[HDPM]

"Do you really want someone posting all the heinous passages in the Old Testament? "


There are some ridiculous passages in the Old Testament and some awful requirements. But there is one very important and legitimate difference between the practice of the Old Testament i.e. Judaism and what I understand of the practice of Islam. Judaism has a long intellectual history about interpreting the laws in the Old Testament. Out of that came many requirements in the practice of Judaic law. I do not have extensive knowledge of these requirements, but I have some. For instance, the Old Testament often admonishes death for certain offenses. Early on, the practice was interpreted to put so many requirements on a death penalty that it was just impossible to put people to death for all the crap the Bible says to kill people over. Humans put so many requirements on the thing that it became a humane code. Animal sacrifice was also required in the Old Testament, but done away with long ago. These type of developments have led to an intellectual and humane religion for the most part. And I am talking about the practice of the religion in backwards, undeveloped places.
Islam does not have a comparable history. As I see it, there are many clerics who do not hesitate to order death or torture in various places. Of course, not all the religious leaders or practitioners are like that, but I do not think it can be seriously argued that Islam is less violent and inhumane in its worldwide practice than Judaism. Perhaps it will evolve, but that remains to be seen.
Of course, the problem with comparing religions is that the comparative irrationality is a matter of degree. I mean, it is hard to say that the believer in irrational mystical unknowable thing X is so far ahead of the believer in irrational mystical unknowable thing Y. All religions have members who behave well, and all religions have rotten, violent, evil practitioners. So it can be dangerous to say, "well, Islam is worse than religion x." However, given the horrendous things people do in the name of religion, I think it is appropriate to point out the problems in particular religions. And I don't think it can be argued that there are not Islamic forces out there that would very much like to damge civilization and force people to lead very primitive Islamic lives. And that should be stopped. No other religion is posing such a widespread threat at this point. So it is fair to point out some of the things in the Koran that lead people to commit horrible acts. So I also think it is OK to rank religions on the number of people they hurt or kill. And under that standard, Islam doesn't fare quite as well as, say, Buddhism.