It's no surprise that our Thursday post on U.S. Rep Keith Ellison's conversion from Catholicism to Islam fetched loads of comments.
Some commenters discerned a pattern of CNN conspiring against Christianity (have they noticed all our thoughtful stories about Christianity?):
RonnieReagan
Anyone notice this pattern?
Again the SHAMEFUL cnn promoting Islam and atheism at the expense of Christianity. I wonder what the schmucks at CNN will do when they realize the hammer is about to be dropped on their daughters by all the MOOSLIMS.
Lots of commenters vented anti-Muslim sentiments:
jamal
I am an Ex-Muslim. I am free, I am happy and I am now a proud Infidel......Islam is the religion of hate and suffocation. Islam is the religion of wife beating and polygamy. Islam is the anti-women religion and it hates free thinking. Islam is a crime against humanity.
Sara
First Muslim member of Congress? Let's hope he's the last.
Some came to the defense of Muslims. The first one in this list is a response to Sara's comment from above:
Knucklehead
You're quite an American. The founding fathers would be proud.
Judge NOT...
As a Christian, I read the Quran after 9/11 because I couldn't believe the news that a Book of God could incite people in such a negative way. I was right, the Holy Quran confirms the Bible and vice versa if you read them both with an open mind. I am very happy that I read both because both teach the right lessons. For those of you nay sayers that say religion is a way to manipulate the weak-minded, how little you know about life and how little you know about your own potential. Read both as books, then study both as a life lesson. By doing this you will find your place in the World and after. God reigns, God is great and God gives peace to those that seek it. Instead of criticizing others, look inward at your emptiness and know that there is an answer, ONE answer. If you can't understand it, I truly pity you.
sofas
Many of the people who post on this website seem to never met or befriended a Muslim person and therefore put the face of terrorism on every Muslim they never met. This is why it is important to expose people such as these, people who have never left their little oyster shells, to one of millions of peaceful, law-abiding Muslims in America and one of billions of law abiding Muslims in the world. That is the significance of this story. Otherwise, we run the risk of becoming a developed, civilized nation, super power that is a breeding ground for haters and paranoid nut cases such as the terrorist Anders Behring Breivik (the Norwegian terrorist) in this ever shrinking, increasingly global world.
Lots of commenters expressed alarm about what they said are Islamic threats to American culture and law:
Parkerman
I am not going to say that one religion is better than another, but the lifestyle of Islam is not the lifestyle of the western civilization. I am concerned simply that our lifestyle and the laws and culture that made this country great will be lost. Look how made Muslim run countries are. I do not want any impact Muslim law just because we have Muslim congressman. It does not mix.
And as always, droves of atheists lampooned religion, Muslim and otherwise:
McJesus
I believe in Leprechauns. Can you write a story about me too?
cleareye1
All religions are the same. They are fantasy based and would not survive a generation if they didn't brainwash children before they learn how to think. Maybe Scientology differs, but what is Scientology?
Your Take: Comments on a congressman's conversion to Islam – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs
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Hello. everyone.
would like to make new friends with you guys.
