Originally Posted By: getthesenets
Originally Posted By: olivant
Gett, the answer is that the practice of child sex by Muslims is, in the 21st century, still being rationalized as moral and otherwise legitimate by Islam's religious canon by those Muslims who engage in child sex.


Oli,

I can't and won't defend THAT, I was saying that the ones doing that, using literal interpretations to justify perversity, represent one "faction" of Islam.

A few years ago when the earthquake struck in Haiti, even before the dead were buried Pat Robertson was making comments about the tragedy = Haiti being punished for working with the DEVIL to defeat the French. Implicitly saying that "God" was on the side of the French slavers .Wasn't the first time I read a Christian leader voice that opinion, and I don't remember ONE prominent Christian leader denouncing Robertson for his comments. I've read the literature that forms the core of that view as well as the Bible verses used to bolster it.
Robertson and those who hold those views don't represent every Christian anymore than those who used the Bible to justify North American slavery did.....anymore than those who used verses to justify segregation of races in America.


Pat Robertson, like a lot of TV ministers, often spoke before they thought. He didn't have direct revelation from God telling that and later apologized. Jerry Falwell made even more bonehead statements. He had to apologize too. Let me know when ISIS apologizes for what its leaders say, not to mention all of its rapes, slavery and murders. Let me know when the majority of Sunni Muslims who believe that apostates should be killed and Israel should be destroyed apologize, and the same for Shi'a Muslims who believe the same thing. The one peaceful group are the Ahmadiyya, who are very small and considered heretics by the other groups. They represent 1% of Islam (which is about 10 million out of 1+ billion Muslims).

As for those who used the Bible to justify slavery, especially the sort of racist slavery that existed in the USA, Brazil and the UK, yes, people did that. But the question is, did they actually interpret those verses accurately? No, they didn't. The Bible clearly condemns "man-stealing," and that was the primary meaning of the commandment that says "Thou Shall Not Steal." That was how Jews understood since a person has property in him or herself. Then in other verses in Acts and Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11 make it clear that there is no racial discrimination in the New Testament. The racists who misused Bible verses didn't go unchallenged either. People like Samuel Sewall, Granville Sharp, Adam Clarke, Jonathan Edwards Jr., Albert Barnes and Lemuel Haynes challenged them.

Last edited by Faithful1; 08/23/15 06:22 PM.