Letters: An Inquisition On Religious Oppression

An Inquisition

Alibi
\
4 min read
Share ::
A movie review of Where Do We Go Now , written by Devin O’Leary [July 12 – 18], has an extremely offensive comment by this author. I quote, “The real problem is two religions—nearly identical in origin, practice and belief—are asking devotees to eliminate everyone not in utter lockstep belief.” The author states this as fact, not opinion, as his opinion is expressed in the following sentence.

The author is stating that Christianity is asking Christian devotees to eliminate everyone not in utter lockstep belief. I demand proof from this author for this ridiculous statement. Where in the gospel are we told as Christians to kill anyone who is not a Christian? Where in the world today are Christians engaging in religious and political terrorism? I want proof that Christian religious texts and teachings justify this and should you not produce the proof, then you must print a retraction. Either the author is totally ignorant about both religions, or this author is prone to make false statements that do not stand up to the facts. Which is it?

Those people who use the moral equivalence argument to compare Islam with other religions need to examine their own subconscious psychological motives. They are not only attempting to delude others, but are in deep denial and trying to delude themselves. The fallacies are obvious: Christian and Jewish acts of terrorism are rare and infrequent; they are rejected by the majority of followers of the religions, go against the core teachings of the religions and are committed by a few isolated loonies. Islamic acts of terrorism are commonplace, are encouraged by the Koran and other religious Islamic texts, and are supported, if not actually carried out, by a substantial proportion of Muslims.

The unconscious and self-deluding part of the moral equivalence argument is the refusal to face the fact that Islam is an intrinsically violent totalitarian ideology that has infiltrated our civilization, and is bent on our conversion, subjugation or elimination as shown in black and white in their religious texts. Jihad is both religious and political. Islam is primarily a political doctrine, not a religious doctrine. For instance, the Koran is more concerned with the unbeliever, the kafir, than it is the believer. It spends 61 percent of its texts disparaging the kafir (which I find extremely offensive), only 39 percent of the Koran is about Islam and the Muslim. In addition, what religion has the death penalty for leaving that religion?

Islam’s political doctrine includes Sharia law. As a woman, I find this totally incompatible with democracy and freedom. As a woman, why don’t you explore what Sharia would mean to you?

If a retraction is not made within your magazine, letters and calls will be made to the advertisers advising them of citizens boycotting their services.

Letters:

Film Editor Devin D. O’Leary responds: If you choose to believe in their tenents, Christianity and Islam are both monotheistic religions born in the Middle East that worship the God of Abraham (as described in the Hebrew Bible). They both believe in eternal Heaven and Hell, angels and demons, and a Day of Divine Judgment. They both follow the word of Jesus Christ (whom they believe was born of virgin birth) and await his second coming. Their preferred holy books (the Bible and the Koran) both relate the same stories about Adam and Eve, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, David, Solomon, Jonah, John the Baptist and others. But clearly this person isn’t going to listen to anything a heathen like myself says. So, I’m gonna leave this up to our educated readers. Anyone out there want to point out any historical instances in which Christians might have killed nonbelievers? Or any place in the Bible where Christians are advised to stone to death those who "serve other gods." (Hint: Start with Deuteronomy.) What about our Muslim readers? Any of them want to admit to being full-time terrorist-supporting jihadists? The best answer will win a free copy of Comparative Religion for Dummies by William P. Lazarus.

Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number via email to letters@alibi.com. They can also be faxed to (505) 256-9651. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium; we regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. Word count limit for letters is 300 words.

1 2 3 455

Search