I have been saved now 7years Im 47 years old, married twice 2 childrenfrom my high school sweetheart, just a normal kind of guy. But these past 5years the lord has been showing me life or His word and its cool but the power or grace is in identifing with my own flesh or sinful nature as THE issue, not whats around me, that there is no weapon that is form against me that will prosper, or I think it says dont fear loosing YOUR life but loosing your soul. God asks us to give Him our life, He asks us to die to the flesh daily, to be crucified with Christ. People there are so many so called Christians that are so far away from Christ, He says my people are perishing or being destroyed through lack of knowledge, also that my words are on my lips but thier hearts are far away from me. You know, please rest your conscience here as you read I am not an authority AT ALL as youll come to see, My lord has pulled me out of church the holy spirit filled church where I recieved Christ, and told me to visit ALL churches, oh and by the way 6 years ago The Lord asked me to open an out reach food pantry and safe haven for the needy, in the city that we live in, anyway this journey was humbling,God always shows me I am the stinker, that its my flesh that wars against the spirit, So many people are worried about satan,and demons or bad freinds or family or other religions, Yeah it makes you wonder 1st is it the same bible Im reading Jesus said it is finished! that He had defeated death or satan, this crucifixion was a promise that He had to make perfectly clear to His enemy 1st before He could say to the world ALL those who were created in his image, that its done it is finished I did what I said I would do, if you decide you need me, I will be waiting, man talk about patience, and this isnt the kind of patience that your see when people are waiting in line and they arent tapping thier foot, this is called perfect Faith,that comes in trusting and know the end from the beginning, thats HUGE! thats not us! thats Him alone, but His grace is sufficient. sorry got a little off track we as believers are screwwing up big time we are using His word, Big and HUGE uncool thing, we are still normal, we all fall short of the glory of God, So because of this deception or lack of the proper teaching of the way of the cross we have a huge on set of actual so called Christians that cant even get along, and tell me this dosent exist in the muslim home or what ever cult mindset you are following and that includes the Christian church if they are more consirned with getting you in and keeping you there then setting you FREE! unjudgmentaly, Pretty crazy ey? the majority or christians cant understand what Im saying the other half think Im nuts or am satan himself, I guess Im right in the center of Gods will then because thats just what they thought about Christ. Not bragging as apart from He who is Greater I can do NOTHING, believe me this is no cake walk but I will tell you this the peace beyond all understanding, the undeserved and undiscribable Hope that brings a person that once lived to serve HIMSELF and himself only, and realizes that this flesh of mine is still alive and kicking, is here today to tell you dont throw the baby out with the bath water, do some examining for youself, all these people that are so called christians, why is it they are all still all acting as though there is still some thing missing in thier life, and why are they at eachothers throats, and thier talking about other peoples faith issues, when thier own house or temple is out of control or the will of God, and again chinese, muslim, inbread hindu, what ever we all have this one thing thats smack dack right in our face and thats our own self rightousness and our desire to have what we dont have and to blame and judge or pass judgement ALL DAY LONG, in our minds till it ruins us, and our life and the lives of the ones that are closet to us, You know this is called pride the spawn of our sinful nature, and all it does is KILL, it is the complete opposite of humility, yet when the oppurtunity to be freed from the chains of the destroyer, from the snare of the one responsible for ALL our losses, and there is no more worries or regret, but a fresh brand new beginning with zero condemnation, just complete forgiveness AND impowerment and assurance that YOU will make it through! one day at a time with the fresh Grace and mercy that is poured out on and in your heart to take and share with someone you might have hurt that is very dear to you, that is empowerment that is forgiveness that brings peace beyond all understanding KNOWING that there is NO ONE that Has control of your life any more, that is the freedom that not only did this UNITED STATES not fully recieve but is being stolen from them one citizen at a time, do they care ah let me see? and where are we putting our hope? remember people He sets before us blessings and curses. Choose Life! lets stop stereo typing eachother and reconize that we are the one that is the cause of the problem if we are not apart of the solution, Which is the Grace of God, I hope you can find great renewal of friends and family in your hearts today America
Has anyone asked why he believes Islam is better based on what? No one who had or have Christ would ever leave Christ and that's a fact. Therefore he never had Christ in the first place he had Mary or the Pope but not Christ, because no one leaves Christ once they have HIM!
So all this attention is wasted he was pulled in this false religion from another false religion. Muslim and others in their ignorance which abounds think everyone is Christian like the Catholics and the JW. Go find a born again Christian who would convert to the lie of Islam and you will be in for an awakening.
Islam is a lie that only some seem to realize.
So you're really arguing the merits of one religion over another? Its like saying asking this questions seriously – What is the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns?
