The Western intelligentsia’s capacity for self-flagellation and self-hatred seems to be endless, and so now comes Jack Miles, a retired professor of religion, to tell us in a new book that Allah in the Qur’an is “more merciful” and “more moral” than the God of the Bible. Miles is, of course, being feted and celebrated for this in all the right places by all the right people, those who know that teaching the people of Western Europe and North America to despise their own culture and heritage, and to love that of Islam, is a good and noble endeavor.
Miles’ claims, however, are completely wrong. In the first place, there is the evidence of present-day reality. There have been well over 30,000 jihad terror attacks worldwide since 9/11; virtually all of them carried out by Muslims acting upon Qur’anic dictates, many of them screaming “Allahu akbar.” There have been no terror attacks committed by Jews screaming the Shema or Christians screaming “Jesus is Lord.” No doubt Christians have behaved violently in the name of Christ throughout the history of Christianity, but in doing so they never invoked the violent passages of the Bible as justification for their acts.
There is a simple reason for these facts: while there is a great deal of violence in the Bible, it is descriptive, not prescriptive. That is, it describes violent acts commanded by God, and that has created a number of theological problems that have preoccupied many Jews and Christians ever after, but nowhere does it present those violent acts as something to be imitated. The Qur’an, by contrast, exhorts Muslims to wage war against unbelievers in commands that are presented as universal, that is, applying to all Muslims for all time. That is also how they have been interpreted by Islamic exegetes from Muhammad’s first biographer Ibn Ishaq up to the present day: as mandating offensive jihad against unbelievers as the highest and final stage of the Qur’an’s teaching on jihad.
And as for Allah being “more moral” than the God of the Bible, consider these passages from the New Testament and the Qur’an:
“God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:3-4)
“And if we had willed, We could have given every soul its guidance, but the word from Me will come into effect: I will surely fill Hell with jinn and people all together.” (Qur’an 32:13)
So Allah is saying that he could have saved everyone, but has instead decided to torture some people in hell for all eternity, just because. “We’re talking about the same being,” Professor Miles? No, we aren’t.
“‘More merciful than Yahweh’: Jack Miles on God in the Quran,” by Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service, January 22, 2019:
(RNS) — Ever since 9/11, Americans have been treated to a host of conflicting, often ill-informed, views about Islam and its deity, Allah.
Some insist Allah is a vengeful being who commands his followers to kill nonbelievers. Others plead that Islam is a religion of peace and its God not different in kind from the one worshipped by Jews and Christians.
Jack Miles, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “God: A Biography” and a retired professor of religion at the University of California Irvine, now offers an erudite and highly readable close reading of Allah’s real nature.
In “God in the Qur’an,” he compares the God of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament with God as he is portrayed in the Quran….
Were you interested in correcting the record?
I offer examples of great violence from Jewish and Christian Scriptures and note that we don’t deduce from that that all Jews and Christians are terrorists in waiting. If we don’t do that for ourselves, we shouldn’t do it for Muslims. But that’s a secondary motive, I would say. Once you get that out of the way, you’re free to look at the text, look at the characters and the episodes. That’s a pleasure. It’s a fascination.
What you found is that Allah is more merciful, consistently so, than in the Bible. Is that accurate?
Yes, it is. A friend asked me, what was the biggest surprise you discovered in writing the book? I said, Allah is more merciful than Yahweh. Understand, we’re talking about the same being, but the presentation (in the Quran) stresses not just Allah’s mercy, but also the themes of repentance and forgiveness. I should say, these episodes that involve biblical material probably are no more than a quarter or a fifth of the overall material in the Quran. So, my comment that Allah is more merciful than Yahweh is confined to that portion of the Quran.
I’ll give two examples. Adam and Eve in the Quranic version immediately repent of their sin and throw themselves on the mercy of Allah and Allah forgives them on the spot. They do have to leave paradise, but if they live a good life then at the Last Judgment they will ascend to the heavenly garden. Adam and Eve in the Bible never do repent.
Similarly, the Israelites, just after crossing the Red Sea, create the Golden Calf and God decides to exterminate them as punishment. Moses dissuades him from that, but still there’s horrendous violence imposed on them, a mass slaughter of the lead offenders. In the Quran, the Israelites immediately repent and Allah forgives them. The tablets of the law are not broken. In something approaching efficiency, the Israelites get over it, Allah gets over it and everyone moves on to the Promised Land….
Allah is at pains to say that Jesus is not his son, and actually there’s a scene in which Allah and Jesus are speaking and Jesus explicitly repudiates any notion that during his life on earth he ever claimed such as a blasphemous thing. No, he is not the son of God. God had no son, or spouse, and no one really closely associated with him.
This has the effect of making Allah a more awe-inspiring, more august being. Christian theology itself sometimes uses the phrase that God is the “wholly other.” That phrase, “wholly other,” is a pretty apt description of Allah in the Quran.
It appears the theology of the Quran is fairly straightforward in comparison with the Bible. Would you agree?
Yes. I make the point that the Hebrew Bible came into being over a thousand years. The Quran came into being as 20 years of revelation to the Prophet Muhammad from the year 610 to the year 632. So, there is much greater consistency in the portrayal of the character of Allah. He is more moral in a way. He’s more exacting, but always in a predictable manner. Of course, the complexity that Christianity has by having the deity be both divine and human at the same time is also completely absent. So, by being “wholly other” Allah can be wholly simple. That provides a kind of appeal, a kind of fascination, but it isn’t a fascination of complication and conflict….
tedh754 says
Nothing says morality like rape gangs and sawing people’s heads off with a steak knife.
Vyx says
Nothing says merciful like wife beating, child marriage and honor killings.
Sigh. He’s another soldier of allah/useful idiot from California.
Lydia Church says
The God of the Bible IS MORE merciful and moral than allah!
But then again, so is hitler!
So we must add that the God of the Bible is as merciful and moral AS IT GETS!!!
Because He is the author of mercy and morality!
That guy just has zero brains!
mortimer says
Allah – The Merciless God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1kGtAQSCV8
mortimer says
There are over 400 references in the Koran to hate, over 300 references in the Koran to Allah and FEAR, but there are only 49 references to love. Of these love references, 39 are negative such as the 14 negative references to love of money, power, other gods and status.
Three verses command humanity to love Allah and only 2 verses are about how Allah loves a believer. There are 25 verses about how Allah does NOT love kafirs (disbelievers).
This leaves 5 verses about love. Of these 5 verses, 3 are about loving kin or a Muslim brother. One verse commands a Muslim to give money for the love of Allah. This leaves only one quasi-universal verse about love: give what you love to zakat-charity and even this is contaminated by dualism since Muslim zakat-charity only goes to other Muslims. There are OVER 400 teachings of HATE directed against all disbelievers: Jews, Christians, Idolaters and Kafirs.
So much for love. HATE and FEAR are what Allah demands in the Koran.
Mark Swan says
Thank You Mortimer, for this perspective.
christianblood says
Western world and the hollywoodized leftist elites that run it hate Christians, love islamists, including islamist jihadists which they fund, train, support and arm and they are also spreading immoralities and satanic “LGBTQ” agenda around the world!
Hollywoodized Western elites are so evil and so satanic that they even reward Al-Qaeda “White Helmets” with Oscars!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_MZKRG3frQ
mortimer says
Many Hollywood elitists love and serve God and say so, so your egregious overgeneralization is false and insulting to many fine people in the movie industry.
christianblood says
Nonsensical cover up! If so is the case, why are they rewarding Al-Qaeda with Oscars?
