I am a Catholic, I go to church every Sunday because I believe in God. However, I question the Vatican very often. It is not that I hate or dislike the Vatican, it is for the mere fact that it is run by human beings who are imperfect and are bound to make grave mistakes. So it is perfectly normal in my eyes to be cautious and question the Vatican often rather than blindly follow and agree with all its actions and beliefs. The Vatican is not run by God, because if it is, then things such as the Inquisition would have never happened in the first place. It is not perfect thus it is normal to question it, because if you look at history it has done things that are questionable.
I view Islam and Judaism the same way. I strongly believe that all religions in the world promote peace and love, but it's followers and leaders might have done questionable things.
Islam gets so much hate, especially amongst Christians. Especially the way it is represented in the media, it gives it a bad name. Islam promotes peace and love, very much the same as every other religion.
As a Catholic if I looked at it logically the Qu'ran would seem more "authentic" than the Bible. The Bible has been edited way too many times, it is like reading a Harry Potter book that has been revised over a course of hundreds of years - some of its contents have been mistranslated, taken out, added new contents, etc. The Nicea Council of 325 AD decided that there shall only be 4 Gospels in the Bible (John, Luke, Matthew and Mark) and left out 30+ other works and designated them as Gnostic Gospels. It is true that some of these works were quite questionable in nature (i.e. The Gospel of Eve promoted the use of semen and urine as ceremonial fluids, naked and sexual rituals, etc.), though some of them weren't all that bad (i.e. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene says that the Messiah is within us and it is up to us to find it and basically it is up to us to save ourselves. The belief in the self. It viewed Jesus as a man, not a son of God, which it contradicted. The aspect of Messiah as something that is within us, that everyone can save each one of us, contradicted the idea that a single person, the Messiah, will come and save everyone.)
From what I heard the Qu'ran hasn't been tampered with too much, compared to the Bible. I also heard that the Qu'ran itself seems more logical and less contradicting than the Bible. I believe that Islam itself is an amazing religion, and I believe that it just gets a bad reputation from all the extremists and those who misinterpret the Qu'ran, much like the many Christians who misinterpret the Bible and take it too litterally.
In the Qu'ran it even acknowledges Jesus as a Prophet, as a good person. In Christianity we view Jesus as the Son of God. In Islam, although it states Jesus as a prophet not the Messiah, the fact that the Qu'ran views Jesus as a good person alone should be something we Christians should at least we should take into consideration on how we view Islam.
I believe that Islam and Christianity are both religions that promote peace and love, and I want more Christians to think that way rather than bluntly call it "evil."
You'd be amazed at the results you'd get in Yahoo Answers with a quick search of "Why Christians Hate Islam?" Some of these Christians believe that Islam promotes killing and violence! Where's their bases? Have they even read the Qu'ran?
To us Christians, it would be like if a Christian raped an Islamic girl and because of that followers of Islam will think that Christianity promotes rape because a Christian did it, even though in the Bible it doesn't.
My point is, I think Christians and followers of Islam (I am not sure if I Muslim is the proper term, I do not want to offend anyone) should try to understand each other instead of bluntly hating each other.
Edited by Mashimaro-san, 25 January 2011 - 03:58 AM.
