In the US, that seems to be a mainstream view - one which no amount of reason seems inclined to break down. This despite the fact that many of us have Muslim neighbors who are great people. I had a relative spouting this garbage, and appealing to the authority of a book he'd read. A book which I later determined was written by a bosnian serb who had possibly been a 'playa' in the Milosevic regime (my B-i-L thought he was a Russian). No wonder people can't figure things out, if they don't even check out the authors they read for prejudice. It got really bad when he was spouting off about the Qaran and all of its violence - I called him on the fact that the christian bible is full of calls to warfare... he denied. I cited several examples, and with a straight face he said "but that's the old testament..." and dismissed. And didn't even see the inconsistency of what he was claiming (taking verses out of context, or without knowing the significance for a believer....) Ugh!
The only thing that really causes intolerance in religion is fundamentalism, not matter what the credo.
Pretty much true, I think. It is one thing to think you have the 'truth' - it is quite another to believe you should share it with others by force and compulsion.
Echoing those above, though: Do be careful on the flotilla adventure.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 04:57 pm (UTC)In the US, that seems to be a mainstream view - one which no amount of reason seems inclined to break down. This despite the fact that many of us have Muslim neighbors who are great people. I had a relative spouting this garbage, and appealing to the authority of a book he'd read. A book which I later determined was written by a bosnian serb who had possibly been a 'playa' in the Milosevic regime (my B-i-L thought he was a Russian). No wonder people can't figure things out, if they don't even check out the authors they read for prejudice. It got really bad when he was spouting off about the Qaran and all of its violence - I called him on the fact that the christian bible is full of calls to warfare... he denied. I cited several examples, and with a straight face he said "but that's the old testament..." and dismissed. And didn't even see the inconsistency of what he was claiming (taking verses out of context, or without knowing the significance for a believer....) Ugh!
The only thing that really causes intolerance in religion is fundamentalism, not matter what the credo.
Pretty much true, I think. It is one thing to think you have the 'truth' - it is quite another to believe you should share it with others by force and compulsion.
Echoing those above, though: Do be careful on the flotilla adventure.