Ernie says
And YOU still are a lying-anti-semitic- nazi-troll , “christianblood”.
Dave says
Best Propaganda film of the year. That bloke has been duped. The White Helmets have been linked with ISIS, so I have heard.
That quote from the Koran ( Plagiarised from the Talmud) is only half of the story.
5:32 Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.
The next verse 5:33: Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment,
NOT SO LOVING, IS IT?
Billy Chickens says
The basic difference between God and Allah is that one is good and the other is evil, that is, one is truly God, the other is truly one of God’s creatures – Lucifer.
If people believe good to be evil and evil to be good, then Allah is more merciful because they believe the lies of Lucifer. When people believe lies, they look at truth and call it deceit.
Kilfincelt says
In the Koran Allah is the greatest deceiver. How is that more moral than the God of the Bible? Allah also asks his followers to kill homosexuals and non-believers in his name as well as do other acts that most of us consider immoral. Allah doesn’t allow for free will while the God of the Bible does. Basically, Miles is a typical leftist professor who should not even be teaching kindergarten let alone college.
Westman says
In the world of California, all things are possible; even ridiculous falsehoods such as declaring the ultimate sadist to be merciful.
“Indeed, those who disbelieve in Our verses – We will drive them into a Fire. Every time their skins are roasted through We will replace them with other skins so they may taste the punishment. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted in Might and Wise. ” – Quran 4:56
“These are two adversaries who have disputed over their Lord. But those who disbelieved will have cut out for them garments of fire. Poured upon their heads will be scalding water.
By which is melted that within their bellies and [their] skins
And for [striking] them are maces of iron.
Every time they want to get out of Hellfire from anguish, they will be returned to it, and [it will be said], “Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire!” – Quran 22:19-23
Anyone who willingly submits to such a sadist has a mental screw loose. Jack Miles is a superb, omitting, liar.
Jaladhi says
And this fake scholar of religions is a total moron. Doesn’t he know the record of allah killing more than 370 million non-Muslims world wide for last 1400 years? He thinks this genocide by the followers of allah is very merciful!!
As Robert said self- flagllation of the Westrn intelligecia is endless- I think they are totally stupid. There is no other word to describe them!!
Siddi Nasrani says
Jaladhi, said,” There is no other word to describe them!!”
Oh! Yes there is, they must have have taken some mind altering delusional drugs that
that reverses all common sense, in other words a ” Intellectual moron”
Isaiah 5:20 King James Version (KJV)
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Tom says
Comparing those who follow and interpret the Koran today based on 1400 years of past practices and those who follow the teachings of the Bible and Jesus is ludicrous and just shows the stupidity of this “professor”.
Yes there has been violence from those in Christianity in the past, but Christianity has undergone a reformation and now, today, the overwhelming majority of those who follow the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament are peaceful and abhor violence.
Whereas the followers of the Koran have never denounced the violence and hatred contained in Islam ans Islam has never undergone any reformation. This results in those who follow Islam today being of the same mind as those who followed the Koran of hundreds of years ago. Many are outright violent or supportive of violence to achieve the objective of Islam, that being a world completely submissive to Islam and the Koran, by any and all means necessary.
While there are those who study and pray to Allah who are peaceful, they are far outnumbered by those who support the Islamic violence being perpetrated on non believers today, as it has always been done in the past.
The professor is wrong and not a very wise man.
eduardo odraude says
The Christian Reformation did not end violence committed by people claiming to be Christians. The Islamic Reformation has already happened. It’s called Wahabism and it rules Saudi Arabia. Both Reformations focused on returning to their own core texts and getting rid of the layers of tradition that had been built up for centuries and that had blocked the original teaching.
So the difference is not that one has gone through a Reformation and the other has not. They both have gone back to their core texts. The difference is in those core texts themselves. Robert Spencer pointed out a key difference with respect to violence — the Bible’s violence, where it occurs, is descriptive. The Islamic core texts are prescriptive, they prescribe violence be carried out against unsubmissive unbelievers until the end of time.
Even if one assumes for the sake of discussion that all religions are pure tissues of fantasy, the biblical paradigm leads over the long term to very different social outcomes than the Islamic paradigm.
There are a number of central features of the bible that permit societies to evolve and remain open. The Islamic core texts have central features that lead toward authoritarian social outcomes.
Here’s one key example. The central figure portrayed in the New Testament says “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, to God the things that are God’s” and says also, “my kingdom is not of this world.” Thus from the very beginning, Christians created a twofold division of powers, though often in a confused or unclear way: the realm of the state was conceived as somehow to be distinct from the realm of religion. Confusion meant that sometimes popes managed to dominate kings, and sometimes kings managed to dominate popes, and yet there was always at least a latent recognition that there were supposed to be two distinct realms. That division of powers meant they could hold each other in check to some extent and Christian societies had some space for cultural and intellectual evolution. That eventually led to the 18th century Enlightenment and to a formalizing of the two realms in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Contrast all that with Islam. Muhammad, the prime exemplar for Muslims, became Caesar, or at any rate the ruler of an expansionist, theocratic, totalitarian state without freedom of religion or freedom of speech. Islam thus does not recognize, and rejects, any distinction between religion and state.
One could point out several other key features of the Islamic core texts’ paradigm that lead to authoritarian social outcomes, and one could show how those features contrast with the biblical texts in ways that allow Judeo-Christian societies to be open societies that continue to evolve. For example, the Qur’an, I believe in chapter 42, verse 11, declares that “naught is as his likeness” — Allah’s likeness. In other words, the Qur’an there directly rejects the Old Testament claim that human beings are “made in the image” of God. The biblical paradigm describes human beings as sons and daughters of God the Father, whereas Islam says God is no father and has no children: human beings are nothing more than God’s servants or slaves. Both the Old and New Testaments are described as covenants — contracts — between God and human beings — that is not the relation of master and slave, but rather a relation that gives human beings a much higher status. One reason European feudalism was able to be transcended is that, despotic as it was, the relationship between serfs and lords was fundamentally conceived as a contractual relationship, not a master-slave relationship. Conceiving the matter as contractual was due in part to the influence of the Bible.
One could add other elements to make the point. A pity “Prof” Jack Miles can’t see past his own nose. A religion that leads to authoritarian and totalitarian societies is not more merciful than a religion that leads to open societies. Again, this is true regardless of whether all religions are pure tissues of fantasy, so atheists should be able to acknowledge it, not just religious people.
Dave says
eduardo,Just to let you know, I read your comment with interest. Secular states are preferable to Islamic states. I prefer a God of Love to a God of Hate (Allah, aka, Satan)
Elisha says
Secular states? Like the USSR? Nth Korea? Seriously.
gravenimage says
The idea that everywhere that is not a theocracy is ergo a Communist tyranny is silly.
DBM echo says
“Understand, we’re talking about the same being,” Miles said in making a reference to a godhead.
Well, there’s your first problem. Allah is not the God of the Bible.
CogitoErgoSum says
Exactly! The understanding that I have come to is that we are NOT talking about the same being. One has a Son; the other does not. If we are talking about the same being then we are talking about a liar. Nope, Yahweh and Allah are not one and the same. One I can trust; the other I can not and will not. If Mr. Miles thinks Yahweh and Allah are one and the same, I would not trust a word in his book.