M. Asad
Islam at the Cross Roads, S M Ashraf Publisher
Lahore Pakistan
THE SHADOW OF THE CRUSADES
It was then for `the first time in history that Europe conceived itself as a unity-and it was a unity against the world of Islam. Without indulging in undue exaggerations, we can say that modern Europe was born out of the spirit of the Crusades. Before that time there existed Anglo-saxons and Germans,
French and Normans, Italians and Danes: but during the Crusades the new
concept of "Western civilisation", a cause common to all European
nations alike, was created; and it was the hatred of Islam that stood
as godfather behind the new creation...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shiatalk/message/30296
MD,
You said "Also he (Christ) never said he would be crucified and that you had to be believe that to be saved. In other words, Jesus NEVER preached Christianity nor its ideology. So what on earth are you talking about ?"
If your ignorance were not so pitiful, it would be laughable!
Why posting about something you have absolutely no understanding of?!
P.S.
Correction:
This post was meant for MidianRoad
There are many opinions but there is only one Truth, existing reality.
And it does not change, nor is subjected to any(one's) opinions.
If God, who created all that was, is and ever will be, who gave us life and made us into His image... If EH created all things in such perfect order, would He then not give us, which He made into His own image the way to KNOW Him, revealing Himself to us?
HE DID JUST THAT He did it in the Person of Jesus Christ, who came to declare Him and explain Him. But HE was rejected, and HE was crucified. Yet, by His sacrifice HE made the Way for all those who come to Him by faith to KNOW God, and to become His sons and daughters. No other person, no other shepherd who claimed to be from God did what Jesus Christ did, and the graves of all of them testify that they were just mortal men, no different then any of us. But there is no grave of Jesus Christ becaue s grave and death could not hold Him, for HE was a sinless lamb, who gave His life for sinners, so that by His sacrifice we would be reconciled to God. No greater love can a man have, then to give His own life for another. No Mohamed, no Buddha or hare krishna nor any guru has ever done that. But even if they did, their bodies ar still in he grave. Jesus arose from the grave, and now He sits at right hand of the Father to intercede for us, who put our trust in Him. Blessed are those who do put their trust in Him!
Remember the trojan horse-they will creep in slowly and take over your country .
It's secular hedonism and self-worship that are destroying America, causing much internal deadly corrosion. Muslims are okay as fellow humans; they just need to trust in Jesus alone for salvation.
Look at your post from the Native American perspective...
http://quran.com/6/155
And this [Qur'an] is a Book We have revealed [which is] blessed, so follow it and fear Allah that you may receive mercy.
http://quran.com/9/29
Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah (Security Tax) willingly while they are humbled.
http://quran.com/9/30
The Jews say, "Ezra is the son of Allah "; and the Christians say, "The Messiah is the son of Allah ." That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved [before them]. May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded?
http://quran.com/3/67
Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah ]. And he was not of the polytheists.
http://quran.com/2/115
And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah . Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.
http://quran.com/5/51
O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them .
2 Corinthinians 4:4
It is the most peaceful if the following warning is posted.
Box warning: People who have read this have driven planes loaded with people into the world trade center killing thousands.People have carried out terrorist activity like mumbai 26/11.Similar activities were observed in newyork, ford reed, barcelona, indonesia, chechanya, pakisthan, somalia , kenya, other parts of the globe.Viewer/reader discretion strongly advised.
So there should probably be one on the Christian bible too then right?
People who have read this book have: killed millions of people needless in the Crusades, tortured and killed hundreds of thousands in the Inquisition, conducted countless 'witch' burnings in Europe and America, have advocated for beating children (Proverbs 13:24), have advocated for the subjugation of women (far too much to cite)...
Need I go on? Maybe we should just abolish all religions and then there would be any religious extremism. What do you think?
"(It is) Jesus Christ of Nazareth... Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts chapter 4)
How about opening up your Bible to the book of Prove-it and read chapter 5 verse 20.
Hold on a sec, didn't Jesus himself profess that Religion is in the Torah which essentially means your religion is Judaism, in addition Jesus never preached any religion at all (unless its well hidden). Also he never said he would be crucified and that you had to be believe that to be saved. In other words, Jesus NEVER preached Christianity nor its ideology. So what on earth are you talking about ?
