Bill Cosby is tired

[hskwarrior]

Like it matters if someone is "tricked" into becoming Muslim.

really? I'd be pretty upset if i got tricked into a religion that claims it will kill you if you try to leave it.

in fact. aside for my love of GOD, Im pretty upset that Christianity tricked me. but i left that religion behind and no one has ever threatened my life for doing so.

[WingChunABQ]

Frank has answered your question himself and no, that was not a peer-reviewed website or whatever dude.
And yes, context is crucial and the links in that side do indeed show context by the way.
And peer-reviwed in religion simply means "peer-reviewed by someone giving their interpretation that is just their interpretation also".
Theology is NOT science dude and this coming from someone ( me) working on his Bachelors in Theology.

No, they show a biased perspective on some quotes taken out of context.

So you're telling me, as a university student in Theology, that good research practices include just taking what anybody says on their word? That one guy's interpretation of something vast, elliptical and metaphoric is as good as another? JoeBlowsOpinions.com has the same authority to intrepret scripture as a Rabbi, priest, imam or monk?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Sometimes we forget that religion in of itself has nothing to answer for, people on the other hand, have lots to answer for.
The real issue is that people let themselves be led but a minority and what they do, they will have to answer for and I just wish more people would realize that.
Christianity is a religion of love and compassion and peace and yet, people have been led by individual to commit horrific acts in its name.
And the same can be said for the vast majority of ideologies, religious or otherwise.
The common denominator being people led by a minority to do something that deep down they KNOW to be wrong.
Go figure.
Long before religion as we know it ever came to be, people were doing as such.
What religion has done is point out that this was wrong and the fact that man has taken religion and done what it preaches most vemently against, just shows how powerful the urge to F things up really is.

[sanjuro_ronin]

No, they show a biased perspective on some quotes taken out of context.

So you're telling me, as a university student in Theology, that good research practices include just taking what anybody says on their word? That one guy's interpretation of something vast, elliptical and metaphoric is as good as another? JoeBlowsOpinions.com has the same authority to intrepret scripture as a Rabbi, priest, imam or monk?

I don't think I said that but the fact is that when interpreting any ancient text, even withing context, we still get a mirad of interpretations.
Of course we are all slaves to our preconceived notions and the environment we are brought up in and those things "taint" our interpretation.
That is why it is crucial to have desenting views on these matters.
I h ave discussed and debated and being to enough lectures of Scholars and Rabbis and so forth to know that "appeal to authority" can be one of the worse "logical fallacies" we have.
Note I said CAN be,

[WingChunABQ]

WHO stands up to these MUSLIMS and tries to convince them they are only harming the religion by spouting the things they do? who polices them?

For certain, not enough moderate people within Muslim communities, and not as forcefully nor as publically as they should. It's profoundly frustrating to those of us who are level headed and not, you know, a$$holes.

Military regimes in the Arab world would, in fact, imprison and torture lots of the extremist guys. This actually made the extremism worse. They went into prison with chips on their shoulders - they left with a mission of revenge which they justified with their own strident, literal interpretations of scripture.

For what it's worth, there are moderate voices out there, but they don't get that much attention because they're not scary and therefore don't sell advertising space on Fox News and CNN as well. Here are a couple of resources for moderate voices, if you're interested:
http://www.zaytunacollege.org/
http://www.daralislam.org/
http://www.masud.co.uk/

I don't hate muslims, i hate religion. I used to work for a Muslim. I would talk with him about things like terrorists and such. he enlightened me to a different view point in which i do have a different understanding of life in his country. i also will never tell anyone NOT to go to a religion as i know everyone needs GOD.

But, if religion was like a buffet, all layed out in front of me, based on what i've seen, heard, experienced, and researched ISLAM is not for me. never will be.

Which is totally cool and I totally respect. Now. Want some FALAFEL!?!?!? MUWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!! (just kidding).

FWIW, I pretty much love religion, but hate religious people for exactly the same reasons you're stating.

[WingChunABQ]

Sometimes we forget that religion in of itself has nothing to answer for, people on the other hand, have lots to answer for.
The real issue is that people let themselves be led but a minority and what they do, they will have to answer for and I just wish more people would realize that.
Christianity is a religion of love and compassion and peace and yet, people have been led by individual to commit horrific acts in its name.
And the same can be said for the vast majority of ideologies, religious or otherwise.
The common denominator being people led by a minority to do something that deep down they KNOW to be wrong.
Go figure.
Long before religion as we know it ever came to be, people were doing as such.
What religion has done is point out that this was wrong and the fact that man has taken religion and done what it preaches most vemently against, just shows how powerful the urge to F things up really is.

I completely agree. Human history can be viewed as a long series of people failing to live up to their most noble potential.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I think it is very common to confuse religion with organized religion.
Religion is a set of beliefs about God/afterlife/ the divine nature of the universe.
Organized religion is about a small group pf people trying to impose their view of religion on everyone else.

[hskwarrior]

For certain, not enough moderate people within Muslim communities, and not as forcefully nor as publically as they should. It's profoundly frustrating to those of us who are level headed and not, you know, a$$holes.

I can respect that. I only wish more people would step up and put a muzzle on the ones destroying the image of islam. i knew one guy who said he was Al-Islam and we were good friends. i know a few people who are muslim and they are good loving people. and i hope i didn't offend you much about my personal view of islam and all religion.

Which is totally cool and I totally respect. Now. Want some FALAFEL!?!?!? MUWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!! (just kidding).

hey i tried hummice and liked it. hahahahaha. Falafel, tried that too

FWIW, I pretty much love religion, but hate religious people for exactly the same reasons you're stating.

Good to know brother.. i used to love religion until i saw the flaws in it.

[Shǎguā]

I'm Bill Cosby and I disapprove of this massive derail.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I'm Bill Cosby and I disapprove of this massive derail.

LOL !
A bit of a derail, yes.

[Drake]

Word to the wise. ANY letter written by "Important Person X" spreading typical conservative garbage is always false. There's a large list on snopes.com of these fake letters, with George Carlin, Robin Williams, and now Bill Cosby as authors.

It's NOT something Dr. Cosby would say, because he's much more well spoken and intelligent than that.

As for the muslim debate... try knowing more than one muslim before casting judgment on billions of others.

[WingChunABQ]

I can respect that. I only wish more people would step up and put a muzzle on the ones destroying the image of islam.

Me too!

and i hope i didn't offend you much about my personal view of islam and all religion.

No worries, man. If you'd seen/heard a fraction of the stuff that people say and do to us a LOT, you'd be amazed. BTW, you're in San Francisco. The Zaytuna College is in Hayward, if you want to meet some decent people face to face.

[WingChunABQ]

I'm Bill Cosby and I disapprove of this massive derail.

Whatever dude. I'M Bill Cosby.

[wenshu]

[WingChunABQ]

Ah Wenshu, is there no day you can't brighten?