Terry Gain says
Allah chose a warlord etc as his prophet. God sent His Son to die for our sins. Allah’s “religion” is responsible for more carnage and suffering than all other ideologies combined. Case closed.
gravenimage says
+1
Jon Sobieski says
To think the ‘god’ manufactured by Mohammad is the same as the god in the Bible is ridiculous. This guy acts like Islam is a true religion and not phony. Isn’t that blasphemy for a Christian? Maybe he is a closet muslim.
Prebangian says
Jesus was a Jew so to the Jews we owe everything, but Christianity is a revolution of progress for humanity. “Love one another.” is the greatest of Jesus’ teachings, it is not found in the Old Testament nor in Islamic works. “return good for evil”, “turn the other cheek” are commands likewise not found. I see Islam as being brittle, a primitive burden, from the beginning. Islam has not the Holy Spirit who “makes all things known” to us. Thus those who accept the Holy Spirit get guidance on how to change for the better, how to be flexible in accepting new changes that are in accordance with “Love one another.” Jesus taught love (His yoke is easy, his burden light.) I’m always shocked when I see the amount of hate speech in the Koran and yet the book is accepted as “gospel” by so many.
“No doubt Christians have behaved violently in the name of Christ throughout the history of Christianity,…” In the name of Christ yes, but never in accordance with the teachings of Jesus because there are no such teachings from Jesus. Tolstoy wrote “The Kingdom of God is within You”, Gandhi had it translated to Hindi and Martin Luther King lived by it. On the evening before King was murdered he discussed with his friends the teachings of Jesus as put forth in this book.
Rarely says
It is somewhat silly to describe the God of the Bible and the god of the koran as being two different entities. Christians believe the one and only God to be one thing and muslims believe Him to be another. Where the interpretations differ one (or both) must be wrong. God certainly did not reveal Himself as two (or three or ten)different things.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Therefore, the teachings of a religion are only relevant in how the followers of that religion behave. I suggest that when a religion places more emphasis on life after death than on benefiting mankind in the here and now it is merely practicing superstition and destined to be intolerant of “others” who don’t hold the same superstitions (beliefs).
So, what’s new? One might as well believe in ghosts, goblins, the sun god, the god of fire, Zeus and Apollo.
CogitoErgoSum says
The problem arises when others begin insisting that everyone pay tribute to the official god (or gods) of the State. The Romans were tolerant of the Christians until the Christians refused to make offerings to the Roman gods. The Muslims are supposed to be tolerant of the Christians and Jews only if they submit to paying the Jizya and humbly accept a lower status in life imposed upon them. Some worshipers of the sun god felt their god demanded human sacrifice to keep light shining upon the Earth. The God of the Christians sacrificed Himself in the place of others. It matters which god one chooses to believe as true. Of course, one can choose not to worship any god at all and, to my way of thinking. that is okay. The freedom to choose for ourselves concerning the supernatural should be considered a basic human right guaranteed by the State — as long as those beliefs do not infringe upon the rights of others. But some religions will take away that right when they take control of the State.
Rarely says
The argument that “my religion is better than yours and my god is the true god and yours is satan” is a go nowhere argument.
Comparing what the Old Testament says about Adam & Eve with what the koran says about them is ridiculous. Perhaps in the koran’s account God forgave A & E but didn’t in the OT. So what?? It’s like arguing over the deeper meaning in an episode of the “:Flintstones”.
What are the dictates of the religion and how do the adherents act as a result of those dictates is somewhat more relevant. What is even more important is how are the adherents of a religion acting regardless of the dictates of the religion.
It is of little importance to the victim if the murderer was acting with or without religious permission.
CogitoErgoSum says
I agree. My concern is not so much with what a person believes about what takes place in another world but more so about what a person believes concerning what should take place in this world. Some gods concern themselves with the form of government in this world and other gods do not.
Rarely says
Of course political islam is a huge problem but it has nothing to do with the gods. Those in power within the religion will try to hold on to power with an incredible ferocity. We need look no further than the challenge the Catholic Church faced from the Renaissance and Humanism in the late 15th and16th Centuries and its response.
It has little to do with religion and everything to do with power. When “blind faith” and “infallibility” are cornerstones of that control the greatest challenge to face is individual thought (i.e. reason). When that becomes a risk the powers that be need distractions and enemies to solidify the masses and keep it in line and ignorant. For example, Israel represents such a risk and is a very convenient enemy.
CogitoErgoSum says
I’m not following your statement that political Islam has nothing to do with the gods. Sharia has everything to do with what the god of Islam demands. Yes, it has to do with power but it is the power of a god over mere mortals and how they should govern themselves while living on the Earth.
Rarely says
The god of islam doesn’t “demand” anything. Islam “says” their god demands stuff. To say “Islam’s god demands…” is to say their god exists and, because I believe in one God, that would make Islam’s god THE God..
CogitoErgoSum says
I have trouble following your reasoning. If there is a true God that you believe exists and the Muslims worship a god which you do not believe exists, then you have two gods — a true one and a false one. You seem to be playing word tricks with me.
Rarely says
OK. I guess I’m playing semantics. If the God you believe in is the true God then what muslims believe in isn’t a god at all but a myth or merely a belief. There aren’t 2 gods because only one exists. In your example they are praying to nothing. It isn’t our God vs their god. Keep in mind that Hindus, Jews, etc. do not believe in either concept. So who’s correct?
You believe in one thing and they believe in another thing.
Elisha says
“It is somewhat silly to describe the God of the Bible and the god of the koran as being two different entities.”
Will you atheists ever stop embarrassing yourselves?
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. – 1 John 2:22
Seeking truth presupposes earnestness, courage and humility (Proverbs 14:6). You have no love for truth (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). You are a fool.
somehistory says
“erudite”…Not by the longest shot.
If this guy, and the one asking questions knew anything, they wouldn’t be comparing the real account of Adam and Eve with the fictional one and coming away with such nonsense. Adam and Eve were **perfect** and therefore, deliberately sinned, doing what they knew to be wrong. The True God keeps His Word. What He says He will do, He does and what He says He will not do, He doesn’t do. God is not a liar, but always speaks Truth. He takes care of His children, providing what is needed, but He expects and rightly deserves, obedience.
satan, the “god” of the evil, nasty, filthy book of islam is a “liar, and the father of the lie.” This lying snake gives mankind trouble and death.
And, if this so-called “scholar” knew anything, he would understand the events in his second “example.”
Also, just as important, The True God of the Bible and the fake ‘god’ of the filthy cult of islam are separate and distinct…anyone actually reading and thinking at the same time can see that.
There is no way that the fake ‘god’ of islam is the same as the Real God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, One Who has given us laws that are for our good and that instruct us to (1) tell the truth and (2) treat others as we would wish to be treated. For just “two examples” that illustrate the difference between the True God of the Bible and the fake ‘god’ of the filthy book of islam.
This scholar, the one asking questions and the book…all about deceiving the uninformed. Just like satan the devil, father of all lies.
Jack Cade says
When a Muslim tells me about the wonders of Allah, I ask for chapter and verse from the Koran. That causes a problem for them They lie further with fake verses, but cannot give chapter and verse. Merciful, loving Allah is a fiction.
Wellington says
All right, and this goes to what I posted on a thread yesterday (the Maldives article), let’s assume for argument’s sake that Allah is more merciful than the God of the Bible, respecting one very important consequence of this it could be asked so what? And here’s why: The “third threat” I mentioned yesterday and on a few previous occasions at JW.
