Is Islam a religion of peace?

[Ecurb]

Peaceful religion is an oxymoron.
A religion is a system of belief beyind reason and evidence. It seeks to "bind", others to its cause, and by definition those that rejects it are heretical, and excluded.
To become included means to reject your sense of independence and selfness.
This applies to all religions. We think of Christianity as a peaceful religion as do Muslims think of Islam. It should be pretty obvious that part of the reason that Western troops found it so easy to kill "rag-heads" was in part because of their Christian background. This is no different from Muslims.


“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

― Jiddu Krishnamurti

This is nonsense. First of all, religion is NOT "a system of belief beyind reason and evidence." Clearly, many of the great theologians have applied "reason" to their faiths, and just because Sculptor (and I) don't accept the "evidence" doesn't mean it is non-existant.

The Krishnamurti quote is also nonsensical. Labelling yourself (he writes) is "violent" because "you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind." I've rarely read anything so idiotic. Hermits, who separate themsleves from mankind, are "violent"? Huh? How about calling yourself by your name? Is that "violent"? Surely you jest, Jiddu.

[Sculptor1]

Peaceful religion is an oxymoron.
A religion is a system of belief beyind reason and evidence. It seeks to "bind", others to its cause, and by definition those that rejects it are heretical, and excluded.
To become included means to reject your sense of independence and selfness.
This applies to all religions. We think of Christianity as a peaceful religion as do Muslims think of Islam. It should be pretty obvious that part of the reason that Western troops found it so easy to kill "rag-heads" was in part because of their Christian background. This is no different from Muslims.


“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

― Jiddu Krishnamurti

This is nonsense. First of all, religion is NOT "a system of belief beyind reason and evidence." Clearly, many of the great theologians have applied "reason" to their faiths, and just because Sculptor (and I) don't accept the "evidence" doesn't mean it is non-existant.

The Krishnamurti quote is also nonsensical. Labelling yourself (he writes) is "violent" because "you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind." I've rarely read anything so idiotic. Hermits, who separate themsleves from mankind, are "violent"? Huh? How about calling yourself by your name? Is that "violent"? Surely you jest, Jiddu.

Tut tut.

[popeye1945]

All the desert religions have as their gods, gods of war, justifying murder and genocide. Christianity and Judaism have over time learned to ignore the most barbaric elements of their faiths, Islam is stuck in the seventh century. Ali is very much a war god of today!