Religions - Your Opinion

[Jeremy]

Christians are muslims.

Muslims are not Christians. Do you know anything? Muslims believe in a completely different God.

[Alpha]

Muslims are not Christians. Do you know anything? Muslims believe in a completely different God.

Technically, they don't.

Have you heard of the concept of the Abrahamic faiths? Both Christianity and Islam are descendants of Judaism. Jesus is a prophet in the Islamic tradition. They read (and learn) his comments in the Koran. Yahweh, Allah, and the Christian God (the Father), are the same being. Christianity also holds the concept of the Divine Mystery of the Holy Trinity. Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are separate and one. It's a mystery, don't dwell on that too much. Easy answer however, is that they are the same. Mohammad did not teach the Arabs to believe in an entirely new deity, so he was clearly building on the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Personally, I'm a liberal Catholic. I believe in Heaven, but I'm not so sure about Hell, and I believe that anyone can go to Heaven. Jesus said that to love our neighbours and to love God are the most important lessons. That summarises Jesus' message. But if Jesus thinks that just because someone didn't get all these special oils rubbed on their forehead that they can't be saved, then that's not really loving one's neighbour, is it? Sending Muslims to Hell for not believing in the Christian concept of (what is really the same) religion is not loving them. Provided people don't kill and rape and do stuff that most countries criminalise, then you'll be all good. Remember that Christianity doesn't have a high horse. In the Crusades we killed tens of thousands of Jews in the Pogroms, and tens of thousands of Muslims in the Holy Land.

The Bible does have lessons, Rags. Just like how one can learn from a textbook. The lessons however are largely narratives, and need to be placed in context and read critically, not literally.

I don't believe in conversion. I think forcing one's beliefs onto another is wrong. Especially because religion and culture are linked. To convert someone would be to dislocate them from their ancestry and culture. Choosing to convert is a lot different though.