In capsule form I will put forward this argument of mine again. Virtually every religion threatens two things: 1) If you don’t believe or do this, that or the other thing, IN THE NEXT WORLD OR LIFE you’re in trouble one way or another; 2) the deity or deities one believes in may do something terrible to your life in this world. Here Islam is really no different from other religions.
But what makes Islam such a menace and no other major faith really a menace at all IN THIS WORLD is that Islam, alone among the major faiths, allows its believers to use violence IN THIS WORLD to “bolster” Islam for whatever reason. This is the “third threat,” unique to Islam and why it is a mortal threat to liberty and so many other good things. When people from other faiths have used violence to promote their religion, they were violating the tenets of their creed (one-time Old Testament violence to sequester a small parcel of land about the size of Maryland or various punishments {e.g., stoning to death for adultery} being mere descriptive exceptions and no longer germane). Not so with Islam. Islam is the huge problem that it is because of this sanctioned “third threat” which is to exist to the end of time. Minus this iniquitous third threat, Islam would be very much like every other major faith (personally I think more ridiculous than many other major faiths but this is largely irrelevant). Oh, one could still argue that the God of the Bible is more moral than Allah (which I think is the case) or the other way around but it would just be theory material respecting how it impacts on freedom, equality under the law, women’s rights, etc.
Allah v. the God of the Bible is not the main issue. It is a secondary issue, perhaps an important secondary issue, but not in the sense that it is physically injurious in this world. The third threat is physically injurious in this world. It is the main issue. Would welcome any comment about this.
CogitoErgoSum says
Yes. The god (or no god) a person chooses should be a personal choice. The problem I have is when someone comes shoving his religion in my face and starts banging it like a drum. But sometimes just smiling about it gets you nothing but death threats.
gravenimage says
Good post, Wellington.
Walter Sieruk says
This retired professor and scholar of World religions , Jack Miles is Westerner who lives in the West and thus he has the freedom of speech to say how he feels which is that the god of Islam, Allah, is “more merciful” and more moral’ than the God of the Bible. Since professor Miles lives in the West no harm will, or should , come to him from Christian because of what he said ,even though many Christians would find his statement to be offence.
In awful contrast ,in an Islam Middle Eastern nation as Sunni Pakistan or Egypt or the Shiite state of Iran if Pakistani ,Egyptian or Iranian scholar of a very high education would come out and declare that “the Christian God of the Bible is more merciful and more moral than the Muslim God of the Quran.” The Islamic government of those Muslim nation along with the Muslim citizens of those countries would murder hat man for what he said. Such murderous action would be from the followers of the “more merciful ” god of Islam, Allah.
gravenimage says
Very true, Walter.
Walter Sieruk says
At least on thing about that statement of Jack Miles is very true without question Which is by what he said he let it slip that out that the God of the Bible is not really, at all the god of Islam. For even if he didn’t this slip wasn’t intentional he still made it clear that ,in spite of the many disingenuous apologists and propagandists for Islam who make the dishonest claim the Christians and Muslims worship the same God” professor Miles ,maybe by accident, ” Let the cat out of the bag ” that Christians and Muslims don’t really believe in or worship the same God.
To be even more clear on this is the following essay
First, In the Bible it gives the account of the Prophet Elijah declared “If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal be ,then follow him.” First Kings 18:21.[N.K.J.V.] In other words follow one of the other. Not both.
Second, many people say that the God of the Bible and the god of Islam are one the same. Is the majority always right? That’s not always the case. As an example the Christian pastor and scholar, Michael Youssef, who is also an Arab in his book entitled JESUS, JIHAD AND PEACE on page 69 informs the reader that “The name Allah comes from pre-Islamic times, and it corresponds to the Babylonian mane Bel or Baal. According to the Middle East scholar E.M. Wherry, pre-Islamic Arabs worshiped gods they called Allah. Both pre-Islamic Allah-worship and Baal –worship involved worship of the sun, the moon and the stars, which is why they are called astral religions. The crescent moon, the symbol of pagan moon worship, is also the symbol of Islam. It is printed on flags of many Islamic countries and placed atop minarets and mosques.” Likewise, a former Muslim who is now a Christian, Dr. Daniel Shayesteh, who used to live in the Middle East but now he lives in America . In his book ISLAM AND THE SON OF GOD. On pages 7,8. Reads “Allah is the generic term for God in many Middle –Eastern cultures. Allah is identified as one of the 360 or so idols worshiped by the Arabian people for centuries before Muhammad was born. Many do not know that Allah was the good god of the Arabians. This explains the crescent moon found on minarets and mosques and the flags of Muslim nations. .. .Historic writings also identify Allah with Baal.” It’s also worth mentioning that the Bible condemns such astral religions. As in, for example, Second Kings 23:5.
Therefore, now in modern times, it may be rightly said “If Yahweh Lord of the Bible , be the one True God follow Him. Yet if Allah the lord of Islam be the one true god then follow him.” The case is very clear cut.
Rarely says
So what?
Walter Sieruk says
To Rarely, to reply your question which is “So what?” The answer had one been given by an Christian thoroughly investigated the subject of Christians and Muslims not believing in or worshiping the same Deity. The conclusion is that “Believing in only one god does that person no good at all if that belief is in the wrong god.”
Also ,as i may add, this could likewise put in another way. .Which is “Believing in only one god does that person no good ,at all, if that belief is in a false and pagan god. “
Stacy Girl says
Excellent point, Walter. The moslem sheep, despite all the rote memorization and head banging, have no idea who they worship.
SB says
Allah loves homosexuality . . . oopsie, he doesn’t.
Allah says vengeance is mine . . . oopsie, he doesn’t.
Vengeance is that of his followers.
Better hope you don’t fine yourself falling from a high rise with your hands tied behind your back, Jack.
Walter Sieruk says
Well, that statement of professor Miles when he expressed his feeling that the Islamic god of Islam, Allah, is “more merciful” and “more moral” than the God of the Bible. To this statement the Christian /Bible God allow free will for humans to choose either good or evil by contrast the Muslim /Quran god forces or makes human to do evil .For example, in the USA sometimes as high school student goes turn homicidal and shoots and murders the other teenagers in his school . The Christian /Bible view is the God didn’t make the school student turn dangerous and murder the kid turn towards wickedness because he misused and abused the free will God gave him. By strong contrast, with Islam and Islam’s Allah, the answer to such tragic answer is very different .
This leads to the subject of the Quran based theology of the Islamic worldview that Allah’s had indeed sent that wicked murderer to commit that shooting massacre . This means then the god of Islam, as if he really does is a destructive and malicious god. For the Quran teaches in Surah 57:22. “No misfortune [disaster] can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree [Quran ] before [in eternity ] We [Allah] bring it into existence: that is easy for Allah.” Therefore according the Islam’s “holy book,” the Quran the Islamic god, Allah, is guilty and the one to blame for the 17 young people who were murdered and the 14 terribly injured.. What a cruel vicious, malicious god Allah must be. So Allah is than a very unloving malice –filled god.