You are following your own man made religion so stop blaming Jesus for it.
Midian, the desert heat must have scorched up your brain. Read the Gospels in the Bible. Jesus said He is es-ta-blishing the New Covenant, starting the Church and causing a new era in the human history. It's the Jews who are rejecting the God-sent Messiah Jesus; God kept His promise but the Jews missed the point as usual. Judaism was fully fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
About choosing your friends;
In an authentic Hadith, Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said: "Man is influenced by the faith of his friends. Therefore, be careful of whom you associate with."
Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) who has the most noble character and dealings with fellow humans gave us a very clear and simple message and advice in regard to friendship.
How should we choose our friends? We should choose the friend that believes and abide by our religion (Islam) and gives great respect to what Allah (SWT) and Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) has ordered us. And we should stay away from that who is not well mannered and gives no attention to what Islam is about or what pleases or displeases Allah (SWT), for he will surely affect us negatively. There is no good in the companion drowns us in sins and displeasing Allah (SWT).
In another Hadith, Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said: "The example of a good companion and a bad companion is like that of the seller of musk, and the one who blows the blacksmith's bellows. So as for the seller of musk then either he will grant you some, or you buy some from him, or at least you enjoy a pleasant smell from him. As for the one who blows the blacksmith's bellows then either he will burn your clothes or you will get an offensive smell from him."
When choosing our friends we should ask ourselves first: Are they going to help us achieve the purpose for which we were brought to life? Or will they take us away from it? Will they desire for us Allah (SWT)'s pleasure or is that completely irrelevant to them and not their concern at all? Are they leading us to Paradise or to the Hell?
Islamic Sayings on FriendshipProphet Mohammad (pbuh) stated, "The believer is like a mirror to other believers (in truthfulness)." Like a mirror, your friend gives you an honest image. He forgives your mistakes, but does not hide or exaggerate your strengths and weaknesses.
Once the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) was asked, "What person can be the best friend?" "He who helps you remember Allah (SWT), and reminds you when you forget Him," the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), counseled.
Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) was further asked, "Who is the best among people?" Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) replied, "He who, when you look at him, you remember Allah (SWT)". Such a friend reflects qualities of love, mercy, honesty, service, patience, optimism, professionalism, and the entire lifestyle taught by Islam.
'Abdullah ibn 'Umar related that Rasulullah (SAW) said:
Obey your parents and treat them kindly, for if you do so then your own children will be obedient and kind to you.
(Tabari)
Muslims are our friends? Not according to the following partial list of koranic-driven terror and horror:
The Muslim Conquest of India – 11th to 18th century
■"The likely death toll is somewhere between 2 million and 80 million. The geometric mean of those two limits is 12.7 million. "
and the 19 million killed in the Mideast Slave Trade 7C-19C by Muslims.
and more recently
1a) 179 killed in Mumbai/Bombay, 290 injured
1b) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US troops killed in action, 3,483 and 925 in non combat roles. 99,901 – 109,143 Iraqi civilians killed as of 3/3/2011/, mostly due to suicide bombers, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8. UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
9) The execution of an eloping couple in Afghanistan on 04/15/2009 by the Taliban.
10) – Afghanistan: US troops 1,141 killed in action, 242 killed in non-combat situations as of 03/03/2011. Over 40,000 Afghan civilians killed due to the dark-age, koranic-driven Taliban acts of horror
11) The killing of 13 citizen soldiers at Ft. Hood by a follower of the koran.
12) 38 Russian citizens killed on March 29, 2010 by Muslim women suicide bombers.
13) The May 28, 2010 attack on a Islamic religious minority in Pakistan, which have left 98 dead,
14) Lockerbie is known internationally as the site where, on 21 December 1988, the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed as a result of a terrorist bomb. In the United Kingdom the event is referred to as the Lockerbie disaster, the Lockerbie bombing, or simply Lockerbie. Eleven townspeople were killed in Sherwood Crescent, where the plane's wings and fuel tanks plummeted in a fiery explosion, destroying several houses and leaving a huge crater, with debris causing damage to a number of buildings nearby. The 270 fatalities (259 on the plane, 11 in Lockerbie) were citizens of 21 nations.
