others with their own religions and lots of power. He could not be belligerent or start any wars, so he used persuasion. In the first half of his career, using his persuasive skills, he gained 150 converts. In the second half of his career, he used warfare more and more as he gained numerical and financial strength. Using the "conversion by the sword" method, he gained tens of thousands of converts in the same amount of time. Converting by force is a more effective method if you can get away with it, especially if you can reinforce it with total control of government and the law.
Mohammad created a complete system that rules every aspect of life. But in order to make the system work, Islam must be the law of the land. It doesn't work, for example, to cover all your women so Muslim men are not sexually tempted by their bodies or faces if half the women in the country are not Muslims and walk around in shorts. For the system to work, every woman must be covered. And for that to happen, the government has to follow Shari'a law.
Mohammad used force to gain converts, and all his decrees and justifications for his actions were written down in the Qur'an, which are now memorized and studied by over a billion people, many of whom take the teachings to heart. The result is a powerful, unrelenting push for Islamic political power all over the world. Their percentage of the world's population keeps increasing.
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If you like this article, send it to people who give you the Christianity comparison. Read it several times and use the specific answers next time someone makes the comparison in a conversation. And if you can think of any other good answers, please leave them in the comments to this article for others to use.
Read about how Jihadis have been operating politically in the U.S. beginning in the 1960s, and the great changes they have wraught already.
Read about the kind of concessions they coerce from non-Muslim governments.
Find out what you can do to stop Islam's relentless encroachment.
Read about Citizen Warrior Heroes who are effectively defending the free world.
Replies
Right on! As I am a 'Practicing Baha'i' I can attest that you are accurate in every respect.
T'anks Twana--this is a well thought out piece-IT affirms what the most cited European thinker of the Founding era
1760-1805 ( Lutz -The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth Century American Political thought"American Political Science Review 189,1984 pp189-97) Baron Montesquieu found true in his comparative study of Islam and Christianity and the type of Government each promote. See John Eidsmoe Christianity and the Constitution Baker books ppb 1995 pp51-56
I have followed this issue ever since I first saw the Geert Wilder accounts. What is interesting to me and just as disheartening is the amount of time it has taken to bring this ancient issue to the forefront of our thinking. For example, why are women, homosexuals, progressives, and atheists not up in arms? Why has there been so little attention given to the spread of Islam across not just America but the world?
This article written by what Christians consider a non-believer so right on, so middle of the road that it should have been written years ago, just after President Thomas Jefferson sent the Marines to Tripoly. There is truth in the statement, "Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it".
Semper Fi
As a Christian I will say "Well Done": and I will continue to practice my Christian beliefs. I do not press my beliefs on other and do not want them to press theirs on me.
I don't know who wrote this but I am very offended by the fact that this person knows very little about being a Christian and should attempt to define our Christian beliefs and values. First I am offended by the fact that they should compare Christians to dog fanciers when it comes to political goals. While Christians do not favor theocracy they should favor a political system which governs based on the teachings of God and Jesus throughout the Old and New Testament. Christians recognize that in addition to ruling His heavenly kingdom God has also established governments on earth in order to bring some level of order out of the chaos that would exist were there no earthly governments. God has had earthly governments in place ever since He created Adam and Eve. When Christians commit murder it is in spite of the teachings of both the Old and New Testaments. Martin Luther (the original real Martin Luther and not MLK) wrote extensively about soldiers being able to serve in combat and killing enemy combatants without having violated God's commandments. He also wrote how those in authority (government) could wield the sword of justice without violating God's commandments. Jesus does not advocate forgiveness of sins. He offers forgiveness of their sins to anyone who will REPENT of their sins and turn back to God. Jesus did not say to turn the other cheek when someone offends Him but rather to turn our cheek not once but 7 times 70 times when WE are offended. He shows us an example of this in His passive acceptance of the unjust punishments handed out to Him by the Jews. Christianity did not start within an existing political system. Christianity is a continuation of the order and covenant established by God in the Old Testament. Also, there have been those who perverted the teachings of Christ and attempted to make it a political power ie. the Holy Roman Empire wherein the pope exercised power over the emperor. Remember the Inquisition? People deemed to be heretics by the "Christian" rulers were burned at the stake. The same fate was meted out to those who were declared heretics by the pope. If you are going to comment about my faith know what you are talking about. Having said all that I must admit that this is spot on when it comes to calling out Islam for what it really is, the world's largest criminal mob.
Just like all of the other negatives that are tearing down this nation (homosexuals, Illegal immigrants etc. Shari'a law) is making its way into our society all because we are being brainwashed by being told we are not a "tolerant" country. It is politically incorrect to speak out. People we are letting this all happen because we don't want to be racists, intolerant, bigots or something. People don't want to be seen as those things and the people that use these accusations to get what they want know it and use them. People if we don't start doing something to eliminate these cancers taking hold in our country we will be consumed and I see no indication anyone is going to stop them.
I wanted to thank you very much for writing such a clearly understood, easily remembered and to then repeat article on a subject that is due to blow up here in the very recent future. Short of taking up the Qua'an I really hadn't come across information such as this in which to defend my faith and compare to Isam. I knew that there were critical differences but what they were and how they compared to chrisitians faith I didn't know and hadn't heard or read anything that explained it in such a way as you have. This is perfect discussion material that isn't too deep and yet clearly makes the points it needs to. You sound like you've been studying for sometime for you seem to have a real handle on what this religion is about as well as those who follow it. Its actually a scary idea that these are gaining in power and with BO leading the way it seems,we christians need to put our faith where our mouth is. As powerful with numbers and modivations as Islam maybe theres no match for the Creator of this whole deal and the end is already assured to be a victory that Allah will be left out of. It may seem otherwise for a time but in the end its going to be bye bye Allah you thought you knew what hot was. Ha! Well done and again thank you.
Yes I should have said well done to the author and thanks to you who posted here for me to read, huh but I didn't think to look and I was really so grateful to have the information I could so easliy understood and useable if necessary or given the opportunity. Thanks for the note.