For the God of the Bible is not really Allah the god of Islam. To explain, through the passing of time it has become widely accepted that the word “Allah” is just the Arabic word for God. This started when truth compromising Bible “translators” substituted the word Allah where the word God should have had been uses in the Arabic translation of the Bible. Furthermore, in the glossary in the book ASSASSINS! By Dr. Haha Lung it defines Allah as the “Pre-Islamic Lunar god : the god of Islam. “ Likewise, in the book entitled INSIDE ISLAM by a former Muslim who is now a Christian, Reza F. Safa on pages 22, 23 it reads “In pre-Islamic times both Allah –worship and Baal-worship involved the worship of the sun, the moon and the stars which h defines them as astral religions. [Which are condemned in the Bible, Second Kings 23:5] The crescent moon, which was the symbol of moon worship, is also the symbol of Islam.” In conclusion the Islamic god, Allah, is not the God of the Bible.
The words in brackets are my own. In addition other some other books that expose this little known truths are WHO IS THIS ALLAH ? by G..J.O.. Moshay also UNVEILING ISLAM by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner and THE ISLAMIC INVASION by Robert Morey . There is also PHILISTINE by Ramon Bennett and ANSWERING JIHAD by Mabeel Qureshi
Rarely says
Islam doesn’t create another god or reinvent an old one. It’s a matter of what the adherents to a religion believe God is. There is only one God. The traits islam attaches to that God doesn’t mean that God has them any more than He necessarily has the traits Christianity attributes to Him. It’s all a matter of belief.
Islam appears to have simply stolen ideas from Hebrew, Christian and previous sects and repackaged those ideas by adding a few temporal rewards (rape, pillage, etc.) so they’d be an easy sell to the masses. He then added the 72 virgins and Paradise to convince his warriors to risk their lives in battle. Of course mohammed would be the only one able to explain Allah’s will so he was 100% in charge. It was just a power game and an awfully effective one. Mo would have a great carrier today in advertising. If he can see the world today mohammed would be “killing” himself laughing.
CogitoErgoSum says
Christian say Jesus is God. Muslims say Jesus is not God. How can you say the two gods are the same?
Rarely says
I believe there is one all powerful God. So, in my belief, there can’t be a Christian god and a muslim one. Christians can BELIEVE in a certain God which differs from the one muslims believe in but it doesn’t mean there are two different gods … just two different beliefs as to God’s attributes.
Obviously Christians and muslims do not agree on God’s characteristics. What one or the other believes doesn’t change what God actually is. Obviously.
From another angle: Since my God is all-powerful where would a second god get any power? Similarly where would satan get any power? They would simply have the power God gave them or let them have. God could, of course, take such power back on a whim if He chose.
Either God is or He isn’t. Either He is all-powerful or he isn’t God. You can’t water it down.
CogitoErgoSum says
Well, it makes a difference to me whether Jesus is God or not. Affects may whole way of thinking about the relationship between God and man and how I should live my life and treat other human beings.
CogitoErgoSum says
If all other creatures were created by God, then human beings get their power from God and Satan (as a created being) also would get his powers from God. After that, how a God-given power is used is up to the creature or the created being who received the power because God also gave men and angels the freedom to choose. God gave the same freedom of choice to Lucifer as he gave to you. You are free to pick other things to worship as your god — be it the sun, the moon, a rock or whatever. Satan can do the same and chose to make himself into a god for men to worship. Saying there is only one God does not mean there can not be other false gods.
You may say these fake gods can make no demands because they are not real but if a man lies to people saying God made a particular set of demands, then the man is equating himself to God (making himself a false god) or he is being deceived by someone or something else — either within his own mind or something outside of it. That false god becomes the one making the demands.
Of course, my argument rests on a belief in a God who created men and angels. Men and angels (the ones who rejected God as God) can make themselves into false gods and instill in others the illusion of false gods if they are willing to go along. (Those who do not believe in God or Satan will probably find it all ridiculous.)
Or Else! says
Sophistry abounds when defending Islam. The people plugging/referencing this book won’t even bother reading Islamic canonical text for themselves.
The Left is full of lazy, delusional, yet “I”m correct; you’re a racist” thinking.
Alec Rawls says
Clearly a convert to Islam:
“The Quran came into being as 20 years of revelation to the Prophet Muhammad…”
Believing that Muhammad was a prophet and reveived revelation is the definition of being a Muslim. It is the essence of the Shahada, and Miles states it as fact.
somehistory says
Alec Rawls
This us true. He may believe he has hidden that by his deceit.
gravenimage says
I don’t think that Jack Miles has converted to Islam in the literal sense–he certainly is Islamophilic, though, and regularly whitewashes that vicious creed.
Walter Sieruk says
Professor Miles needed reexamine the “holy book” of Islam before he said that the god of Islam ,Allah, is “more merciful” than the Christian /Bible God . For example ,those Muslims were cheering the mass murders committed by the jihadist on September 11, 2001 because the vicious god of Islam gave the instruction found in the Quran , which teaches in Surah 9:123. “O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are close to you and let them fond harshness in you…” Using guns and hand grenades are a very effective way of showing those non-Muslims in Paris much “harshness.” Likewise there are other places in the Quran the teach violence and killing. As in 4:89. 5:33, 9:5,111. Furthermore on Middle Eastern television it was recorded that Imam Suliman Satari said “Annihilate the Infidels… Allah count them and kill them, to the last one and don’t leave even one.” Furthermore Imam Abu Hamza Al-Masri said “What makes Allah happy? Allah is happy when Kafiers get killed. [1]
. The above words of these Imams reflect the example of Islam’s prophet and the teachings of the Quran. “Muhammad now fell upon them [the Jews] slew all the men, nine hundred of them…”[2]
Moreover, the Quran reads “When ye encounter the unbelievers strike off their heads, until ye have made great slaughter among them. …” Surah 47:4 let’s face it using firearms and bombs as the jihadists did on that specific day can sure make a greater slaughter “slaughter among them” than a sword a can.
In short, these Imams and their murderous prophet with their bloody Quran show the world what Islam really is. After all, Jesus did teach “by their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:20. [NKJV]
Thus are the fruits of Islam.
[1] The disc documentary OBSESSION: RADICAL ISLAM’s AGAINST THE WEST
[2] THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY: THE WHOLE STORY OF MAN by H.G. Wells
Jedothek says
I agree with most of what Robert says, but offer the following. We can see that the God worshiped by Christianity and Islam are the same by reflecting on the distinction between essential and non-essential properties. A thing’s essential properties are expressed in a good definition. God has been repeatedly defined in terms like “The supreme being, the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority.” This describes both the God of the Bible and that of the Quran. Therefore when Christians and Muslims disagree about God, they are not talking about two different gods, they are ascribing different properties to the same God. I am not denying that there is an incompatibility in the assertions; and certainly Christians have every right to deny that God said, “And if we had willed, We could have given every soul its guidance, but the word from Me will come into effect: I will surely fill Hell with jinn and people all together.”
gravenimage says
Considering love or savagery to be “non-essential properties” is rather questionable…
Raja says
This idiot’s comment makes a mockery of what Bible says and what is written in Koran. I can bet he knows nothing or pretends to know nothing.This man can be called being in fool’s paradise. The world loves this kind of idiots just as it loves all “thinkers” who say they are atheists. It is a queer world…
Raja says
The more merciful god goes around terrorizing people through his zealots. He can collect jizya and hate his own creation, especially women, Jews and the rest. He can also engineer holocaust, and other mini holocaust from time to time through those in power. Hindus and Greeks suffered by way of partition and the list is endless.