15 The daily suicide and/or roadside and/or mosque bombings in the terror world of Islam.
16) Bombs sent from Yemen by followers of the koran which fortunately were discovered before the bombs were detonated.
17) The killing of 58 Christians in a Catholic church in one of the latest acts of horror and terror in Iraq.
18) Moscow airport suicide bombing: 35 dead, 130 injured. January 25, 2011.
19) A Pakistani minister, who had said he was getting death threats because of his stance against the country's controversial blasphemy law, was shot and killed Wednesday, 3/2/2011
20) two American troops killed in Germany by a recently radicalized Muslim, 3/3/2011
21) the kidnapping and apparent killing of a follower of Zoraster in the dark world of Islamic Pakistan.
22) Shariatpur, Bangladesh (CNN 3/30/2011) - Hena Akhter's last words to her mother proclaimed her innocence. But it was too late to save the 14-year-old girl. Her fellow villagers in Bangladesh's Shariatpur district had already passed harsh judgment on her. Guilty, they said, of having an affair with a married man. The imam from the local mosque ordered the fatwa, or religious ruling, and the punishment: 101 lashes delivered swiftly, deliberately in public. Hena dropped after 70 and died a week later.
for REALITY –
look how much effort you have made to justify your bigotry! If bias and hate didn't come so easily for you, you MIGHT try to think clearly! For example –
Most wars have been by nonMuslim civilizations (like WW1, WW2, European Wars, Wars of Colonization, Wars in the New World, etc). WHERE IS YOUR LONG LIST creating a fake association between nonMuslim wars and nonMuslim ideologies?
World War 2 killed as many as 80 MILLION people. That was a war by Christians.
World War 1, another Christian war, killed many millions more.
Keep going back ..
Napoloenics Wars? Conquest of the New World/conversion to Christianity?
Endless warfare between European royal families?
The Inquisitions? Protestant/Catholic wars?
The Crusades?
Wars of Roman conquest?
What about Chinese (Buddhist, confucianist) wars?
What about Hindu aggression while expanding India in the 1st millenium?
nonMuslims have been responsible for BY FAR the most deaths and the most injustices in world history.
The difference here is only people like YOU try to use one-sided, biased, cherry-picked (and exaggerated) data to justify your bigotry.
If you would care as much for honesty, compassion, fair-mindedness, and other American values .. then you would definitely be a far more logical, useful, constructive ... BETTER person than you are.
America is great IN SPITE of people like you. Learn what it is to stand for something good, and not just hate, fear, and prejudice.
For Reality,
You can't blame Muslims for everything.for every crime committed. Governments sometimes say that Muslims killed these people because they want to justify their own attacks when they kill innocent people in Muslim countries. If you want to argue fine. But you should also mention how Jewish Israeli's are killing hundreds of innocent people that include children and women everyday in Palestine. You should also mention how they attacked Lebanon in 2006 and before that in 1982 and bombed and destroyed thousands of homes and killed thousands of innocent people. Israeli's are not Muslims. Yet look at all the crimes and massacres they committed. Maybe the reason they killed all these people is because they are not Muslims. Because a true and faithful Muslim, or Christian is some one who doesn't kill. In the Quran, it is Haram to kill any one because our soul's belong to the one and only Allah. If you don't know anything about what it happening in Palestine, it's because we watch biased news channels that do not reveal the truth.
Yeh just like saying any that is not White then must be Muslim...!
