Response to “Are Mormons Closer to Muslims or Christians?”

[CougarClaw]

Are there any Christian based countries committed to the genocide of anyone because of their faith or ethnicity?

The crusades comes to mind. Plenty of radical Christian groups today are pretty violent against homosexuality, mormons and just about anything else not part of their immediate dogma.

Christianity was a major driving factor in the European conquest of the Americas, completely destroying the Native Americans. 95% of Nazi Germany was Christian and Christinanity was used by slavers in America, the Inquisition, and was the major political power during the dark ages.

So yes, I do think Christianity has more than its fair share of historical and modern blemishes.

[Schmoe]

Christianity was a major driving factor in the European conquest of the Americas, completely destroying the Native Americans.

Really? I think there must be some hiding somewhere, because I've personally known many American Indians.

And make no mistake about it, the conquistadores were not sent to the Americas to kill or convert the infidels, they were sent here for wealth, plain and simple. The "Holy Inquisition" and such were simply by products of greed.

[BroncoBot]

Christianity was a major driving factor in the European conquest of the Americas, completely destroying the Native Americans.

Really? I think there must be some hiding somewhere, because I've personally known many American Indians.

And make no mistake about it, the conquistadores were not sent to the Americas to kill or convert the infidels, they were sent here for wealth, plain and simple. The "Holy Inquisition" and such were simply by products of greed.

Doesn't make much difference in the end though. Islam and Christianity have both been exploited to create violence and hatred against another group. You could use the same argument that "Al qaeda and Terrorist Muslims" are simply by products of greed as well. I mean, look no further than Northern Ireland to see how much hate exists within Christian communities.

I think CougarClaw makes a valid point. Most of what we hear about Islam is sensationalized....

[Schmoe]

Christianity was a major driving factor in the European conquest of the Americas, completely destroying the Native Americans.

Really? I think there must be some hiding somewhere, because I've personally known many American Indians.

And make no mistake about it, the conquistadores were not sent to the Americas to kill or convert the infidels, they were sent here for wealth, plain and simple. The "Holy Inquisition" and such were simply by products of greed.

Doesn't make much difference in the end though. Islam and Christianity have both been exploited to create violence and hatred against another group. You could use the same argument that "Al qaeda and Terrorist Muslims" are simply by products of greed as well. I mean, look no further than Northern Ireland to see how much hate exists within Christian communities.

I think CougarClaw makes a valid point. Most of what we hear about Islam is sensationalized....

Not disagreeing that it's sensationalized, but that the comparison between the violence in modern Christians and Muslims is a HUGE stretch at best.

[BroncoBot]

Christianity was a major driving factor in the European conquest of the Americas, completely destroying the Native Americans.

Really? I think there must be some hiding somewhere, because I've personally known many American Indians.

And make no mistake about it, the conquistadores were not sent to the Americas to kill or convert the infidels, they were sent here for wealth, plain and simple. The "Holy Inquisition" and such were simply by products of greed.

Doesn't make much difference in the end though. Islam and Christianity have both been exploited to create violence and hatred against another group. You could use the same argument that "Al qaeda and Terrorist Muslims" are simply by products of greed as well. I mean, look no further than Northern Ireland to see how much hate exists within Christian communities.

I think CougarClaw makes a valid point. Most of what we hear about Islam is sensationalized....

Not disagreeing that it's sensationalized, but that the comparison between the violence in modern Christians and Muslims is a HUGE stretch at best.

how about modern muslims vs dark ages Christianity?

[Schmoe]

Not disagreeing that it's sensationalized, but that the comparison between the violence in modern Christians and Muslims is a HUGE stretch at best.

how about modern muslims vs dark ages Christianity? [/quote]

Ah, The Dark Ages, the great apostasy when the gospel was not found on the Earth, sure, I'll gladly grant that that was the height of violence in the name of Christianity.

[Ddawg]

Are there any Christian based countries committed to the genocide of anyone because of their faith or ethnicity?

The crusades comes to mind. Plenty of radical Christian groups today are pretty violent against homosexuality, mormons and just about anything else not part of their immediate dogma.

Clarification - I'm talking about the 21st Century - here and now. Are there any Christian based countries (Europe, Canada, USA, all South American countries, Australia, Pacific Island nations, etc.) committed to the complete annihilation and genocide of another country because of their ethnicity and faith? The answer is "no."