I wonder how this lying, deceitful, hateful and murderous god be merciful?R
Charles says
Don’t try to reason the truth. Just follow the money.
sheliak says
Professor Miles gives the game away at the end of the interview: ‘by being wholly other, allah can be wholly simple’. Worship and obey a deity whose existence, nature and will you have no hope of even beginning to understand? What’s an inheritor of western thought to do with the ideas of intellect, rationality, scientific inquiry, philosophy, individuality, imagination, conscience and so on? Simple for you professor. Not simple for me.
Paul J says
Do they put something in the water in California that makes them stupid. Apologies to any sane Californians but that state seems to have more than it’s fair share of fruit loops.
gravenimage says
“Scholar of religions” Jack Miles says Allah is “more merciful” and “more moral” than God of the Bible
…………………
Well, of course! What could possibly be more merciful and moral than “slay the unbelievers wherever you find them? sarc/off
Ahem says
Either this “professor” is lying or he has never heard of the doctrine of abrogation.
Over 300 “nice” verses of the Koran have been ruled to be inoperative, many of them by the Verse of the Sword. It is hard to believe that he is unaware of the doctrine, so that leaves us with only two alternatives:
1. He is deliberately lying.
2. He is insane.
abad says
Miles sounds a lot like my history professor back in CT where I earned my Bachelor’s Degree. This guy did not own a Bible but he had “some knowledge” of Islam and taught the college’s first Islam History course a year after 9-11.
Maybe, just maybe, it is NOT a good idea for any professor in a Christian women’s college to tell his classes he does not own a Bible.
Anyways it sounds like Miles is in love with the liberal romantic view of Islam which is of course completely from Islam as it really exists.
mortimer says
Dr. Jack Miles has his reasons for wanting to promote Allah, and he may not want to reveal them. It seems that something is wrong with this picture. Other scholars should challenge this essay, because Miles’s essay is questionable for obvious reasons. Miles seems to be interpreting the Koran for HIS PERSONAL VIEW POINT, rather than from the viewpoint of Islamic ulema and from the viewpoint of the jihadists throughout the centuries. In other words, Miles’s approach is entirely subjective, dismissing Islamic history as the correct interpretation of the Koran.
A scholar who could refute Miles’s approach would be Tina Magaard. After three years analyzing the original texts of ten different religions, Danish researcher Tina Magaard, Ph.D. concluded that Islam is the most warlike religion. Tina Magaard concluded that the Islamic texts stand out by encouraging terror and violence to a larger degree than other religions do. She stated that ‘Islamic texts encourage terror and fighting to a far larger degree than the original texts of other religions. The texts in Islam distinguish themselves from the texts of other religions by encouraging violence and aggression against people with other religious beliefs to a larger degree.’
“What is striking is not in itself that one can find murderous passages in the Islamic texts, as such passages can also be found in other religions. But it is striking how much space these passages take up in the Islamic texts, and how much they focus on an us-and-them logic in which infidels and apostates are characterized as dirty, rotten, criminal, hypocritical and dangerous. It is also striking how much these texts demand that the reader fight the infidels, both with words and with the sword. In many passages, Muhammad plays a central role as one who encourages the use of violence, whether it comes to stonings, beheadings, acts of war or execution of critics and poets.”
Tina Magaard finds it particularly objectionable that so many Islamic scholars in her opinion knowingly fail to disclose these facts, and use their positions of power to create specific standards for what you can say.
gravenimage says
Here’s more re the idiotic Jack Miles, from the Taqiyya artist Mustafa Akyol at the NYT:
“Illuminating Islam’s Peaceful Origins”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/books/review/illuminating-islams-peaceful-origins.html
This also deals with Juan Cole, who also whitewashes Islam.
The above is laughably dubbed “nonfiction”.
TKF says
Give it up, you can’t polish a turd. Allah is a bloodthirsty god.
somehistory says
g,
Nearly two decades ago, a young moslim, a teacher at a madrassa near where I lived, told me that to become moslim, one would only need to say what this “scholar” has said. That makes him moslim in the eyes of moslims and if he believes what he said, then he is moslim.
He may…or may not…attend the meetings at the barracks near him. The important thing is in his thinking and what he has claimed in this interview and his book.
gravenimage says
He is certainly whitewashing and carrying water for Islam, whatever his own personal beliefs.
Harold Armitage says
The living proof that there’s no link between intelligence, common sense and education.
Fred says
This entire argument is so silly, infantile, and delusional. It’s like two 8 year old boys fighting over who’s imaginary comic super- hero is more powerful! Both of your so-called ‘Holy’ books are complete works of fiction, fairy tales, and myths. If one does an unbiased, scholarly reading of these texts it would be apparent that The Quran stole its idea of God from The Bible and that’s why it presents its Super Cosmic Sky-Daddy tyrant in such a similar fashion as the Christian God. Read the following to obtain a crystal clear view of who these transparently anthropomorphic and imaginary monsters really are….
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1454918322/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_i_NXysCbMNA7382
Elisha says
Spoken like the child trapped in the adult’s body you truly are. Infantile is calling the Bible a “work of fiction” when there is so much historical, prophetic and scientific evidence to support it. “Sky daddy” Wow! You’re as original as buttered toast. What a towering intellect, linking to a book written by a Dan Barker, the court jester of atheistic idiocy. When Dr James White debated him, JW quoted one of his books but DB said “I’ve may have changed my mind”. JW replied, “why is that book still on sale out the front?” Seriously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utCKHjxkFBU
Yeah, God is soooo wicked:
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” – Ezekiel 18:30-32
You are to speak this word to them: “My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow, a severely grievous wound.” – Jeremiah 14:17
Imploring people to repent. Crying over THEIR wickedness. You were saying? How embarrassing that an imbecile like Dan Barker can write a whole book of juvenile nonsense whilst claiming to be a former Christian who seems to have NEVER read the Bible, just like you …
This, from the grand poobah of atheistic buffoonery:
“The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows, nor cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its music”. – Richard Dawkins [River Out Of Eden,133]
If the essence of our physicality “neither knows, nor cares”, how does his worldview account for morality and reason?
Thrill me with your acumen.
gravenimage says
Actually, the idea that the vicious Islamic “Allah” has much in common with the loving God of the Gospels is quite mistaken. Have you ever read the Bible or the Qur’an?
Mirren10 says
You can contact this moral cretin at the contact below.
He evidently thinks everyone is too stupid/lazy to read the foul koran for themselves, and he either doesn’t know about abrogation, or hopes that we don’t.
We won’t change what passes for his mind, of course, but, as I’ve said before, fools like this need to have their noses ribbed in the fact that not everyone is as stupid as he hopes.
http://www.jackmiles.com/Home/contact-jack-miles
Mirren10 says
*rubbed*, not ‘ribbed’. I really must proof read before I post. 🙂
Michael says
Have you tried to challenge him for a debate?
David Palmer says
For a college professor, he doesn’t seem very bright. The Torah had been around for at least a thousand years before Islam was ever a thought in Mohamed’s head, probably much longer. Since we have to believe that the Torah is the source material for a few passages in the Quran, one would think that Mohamed could at least copy it correctly. Why the professor says this new version is so much better than the original is unfathomable. Would he say the same if one of his students misquoted the New Testament and changed the actual story? What’s with this guy? Is he going to find passages in Mein Kampf that show how peaceful Nazism really is??
fred says
Of course with ANY discussion or argument regarding the truth of one religion over another remember this always: IF YOU VIEWED YOUR RELIGION WITH AS MUCH SKEPTICISM AS YOU VIEW OTHER RELIGIONS, YOU WOULD BE A NON-BELIEVER OR ATHEIST. They all severely lack evidence for their veracity, their Divine origins, their God(s), and their prophets. Besides all that they instill and inspire divisiveness, violence, delusional wish-thinking, misogyny, bigotry, group-think, a slavish mentality, and a kaleidoscopic amount of shame, guilt, and self-loathing. We need sanity people!… stop arguing over whose imaginary comic book super-hero is greater… none if it is actually REAL!
