I completely agree with Ms. West about the mike-cutting. Bill O'Reilly seems to be pretty well-known for those sorts of shenanigans; at least Jon Stewart has had the likes of Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott on his show without making them feel like asses.
As for Christians not advocating murder... were there not a cadre of folks who thought it was alright to murder doctors who performed abortions who called themselves Christian? Or is this another Brother Pat Robertson-ish oopsie-daisy?
Y'know... I've read a nice chunk of the Koran, and have also read a nice chunk of the Bible... and they sorta seem to say the same general things. They both believe in one God; one believes Jesus is the second part of the Trinity, the other's a little more skeptical, but still sees this carpenter as a pretty holy kind of guy. Then there's the Jews, who are still thinking along the same lines, but are kinda reserved about the whole Messiah thing altogether.
Of course the Bible doesn't mention Islam, because that's a newer creation than Christianity. But the Koran mentions Christ quite a few times that I've found. And if you read it literally (as close as an English-speaker can, seeing as how I don't read Arabic)... it doesn't seem so bad. Sure, there's a bit where they mention that Jews and Christians are deluded... but, shit, Catholics say that about Lutherans, and they're working with exactly the same material.
In my opinion -- and it's just my own, of course -- reading holy texts literally is a dangerous thing. Grain of salt for me, thanks. Good general messages, but... six days? Tough for me to swallow.
As such, I think of rabbis, imams and ministers as pretty wise people -- they've studied a lot, and have reflected out the wazoo for years and years. But as for believing what one of them directly says about what religion "should" or "ought to" mean to me... I think that's a pretty personal choice.
I'll read a holy text and come away with my own meaning, thanks. And this Koran -- a bit on the repetitive side, as every chapter starts with a bunch of verses saying about how kickass God is -- well, it's mostly what I expected. Certainly light on the killing (as "Islam" in Arabic literally means "the obedience of God in complete peace")... perhaps lighter than the Old Testament, even.
I dunno -- if three groups of people each say there's one God, and their descriptions of God are pretty similar... I'd say they're quibbling over details and should learn how to work together.
So yeah... that's my two cents. Y'all will probably disagree, and that's fine. All I ask is that you respect my "spiritual space," if you will, and just let me do my thing.
I'll be happy to blog this answer.
I had the exact same questions myself.
Commenting by HaloScan