The Twenty (or so) Worst Things People Have Done to Each Other:
From: http://necrometrics.com/warstatz.htm#u (required reading)
The Muslim Conquest of India
"The likely death toll is somewhere between 2 million and 80 million. The geometric mean of those two limits is 12.7 million. "
Rank <<<Death Toll <Cause <<Centuries<<<Religions/Groups involved*
1. 63 million Second World War 20C (Christians et al and Communists/atheists vs. Christians et al, Nazi-Pagan and "Shintoists")
2. 40 million Mao Zedong (mostly famine) 20C (Communism)
3. 40 million Genghis Khan 13C (Shamanism or Tengriism)
4. 27 million British India (mostly famine) 19C (Anglican)
5. 25 million Fall of the Ming Dynasty 17C (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion)
6. 20 million Taiping Rebellion 19C ( Confucianism, Buddhism and Chinese folk religion vs. a form of Christianity)
7. 20 million Joseph Stalin 20C (Communism)
8. 19 million Mideast Slave Trade 7C-19C (Islam)
9. 17 million Timur Lenk 14C-15C
10. 16 million Atlantic Slave Trade 15C-19C (Christianity)
11. 15 million First World War 20C (Christians vs. Christians)
12. 15 million Conquest of the Americas 15C-19C (Christians vs. Pagans)
13. 13 million Muslim Conquest of India 11C-18C
14. 10 million An Lushan Revolt 8C
15. 10 million Xin Dynasty 1C
16. 9 million Russian Civil War 20C (Christians vs Communists)
17. 8 million Fall of Rome 5C (Pagans vs. Pagans)
18. 8 million Congo Free State 19C-20C (Christians)
19. 7½ million Thirty Years War 17C (Christians vs Christians)
20. 7½ million Fall of the Yuan Dynasty 14C
*:" Is religion responsible for more violent deaths than any other cause?
A: No, of course not – unless you define religion so broadly as to be meaningless. Just take the four deadliest events of the 20th Century – Two World Wars, Red China and the Soviet Union – no religious motivation there, unless you consider every belief system to be a religion."
Q: So, what you're saying is that religion has never killed anyone.
A: Arrgh... You all-or-nothing people drive me crazy. There are many doc-umented examples where members of one religion try to exterminate the members of another religion. Causation is always complex, but if the only difference between two warring groups is religion, then that certainly sounds like a religious conflict to me. Is it the number one cause of mass homicide in human history? No. Of the 22 worst episodes of mass killing, maybe four were primarily religious. Is that a lot? Well, it's more than the number of wars fought over soccer, or s-ex (The Trojan and Sabine Wars don't even make the list.), but less than the number fought over land, money, glory or prestige.
In my Index, I list 41 religious conflicts compared with 27 oppressions under "Communism", 24 under Colonialism, 2 under "Railroads" and 2 under "Scapegoats". Make of that what you will."
Exactly as told;
As for the one who blows the blacksmith's bellows then either he will burn your clothes or you will get an offensive smell from him.".
😉
Got to agree with John S on this one, but I think he left out an important point. He cited almost all of the major world religions in his post about how (essentially) religion kills people. He's totally right in that most of the world's wars have not been perpetrated by Muslims, but that all religions have (and do) kill. If you really want to look at it a certain way, just ask GW Bush why he invaded Iraq. It wasn't to get Osama, it was because a little voice in his head (which he attributed to God) told him to. I guess that makes Iraq and Afghanistan religious wars too right?
My point is that if there were no religion, then there would be no religious extremism. There would be no further crusades, no further "jihads" (using the colloquial misnomer), etc. Doesn't that sound like a nice world? We could all live together peacefully instead of arguing over which of our imaginary friends has the biggest "stick"?
@ Muneef
You stated: "... Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) who has the most noble character and dealings with fellow humans gave us a very clear and simple message and advice in regard to friendship.
How should we choose our friends? We should choose the friend that believes and abide by our religion (Islam) and gives great respect to what Allah (SWT) and Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) has ordered us. " ....
This means that Muslims should ONLY be friends with Muslims and not with anyone of a different faith. No one of a different faith would "abide" by the rules of Islam. You have just proven Mohammad's intolerance of people who believe in other religions.
Remember you said this came from "...an authentic Hadith"...
Well done.
