Female Pakistani minister shot dead for 'breaking Islamic dress code'
I really have to sit down and read the Koran at some point. I know there are plenty of people who would say, since I'm an atheist, why does it matter? But there seems to be two sides to the Islamic world, and I'm confused how people get such extremes from the same book. And I understand it's not just their holy book, but their history as well.
I am under the impression that the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic idea of a single god all stem from the same Abraham, yet all 3 religions are extremely distrustful of eachother. How the heck does this happen? It's like the Christians and Muslims said "hey, Jews, thanks for the god, but he's working for us now."
So there are peaceful Muslims who just want to live their daily lives like the rest of us, and then there are these Muslims killing eachother because they don't dress the way they think god wants them to dress? Granted, Christians can be pretty awful to eachother too, with the gay-bashing, and the blowing up women's clinics, and all (and if all sin is the same in gods eyes, why do they pick out certain sins as if they're worse?).
Anyways, I feel a need to read the Koran in order to better understand what is going on in our world, even if I know it really won't help me understand Muslim extremists any better than I understand Christian extremists having read the bible.
I am under the impression that the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic idea of a single god all stem from the same Abraham, yet all 3 religions are extremely distrustful of eachother. How the heck does this happen? It's like the Christians and Muslims said "hey, Jews, thanks for the god, but he's working for us now."
So there are peaceful Muslims who just want to live their daily lives like the rest of us, and then there are these Muslims killing eachother because they don't dress the way they think god wants them to dress? Granted, Christians can be pretty awful to eachother too, with the gay-bashing, and the blowing up women's clinics, and all (and if all sin is the same in gods eyes, why do they pick out certain sins as if they're worse?).
Anyways, I feel a need to read the Koran in order to better understand what is going on in our world, even if I know it really won't help me understand Muslim extremists any better than I understand Christian extremists having read the bible.
posted by new.atheist at 6:00 PM
4 Comments:
Christians and Muslims have something else in common: they will argue and even kill about how to properly conduct themselves within their own faith. Southern Baptists, for instance, LOVE to call other branches of Christianity "cults".
If you are going to read the Koran, I strongly suggest that you read the Muhammad Asad translation called "The Message of the Quran". It has numerous notes that help the reader understand the context in which the chapter and verse was written. Quite often the Muslim extremists quote verses out of context. You can read an online version of the Asad translation here: http://www.geocities.com/masad02/
Best wishes,
David
I think it is a case of religious people interpreting their religious books to suit their own sense of morality or politics.
For every potentially violent believer, there is a passage in either the quran or the bible, that they can use to justify their actions.
And the reverse applies, for every peaceful believer, they will find a passage, or interpret a passage, to justify their political position.
Religious books seem to be used in the same way that a successful pop song is. It can mean whatever the listener wants or interprets it to mean.
David, thanks for the suggestion! The first real bible I received as a child is very annotated, with explanations for the Jewish customs, word interpretations, and such. It helped me understand what I was reading knowing the history and background behind confusing passages. I think it would be very helpful to have a Koran with notes on it as well.
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