Hi to everybody...here's an interesting letter in the Independent today...having read the ooklets supplied by the Independent on Christianity, Islam and Judaism, it is quite clear that the fundamental differences between these three religions are irreconcilable...they may be able to live alongside one an another, but the desire of each one must be for domination of the world as far as belief in a deity is concerned and that bodes ill for any long term peaceful solution...
Letters: Blair's fluffy thinking
Blair's fluffy thinking ignores fundamental religious rifts.
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Sir: Far from making the case that we need to learn to live with "a diverse religious ecology", Tony Blair, in his article (14 June) plugging his Faith Foundation, merely succeeds in reminding us of the intellectual poverty of his signature "focus-group" approach.
Despite any good intentions, unless you degrade religious practice to the status of a lifestyle option, religion sets itself up as a revealed truth. Unfortunately for Mr Blair, whose foundation will apparently seek to avoid such pesky issues as "doctrinal inquiries", the Jewish faith holds that the Messiah has yet to come, the Christians assert that he has already come, in the person of Jesus Christ, and the Muslims accept that Jesus was a prophet, but believe that the Koran is God's last word on the subject, a view denied by both Jews and Christians.
That's a pretty fundamental disagreement. If you sincerely believe in any one religion, you have to believe that the others are wrong, not a good recipe for living peacefully with your neighbours. This may be the reason why a man who has gone out of his way to adopt Roman Catholicism, the most sternly doctrinal of all the Christian sects, chooses to escape from the dilemma by presenting himself as "a person of faith". We should take him at his word for once: the dictionary definition of faith as "belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence" sounds just about right for the man who took us to Iraq on the back of a dodgy dossier.
In fact, perhaps we could even forgive him for so modesty naming the institute after himself: as a monument to fluffy thinking and misplaced concern, it is the perfect symbol for his failure as Prime Minister to deliver "education, education, education", the only thing that will ever stand between us and a return to the faith-based bigotry of the Middle Ages.
Simon Prentis
playwrite27
...I believe it was once written into the religion of Islam that no Christian should be harmed because he/she reveres Christ and that makes them brothers and sisters under the skin...wonder what happened to that teaching...would be nice if was actually practiced...and Christians did the same back to the Moslems....
Have no idea what the world would be like without them but might be a lot more people alive today if they hadn't existed...hmmm...sad thought, which no doubt some will disagree with strongly with their belief that atheists kill without conscience or concern...
Actually, in Egypt, I found a lot of respect for the Christian religion. Unlike the Jewish people, the Moslem's do acknowledge Christ, but believe in him as a prophet, and not a saviour.
It's only the extreme Muslims and Christians who want world domination.
Over here in my country, the Evangelicals are the Christian equivilent to the radical Muslims...Evangelical Americans are only interested in converting people to Christ, and hate anyone who goes against their narrow beliefs.
The sad thing is, is that there's probably more moderate Christians and Muslims, than there are radicals--but the radicals are loudly vocal and violent in their beliefs, so that means they get much more media attentions, sadly.