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From: reza@ihuxb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Religious Intolerance
Message-ID: <296@ihuxb.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 11-Aug-83 15:15:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxb.296
Posted: Thu Aug 11 15:15:06 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Aug-83 23:32:05 EDT
Organization: BTL Naperville, Il.
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   I saw Jimmy Swaggart ( I think I have misspelled his name, so I will
call him JS ) on a religious cable network the other day.  He was trying
to tell the audience that supporting Israel is their moral
responsibility etc.  But the reasoning that he used drove me up the
wall.  This gentleman, who is supposed be intelligent and informed
enough to preach to millions of people on tv, said what amounts to the
following:

"Arabs are Muslim.  Do you know what Islam stands for?  It stands for
denying Christianity and Christ.  These people hate Jesus and what he
stands for.  Therefore we should all support Israel"

   Now, I have several objections to JS's points.  First of all, let's
assume that Muslims do hate Jesus Christ and what he stands for, does
that entitle Israel to be supported unconditionally, as JS implied.
Secondly as far as I know Jews ( yes I know that I am equating being a
Jew with being an Israeli, but this is accurate enough for this
argument ) have more reservations about Jesus and what he stands for
than most other people.  Notice that I did not use the word hate,
simply because I do not think that is true.  These two arguments
actually belong to other news groups and discussions.  So I will
not argue them.

   JS argues that Muslims hate Jesus and what he stands for.  Is this
true?  Well, I am a ( mind you, non-practicing ) Muslim.  My father
was a scholar in Muslim jurisprudence and made me follow the
religious rules for most of my life.  I think I am informed enough to
tell you what Muslims believe in.

   Islam is a religion based on the Judeo-Christian beliefs.  It claims
to have been sent to man, through Mohammad, when Jews and
Christians were starting to deny the God again.  That is to say Islam
claims the same relationship to Christianity that Christianity claims
to Judaism.  If you read Quran, you will be surprised at how close it
is to the old and testaments.  It contains a briefer version of all
the stories about Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other profits.
As far as Jesus is concerned, we Muslims believe that he is one of the
six major profits ( Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad )
and was born from a virgin mother through an act of God.  The only
difference between the Muslim and Christian views of Jesus is that we
do not believe that Jesus was the son of God.  You and I can argue
forever about if he was born from a virgin mother through an act of God,
whether he is the son of God or not.  But that is not the point.

   The only way that I can describe the animosity, shown by many
Christians towards Islam, is by the phrase "religious intolerance."
Look at it this way.  Who is the god that Muslims worship?  Of course
everybody knows that it is this cult figure named Allah.  The only
problem is that the word Allah, in Arabic, means "The God."
Furthermore, this Allah happens to be the same God as the one Jews and
Christians worship, which is one of the fundamental claims of Islam.
Jews call their god with a Hebrew word, too, don't they.  Does this
mean that their God is different from the Christian's God?  Now,
this is another point that we can argue about forever, so let's leave
it.

   Note that I am not asking for anyone's praise because I ( or rather
practicing Muslims ) worship the same God as you do and believe in most
of your religious beliefs.  All I am saying is that spreading such non
sense to people as facts is dangerous.  Not only does it defame another
religion for non-religious reasons, but also it provides the grounds
for unneeded religious antagonism.

   You know what the irony of it all is?  50 years ago the fire of
anti-semitism was fed by telling Christians that Jews were Christ
killers and therefore should be wiped off the face of the earth.  Now
you are told to fight against ( Jesus hating ) Muslims for the cause
of the country that represents those same Jews!

Religious Intolerance.

H. Reza Taheri
...!ihnp4!ihuxb!reza
(312)-979-1040