Also - please show me a Christian church that actively kills homosexuals and Mormons. I would like to be made aware of that. Because, I don't know of any Christian church that recruits, and trains groups of Christians for the express purpose of killing homosexuals and Mormons - year, after year, after year. That is something we should all be made aware of. Thx!

[CougarClaw]

Not disagreeing that it's sensationalized, but that the comparison between the violence in modern Christians and Muslims is a HUGE stretch at best.

Why?

How many violent muslims do you think there are in the world? 50,000? 100,000? how about a million? (al queda in all it's glory is estimated to only have around 1000 core members) Do you realize that even if there were as many violent muslims as there were total members of the LDS church, it would still represent less than a tenth of a percent of the 1.6BILLION Muslims in the world?

and yet our sensationalist media still paints the world's second largest religion with this despicable violence brush that is perpetuated by our geographical, cultural, and language distance. Not to mention plenty of ignorance.

The really funny thing is how they look at us and see how immoral, violent, cruel and petty we are. Even if they secretly love Baywatch. For those who think that Muslims are solely violent people here's a few statistics for you.

let's look at a few violent Muslim countries out there: (homicides per 100k people)
Egypt 1.1
Tunisia 1.1
jordan 1.8
saudi arabia 1.0

and here are some of the more violent countries:
Palestine 4.1
Iraq 2.0
Syria 2.3
Iran 3.0

want to know what the rate for the US ?
a whopping 4.4. Even higher than Palestine. And I picked these at random. no cherry picking the lowest ones.

Want to know the World average is? 6.9.
Even if they wanted to, muslims don't have to kill us, we're doing a good job of that on our own. Now I'm not trying to excuse violence on either side. but the numbers are simply not there to back the extrapolation of violence of a very, VERY few onto the whole.

here's another interesting question... how many arabic words do you know? I'm going to guess that for most people one of the only words of that truly beautiful language is "Jihad".
Think about that. why do you think that is?

How would you feel if the only word Muslims learned about Christianity was "molestation" or "Ku Klux Klan"? That's about how far apart we are.

[Ddawg]

For those who think that Muslims are solely violent people here's a few statistics for you.

If you are including me in the above statement - you are incorrect. I do not think, believe, or infer that "Muslims are solely violent people".

That said, I stand by my statement that I have posted - show me a Christian based country right now - in the 21st century - that is committed to the complete annihilation of another race (Jews). You cannot.

Now, does that mean I believe that all Muslims are violent? No. Do I believe that the majority of Muslims are violent? No.

But - let's not play games here and parse words - Iran (a Muslim based country that kills homosexuals and has convicted a Christian man and condemned him to death because he abandoned Islam) is committed to completely destroying Israel and the Jews. They are developing nuclear capability for that purpose.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/22/chris ... ing-islam/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So - am I smugly holding out Christianity are superior to Islam? No. I am stating a fact - no Christian based country in the entire world, right now, is committed to the complete annihilation and genocide of an entire ethnic group (the Jews) - as some Islamic countries are (including Iran, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon once Hezbollah takes over).

[CougarClaw]

Clarification - I'm talking about the 21st Century - here and now. Are there any Christian based countries (Europe, Canada, USA, all South American countries, Australia, Pacific Island nations, etc.) committed to the complete annihilation and genocide of another country because of their ethnicity and faith? The answer is "no."

actually what you've described is exactly the Middle Eastern understanding of what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. I've been to both Israel and Palestine and I've seen the walls, the barbed wire, and the massive refugee towns in Jordan for those who managed to flee. Israel runs multiple checkpoints all across Palestinian territories, conducts raids, imprisons at will, and settles in lands Israel conquered through military power.

Hopefully that description stirs up images of the Jewish ghettos in World War II, and that's the true irony isn't it?

Now I understand it's a no-win situation for either side and that the jews understandably feel that it's a "us or them" and deal with rocket attacks, rocks and suicide bombs. But what we don't hear about in this country is how awful life is in Palestine. They don't have a life like the Israelis, you or I. They are starving, desperate, and angry. and they have to fight US tanks, US firearms, and US helicopters on a regular basis.

so from their standpoint, our very Christian nation is the one committed to the complete annihilation and genocide of the Palestinian people. Wouldn't that make you angry?