I never know whether to laugh or cry when I hear of a black man converting to Islam. My belief is that the appeal of Islam for those men lies in the deeply rooted hatred of women. Some men cannot adapt to the advances made by women of the Western world in the last few centuries. They yearn for the "good old days" when women "knew their place." Black men, of all people, should know what that means. They should know that Muslims were the first to force black Africans into slavery, that some of them are still doing it in certain parts of Africa such as Mauretania, the Sudan and in parts of the Middle East. Their conversion to Islam in order to regain their "manhood" makes as much sense as would the naming of a synagogue after Adolf Hitler.
he should be charged with treason, the US is fighting a war against Islam.
When did the US start fighting a war with Islam? They should have waged war on Buddhism that would have been easier.
Actually we have been at war with Islam for over 1400 years, well, they have been at war with us I should say. We ignore them, but they are taking it very seriously indeed. Over 35 homegrown homegrown terrorist attacks have been stopped in the US since 9/11.
Actual situation in the de-christianized, bored West: If foreign terrorists don't give threats, the junk-minded youth will destroy everything their parents have built up.
@ Xenia
I must say, I totally agree!
Once again:
Dear Rep. Ellison,
The terror and aggression instigated by your "good book" as measured by a partial and recent body count
as the koranic/mosque driven acts of terror and horror continue:
The Muslim Conquest of India – 11th to 18th century
■"The likely death toll is somewhere between 2 million and 80 million. The geometric mean of those two limits is 12.7 million. "
and the 19 million killed in the Mideast Slave Trade 7C-19C by Muslims.
and more recently
1a) 179 killed in Mumbai/Bombay, 290 injured
1b) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US troops killed in action, 3,483 and 925 in non combat roles. 99,901 – 109,143 Iraqi civilians killed as of 3/3/2011/, mostly due to suicide bombers, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8. UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
9) The execution of an eloping couple in Afghanistan on 04/15/2009 by the Taliban.
10) – Afghanistan: US troops 1,141 killed in action, 242 killed in non-combat situations as of 03/03/2011. Over 40,000 Afghan civilians killed due to the dark-age, koranic-driven Taliban acts of horror
11) The killing of 13 citizen soldiers at Ft. Hood by a follower of the koran.
12) 38 Russian citizens killed on March 29, 2010 by Muslim women suicide bombers.
13) The May 28, 2010 attack on a Islamic religious minority in Pakistan, which have left 98 dead,
14) Lockerbie is known internationally as the site where, on 21 December 1988, the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed as a result of a terrorist bomb. In the United Kingdom the event is referred to as the Lockerbie disaster, the Lockerbie bombing, or simply Lockerbie. Eleven townspeople were killed in Sherwood Crescent, where the plane's wings and fuel tanks plummeted in a fiery explosion, destroying several houses and leaving a huge crater, with debris causing damage to a number of buildings nearby. The 270 fatalities (259 on the plane, 11 in Lockerbie) were citizens of 21 nations.
15 The daily suicide and/or roadside and/or mosque bombings in the terror world of Islam.
16) Bombs sent from Yemen by followers of the koran which fortunately were discovered before the bombs were detonated.
17) The killing of 58 Christians in a Catholic church in one of the latest acts of horror and terror in Iraq.
18) Moscow airport suicide bombing: 35 dead, 130 injured. January 25, 2011.
19) A Pakistani minister, who had said he was getting death threats because of his stance against the country's controversial blasphemy law, was shot and killed Wednesday, 3/2/2011
20) two American troops killed in Germany by a recently radicalized Muslim, 3/3/2011
21) the kidnapping and apparent killing of a follower of Zoraster in the dark world of Islamic Pakistan.
22) Shariatpur, Bangladesh (CNN 3/30/2011) – Hena Akhter's last words to her mother proclaimed her innocence. But it was too late to save the 14-year-old girl. Her fellow villagers in Bangladesh's Shariatpur district had already passed harsh judgment on her. Guilty, they said, of having an affair with a married man. The imam from the local mosque ordered the fatwa, or religious ruling, and the punishment: 101 lashes delivered swiftly, deliberately in public. Hena dropped after 70 and died a week later.
for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Romans 1:25
As long as there is religion in the world we cannot be free. Not in even in the US where the right to be free from religion is codified.