FYI says
Scepticism is good Fred.I’m not a fan of organised religion myself and it is fair enough for atheists to be critical of religions.Even satirical depictions,a Swiftian shot against “holy” men is absolutely OK and even necessary.
All religions however are different:islam does not tolerate non-belief which is outrageous because people must be FREE of religion if they wish.
There are no JAIN suicide bombers.
SIKHS do not force their religion on anyone
HINDUS do not have any desire to take over the World
Sincere CHRISTIANS subscribe to Love and Peace
JEWS want to be left alone to follow their beliefs and dwell in peace in Israel
ATHEISTS,HUMANISTS,AGNOSTICS want to be free to not-believe in religion.
islam is the exception:it is hostile to ALL non-muslim creeds,ALL non-islamic beliefs.
Political islam uses the Left but will destroy the Left when it gains power{see Iran}
Scepticism is good.”You would be a non-believer or atheist”:God knows I tried that route myself {I would most likely have written something like what you wrote}but I got tired of the atheistic version of the religious zealot,the militant atheist, with the silly arguments,like some kid explaining to a bemused SMIRKING Maths Prof that he has just discovered a New Proof for the Squaring of the Circle.
religious zealots are often appaling and unreasonable;so too,in fairness, are miltant atheists.
If people leave islam and become Atheists or Agnostics:Good.Fair enough!
“None of it is actually real”.Well,some folk might say LOVE isn’t real.Complex numbers are not real and yet most engineering wonders which exist in our reality are based on them.
fred says
agree with almost all you stated and have often expressed the obvious that not all religions are the same… the difference between let’s say the Jains and Amish vs. the Muslims is a universe apart. also, interesting how similar much of Christianity was 300-1000 years ago and Islam is now. And it wasn’t reading the Bible more deeply that created the transformation… it was science, reason, and the hammer blows of modernity. It changed from outside in… not inside out. I’m not sure what ‘militant’ atheism means to you. All atheism is merely a state of reasoned, critical thinking that recognizes that the ‘evidence’ religious people extol and assert about their supernatural beliefs and the Divine origin of their ‘Holy Books’ is terrible, flawed, vacuous, biased, or non-existent. Certainly NOT compelling at all. Most of us freethinkers are also struck by how none of that matters to a faith-intoxicated person, and they never give it much thought EXCEPT when they argue against other faiths… that’s when reason, evidence, and laser-focused inquiry is adopted. Funny how that happens. Last thing… equating something like ‘love’ which has been a major feature of the human experience since we roamed the earth (and can at least be explored to some degree neurophysiologically) TO imaginary cosmic agencies of supernatural intelligence which are behind and control the sun, moon, wind, rain, lightning, earthquakes, volcanoes, the oceans, and are completely anthropomorphic in nature as in our Greek and Roman Gods… and then the leap to the monotheistic God of the Torah, Bible, and Quran. The consciousness is virtually the same. Men create God(s) not the other way around. People believe God’s existence ONLY because the WANT to believe it. It comes down to where they were born, and how they were indoctrinated. I have stated this before, it still stands, and not one of the deeply faithful, devout Christians on this site, or anywhere else, has refuted it… take any fanatical, foaming-at-the-mouth, born again Christian who regurgitates ‘chapter and verse’ all day long and place them back in time to be born in a strict, devout Muslim family in Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc… have them educated / indoctrinated since age 2 in everything Islamic then there is no doubt they would be shouting from the rooftops right now that Islam is the ONE true religion and Mohammad is it’s one and only messenger, and all the other faiths – especially Christianity and Judaism are false and evil. There are few that escape that kind of brain-washing.
Elisha says
Still dribbling nonsense I see. The religion of secular humanism is responsible for 200 MILLION+ human deaths in less than a century, and counting. Go and whack yourself with a cluebat. Seriously.
CogitoErgoSum says
So, Fred, can you please pick a topic for discussion that is not divisive? Let me see …. how about water? Something everybody needs and should agree upon, right? But wait. Do you think water should have fluoride added to it? Do you think rivers should be dammed for hydroelectric power? Do you think too much water is being taken from the aquifer in the western U.S. and used for irrigation?
I don’t think there is a topic that everyone can discuss without it leading to some sort of division. And whether or not something is real should not be the determining factor regarding whether it may be discussed or not. I don’t care for Star Wars myself but I’m not going to stop people from discussing it if they want to do that. That in itself would probably be considered divisive.
FYI says
Perhaps the “scholar ” would like to explain..to himself..?
1.Sahih Muslim # 6985 islam’s plan for a Genocidal war of annihilation against the Jews
Feel free to ask the Muslim Brotherhood,CAIR,Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib to EXPLAIN it..perhaps the SPLC and the ADL might like to be told too…
2.Why allah completely missed the 2 chief commandments[In Judaism and Christianity:missing in islam}defined in Matthew 22 as “The whole law of Moses and the prophets DEPEND on these 2 chief commandments”.This grave error results in al walaa wal baraa:islamic apartheid and hatred towards non-muslims.. and no Golden Rule in islam because allah COMPLETELY MISSED “The Whole Law of Moses and the Prophets” didn’t he?So the whole point of God{LOVE} and Moses{OBEDIENCE to God’s Exodus 20 Laws} appears to have been missed by “allah”{“The BEST OF DECEIVERS” K3;54…..REALLY BIG CLUE THERE..}
3.Why allah teaches muslims in koran 5 v 51 the COMPLETE OPPOSITE to the 2nd chief Law{Leviticus 19:18,Matthew 22 :39
“Oh ye who believe!Take not the Jews and christians for friends”
This appaling antisocial teaching comes from the belief that muslims are the holiest of peoples k3:110 and they are NOT be friends with Jews and Christians..or Hindus or Buddhists etc.
It’s WHY you have muslim-only ghettos…for “the best community that hath been raised up for mankind” k3:110.a community that follows the sunnah of a black slave owning{sahih muslim3901}mass-murdering{abu dawud 4390},illiterate,bigoted,camel pee drinking,cross-dressing , self-appointed “prophet”,a Champion violator of ALL OF God’s commandment who had a fantasy winged horse with a woman’s face and in islam is the PERFECT MAN{!!!},and a god who is antisemitic,antichristian,misogynistic,Theologically,Scientifically,Linguistically and Logically challenged.
4.Why allah curses Jews on a FALSE premise in koran 9:30,and in koran 2:65 calls them “Apes and pigs to be despised and hated”.Everybody knows Moses and Jesus are Jews.
Except allah:he thinks Moses and Jesus etc are muslims.
The Jews are CENTRAL to God’s plan of salvation:
“We JEWS know who we worship because it is from the Jews that salvation comes” according to the JEW JESUS in JOHN 4 v 22
So allah’s Hitlerian hatred for the Jews is ILLOGICAL and INSANE.ISRAEL too is greatly blessed by God:look at how the muslims with their “allah” hate it!
allah does not understand the role of the Jews:Not even 1 MENTION OF JERUSALEM too in his koran.It is as if allah is JEALOUS of the Jews…isn’ it?
