Does Islam Promote Violence

[Barry]

Here's a great video of Reza Aslan discussing whether or not Islam promotes violence:

[Valley Oak]

All religions have ways of justifying violence.

But this fact is not really the one we should be pursuing. The great enlightening revelation that we should be seeking is the fact that religion is a lie. It is based on something that does not exist. God does not exist and physicist Stephen Hawking recently asserted this fact. The lack of god's existence, in other wards, the Great Lie, is responsible for all of the problems religions create; it is their nature because of their enormous deceit. Religion is the biggest manifestation in human history of one of the worst stumbling blocks that civilization has had to struggle with: Ignorance. Why? Because religion is the purest essence of ignorance the world has ever known. When you try to base your life or a nation on institutionalized ignorance, such as religion, the consequences will always be sweeping and dire for everyone involved.

Essentially, the question is irrelevant. The question that needs to be asked is if god exists. It does not, therefore, all religions are mythologies. And the answer to the real question is that a substantial amount of the violence and destruction in the world today, as in the past, is ultimately traceable to massive, worldwide faith in something that does not exist: religion, any of them.

Here's a great video of Reza Aslan discussing whether or not Islam promotes violence...

[podfish]

The question that needs to be asked is if god exists.

thing is, most people aren't all that interested in asking it - they're typically pretty satisfied with the answer they already have. I suppose many if not most people do have a period in their lives where it's a real question, but once that phase has passed, they're kinda done with it.

I agree that the question as framed by this topic isn't really a useful one to answer - your observation about all religions is nearly if not literally correct. If I could rephrase it I'd ask "How can leaders of religious institutions discourage their followers from accepting violence?" I think it is true that all religions profess peace as a goal. So why are there so many people who consider themselves religious but are perfectly cool with violence in their religion's name?? There's a reason westerners are often called crusaders, and it's not meant as a compliment.

[Glia]

Bill Maher is fond of referring to religion as "peddlers of the invisible product."

... The great enlightening revelation that we should be seeking is the fact that religion is a lie. It is based on something that does not exist. God does not exist and physicist Stephen Hawking recently asserted this fact. The lack of god's existence is responsible for all of the problems religions create. Religion is the biggest manifestation in human history of one of the biggest stumbling blocks that civilization has had to struggle with: Ignorance. Why? Because religion is the purest essence of ignorance the world has ever known. When you try to base your life or a nation on institutionalized ignorance, such as religion, the consequences will always be sweeping and dire for everyone involved.

[Jim Wilson]

All religions have ways of justifying violence.

But this fact is not really the one we should be pursuing. The great enlightening revelation that we should be seeking is the fact that religion is a lie. It is based on something that does not exist. God does not exist and physicist Stephen Hawking recently asserted this fact. The lack of god's existence, in other wards, the Great Lie, is responsible for all of the problems religions create; it is their nature because of their enormous deceit. Religion is the biggest manifestation in human history of one of the worst stumbling blocks that civilization has had to struggle with: Ignorance. Why? Because religion is the purest essence of ignorance the world has ever known. When you try to base your life or a nation on institutionalized ignorance, such as religion, the consequences will always be sweeping and dire for everyone involved.

Essentially, the question is irrelevant. The question that needs to be asked is if god exists. It does not, therefore, all religions are mythologies. And the answer to the real question is that a substantial amount of the violence and destruction in the world today, as in the past, is ultimately traceable to massive, worldwide faith in something that does not exist: religion, any of them.

Well, now that we have that settled, I suppose it would be a display of my own ignorance to argue otherwise. But I'll go ahead anyway.

The simple assertion that God does not exist is not very convincing; actually, it isn't convincing at all. It isn't just ordinary peasants who believe in God. Many very leanred and wise people, people much more learned and much wiser than I am, have believed and do believe in God. You might want to take a look at what they have to say. These include people like Plato, Plotinus, Spinoza, Maimonides, C. S. Lewis -- the list is very long. You could spend a lifetime pondering what they have to say. There are also contemporary apologists who write eloquently and with discernment regarding the existence of God.

On another point, not all religions believe in God. Jainism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are three religions that do not have a belief in a creator deity. So unless you want to eject these three teachings from the realm of religion, perhaps we need a more expansive understanding.

Finally, regarding religion and the causes of violence, I would like to gently point out to non-theists (of whatever persuasion) that the most violent and destructive regimies of the 20th century were secular and materialist in nature. I am referring to the Soviet Union, Communist China, North Korea, and Pol Pot, among others. The historical record of what happens when a society becomes officially antagonistic to religion is not very impressive.

[Tomara]

Islam teaches that if you kill one innocent person it's as if you killed all of humanity. Islam also teaches to defend yourself and people, Just as anyone else would. Islam is perfect, people are not. Hitler claimed to be a Christian. The Oklahoma bomber said he was a Catholic...... The Buddhist in Asia mass murdered Muslims... America kills people all over the world.....

[podfish]

Islam teaches that if you kill one innocent person it's as if you killed all of humanity. Islam also teaches to defend yourself and people,

and Christian doctrine should be based on "turn the other cheek". It actually doesn't teach anyone to defend themselves or other people. Kinda funny, isn't it? technically that would imply that Islam does indeed allow for more violence than Christianity.

totally academic, of course, because I don't think there's any evidence that Christians follow that teaching very effectively.

[dzerach]

Here's a great video of Reza Aslan discussing whether or not Islam promotes violence:

From an Israeli perspective, ISIS is the same as Hamas. In Article 28 of the Hamas charter they specifically call for the destruction of all Jews and Israel both. "Israel with its Jewish identity and Jewish people."

They clearly state they don't want peace with Israel. They want its destruction. Just like the U.S. Lefty Jihad does.

https:// https://www.camera.org/inde...x_article=1618

https://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_c...x_article=1075

It might be easier to not paint all with the same brush if any one would ever stand up and lobby against physical, violent jihad. That won't happen because it's a holy part of Islam. Their morality is also completely different, most especially from a Jewish worldview which focuses on life. We like to think there is a universal "good" and "bad" in human minds. There isn't. This is what Israel has been up against for ages.

He did not condemn the militant Islam groups and paused before answering. Though it is something you can answer directly, good luck getting a straight answer about the physical, violent type of jihad (vs the more internal or spiritual kind - a concept any true religious practitioner readily recognizes, but the Quran doesn't seem to separate them -- not in practice anyway).

[meherc]

Finally, someone is speaking out against this bigotry. Why doesn't the US bomb some more Palestinians? That
seems to be acceptable. Both subjects not to be brought up at dinner parties unless you want to be villified. Bill Maher has always been an ass. Narrow minded and mean spirited, not funny.

Here's a great video of Reza Aslan discussing whether or not Islam promotes violence:

[meherc]

I can never understand why those people care if someone else believes in god. We're not demanding you do. Man, and they can be vicious in calling spiritual people stupid and they say science can prove there is no god or higher power. Ha! No way to prove that one. Another thing not to mention at dinner parties.

I don't believe that religion encourages violence. Many paths to the same goal -peace and love. There are violent people who may speak in the name of religion but there are also violent people who denigrate any religion. It's like that saying - guns don't kill people, people kill people. Sigh.