Even as an atheist I still defend people's right to religious freedom. Any religion can lead people to being good and moral citizens, just as atheism can lead people to being jerks. You're no better than the believers who condemn everyone who doesn't believe exactly as they do, and you speak of 'freedom'!
^ Another accommodist that doesn't realize that the abrahamic desert blood cults are a threat to humanity.
Anon
People are a threat to humanity. Any ideology can be taken so zealously that it could drive people to harming others. Take that Whale Wars nut, Paul Watson. He thinks that humanity ought to be culled down to a million people, but does that reflect badly on all environmentalists? Of course not! Every group has it's fanatics.
^ There's a difference between criticizing the religion and it's adherents yet you're too retarded to notice it.
@Anon,
Calling another poster names does nothing to further your argument and in fact, casts a shadow on it. Perhaps, if you have nothing better to do than insult someone, you should think more on what it is you mean to say before you say it.
@Free, your statement that people are a threat to humanity resonates. Where reason and compassion are overcome by ideology and dogma, human life becomes cheap, an acceptable loss in the battle for whatever cause has taken the fore.
@Free
Just because someone believes religions are bad doesn't necessarily mean they argue against the right to religious freedom. I believe that people deserve the right to practice whatever religion they want without fear of consequences, but I still think religion is harmful. I think that any belief held without reason is harmful.
We should be happy that God gave us free will to choose whatever religion we think will get us to heaven. I respect everybody's choice no matter what, But it is really sad to see people convert from christianity to any other religion specially to the Muslim religion. Jesus compared the act of man finding him like a person who found a priceless jewel and then went and sold everything he owns and bought this jewel. Too bad that Keith Ellison was born into christianity and he was given this jewel for free and yet he elected to dispose of the jewel and follow a religion who is totally the opposite of christianity. For the record there is nothing common betwen christianity and Muslims. You deceive yourself if you believe that both religions follow the same God. There are so many differences between the 2 religions that it defies logic that the same God is followed by both religions. The same God does not give contradicting instructions. The 2 religions are diametrically opposed to each other. I fel pity for Keith Ellison, by converting to Musilm he has derailed his journey to salvation.
Screw Yahweh, Jesus, Jehovah, Allah, Elohim, Satan, Lucifer, etc..
Steven:
I pity you as well, since you contradict yourself. Simply re-read the first part of your argument, and then the latter part. The reason Keith chose what he did, is because he believes that Islam is a better religion. Not for any other reason. It is too bad that people do not realize that Islam is the continuation of Judaism and Christianity. People obviously have not done any research on Islam, if they cannot see that. Islam will define what "Islam" is – not people of other faiths. Or for that matter, even some of the Muslims will not define Islam. God has defined Islam, and it is upto the people to find out what it is through the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad.
Not every religion believes in heaven, you know?
You say: "There are so many differences between the 2 religions that it defies logic that the same God is followed by both religions. The same God does not give contradicting instructions"
In opposition to your point, I say:
1. There is so much diversity of belief and practice within Islam and within Christianity that if you are right, then Catholics and Seventh Day Adventists are worshiping different Gods.
2. Of course God can give different instructions to different peoples, just as I give different instructions to different employees at work or parents have different expectations of their various children.
The odds of any one faith or any one person having the "right" answer about God (Reform Jew? Presbyterian? Sunni Muslim? Shinto? Mormon?) is so infinitesimally small it's meaningless. God either (a) doesn't exist; (b) is too great for our comprehension and doesn't care that we have it all wrong; (c) is too great for our comprehension and is really ticked off that none of us got it right; or (d) is too great for our comprehension and somehow what seems to us as contradiction and conflict is really just a truth beyond our understanding.
I agree with Yaakov and vote for number 1 – god doesn't exist. However, I must admit that his other options would present much more intriguing thought exercise!