5.Why allah curses Christians for believing in Jesus Christ koran 9:30
6.”The Theology of the koran”??allah DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THEOLOGY.
Why allah completely misunderstands the Theology of the Trinity in koran 4;171
{Christians do not believe God is divided in parts,has companions or that Mary is a part of the Trinity:but allah does!allah reveals-unwittingly -in koran 4:171 that he does not believe in God’s Holy Spirit of Wisdom or even know what is the source of Prophecy
{revealed in 2 Peter 1 v 20-21 in the Gospel…a book that allah claims he wrote and gave to Jesus koran 5:46-47.Absolutely RIDICULOUS!}
7.If allah claims he wrote the Gospel k3:3 in which the Theology of the Trinity is clearly explained then WHY bring it up in the first place only to completely DENY it in the koran 4:171:it is obvious allah is merely claiming to be the AUTHOR OF THE BIBLE when it is pretty obvious he is not:he missed the 2 chief laws of God,completely misunderstands the Trinity,fails to get the role of the Jews,thinks the Jews Moses and Jesus are.. muslims,makes over 40 scientific errors and is so linguistically challenged he can only be understood in ONE language{The Biblical Judeo-Christian God speaks ALL languages and is a God of LOVE…the islamic koranic parody “allah” is limited to Arabic ,preaches hatred and is ..an imbecile}
8.Why allah thinks he-personally-wrote the Bible.Jews do not believe God Himself wrote the Torah and Christians do not believe God Himself wrote the Gospel{or that,laughably,Jesus had a copy}In fact the Bible was written by HUMAN prophets,guided by God’s Wisdom:muslims believe allah himself wrote the koran.
allah says he gave Moses the Torah k2:87{When exactly,did Moses have a copy of the Torah?}
allah says he gave Jesus the Gospel k 5:46{At no time in the Life of Christ did the Gospel exist:it could not have been written until AFTER Christ so Jesus could not have had the Gospel in His possession:and yet allah is sure he not only wrote the Gospel himself but that he gave it to Jesus..}
9.Look at the Exodus 20 listing of those 10 Commandments.
The OT and NT agree with them :the teachings of the koran are in violation of them.
When Jews read the Torah and Christians the Gospel,it is understood that such DESCRIPTIVE violence must be referenced with respect to the moral values of Exodus 20 and those essential 2 chief commandments.
When a muslim reads the koran he believes it to be written by allah himself:thus a command like “slay the unbeliever” k2:191 is taken as a command of allah{and NOT referenced with respect to the Exodus 20 laws since allah DISAGREES with God’s commandments.allah is ok with murder k2:191,Adultery k4:24 with a captured/enslaved woman,STEALING from infidels k48:20,bearing FALSE WITNESS to promote islam via taqqiya,tawriya,taysin,muruna,daurura etc.What was the point of Moses giving us God’s Laws only for “allah” to appear on the scene in the 7tc c and tell muslims its OK to break them and even{as jihadists believe} be REWARDED for murder and mayhem?That’s NOT how God works!
10.If allah is ” the BEST OF DECEIVERS” k3:54,and does not even guarantee moslems salvation or the option of final penitence{koran 4 v 18}why should such a god even be trusted?BTW the “best of deceivers” is another name for ..baal..the god of the Philistine goliath….lucifer..of course muslims don’t get that.
“Oh allah the best of deceivers and schemers..I mean you wouldn’t be deceiving us now would you?…no no of course not:Having a theologically wrong god,a koran full or errors and a “prophet” who completely missed the importance of OBEYING God’ s official commandments as any TRUE prophet would do..we are surely on safe ground..like a house of cards built on quicksand in an Earthquake Subduction Zone”
Academics and religious scholars often do not have the Wisdom necessary to actually understand what they claim to be proficient at.
God’s Wisdom versus human learning
See I Corinthians 1 v 18-31
I Corinthians 2 v 5-15
2 Timothy 3 v 16-17
jbusher says
LIGHT OF CHRISTIANITY VERSUS THE DARKNESS OF ISLAM – Islam allows wife beating, rape whiling punishing the victim of rape, sex slavery, and female genital mutilation while in Christianity, it is a criminal felony, assault, and battery. In Islam, a woman’s testimony is worth half of a man’s in the court of law. In Christianity, a woman’s testimony is equal to a man’s. In Islam, a female rape victim requires four witnesses for a conviction. This is nearly impossible. In Islam, pedophilia is allowed even certain sex acts with infants while in Christianity, it would be a punishable crime. In Islam, narcotics is a commodity, while in Christianity, it is considered a plague. In Islam, a Muslim can violate a contract with a non-Muslim, which destroys social construction, while in Christianity, a contract must be upheld. In Islam, you go to heaven for Jihad against infidels, Christians, and Jews, while the religion of the God of the Bible there is justice, equality under the law, for the alien as well the native. In Islam, sex with animals is permissible, while in Christianity, it is a capital offense. To leave Islam is a death sentence, while to leave Christianity is to lose Christian duties. In Islam, critical speech about Islam and Mohammad means death while in Christianity critical debate is required. Under Sharia law, Muslims can kill Christian, Jews, and unbelievers without punishment. Under Christ, murder is a capital offense. REPENT AND BE SAVED – here is how – articleviii.wordpress.com
mark777888 says
This man wants to curry favor with the global elites, the media, and the leftist elites in academia.
In other words, he has sold his soul for a pack of lies.
He will get his twenty pieces of silver
But for what…
tim gallagher says
Seriously, how is it possible for anyone ( let alone an “academic”) to be as dumb as this f**kwit Miles. It can only be that he is as dumb as a post or someone is paying him money to be a propagandist for Islam. Miles is either a complete moron or a cynical, lying propagandist and, if some Muslims are paying him to promote Islam, a type of academic prostitute. The evidence is all there about what a vicious concept of god allah is ( calling for his followers to kill all non-believers, along with all the other revolting crap) so there is no possible excuse for the ignorance this creature Miles displays.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Allah is routinely described in Qur’anic preambles as “compassionate” and “merciful” yet there’s nary any other actual details of any instances of same quoted to back those vapidly empty assertions up.
To the exact contrary, Moe’s main morality tale (of al-Khidr lecturing Moses) shows allah brutally murdering a young boy because he would grow up to be evil, so the parents could give birth to a better boy later, and then he destroys and entire fishing fleet to prevent a dictator from later comandeering the boats to invade somewhere else.
So of course one must ask the obvious questions – why did allah allow the potentially evil kid to be born at all, and (ditto for the dictator) why not just give the tyrant an embolism in stead of ruining the fishermen’s lives and depriving their families of sustenance? DUH!
Simply because allah is (“strangely”) exactly as irrational as his inventor, the mad criminal Muhammad, that’s why.
gravenimage says
UNCLE VLADDI wrote:
Allah is routinely described in Qur’anic preambles as “compassionate” and “merciful” yet there’s nary any other actual details of any instances of same quoted to back those vapidly empty assertions up.
…………………
Good point–it is more like a talisman–that is, telling a brutal warlord how compassionate and merciful he is all the time, hoping desperately that this flattery might ward off his blows.
Edward Dillon says
Just another NUT JOBS opinion following Muhammad the biggest nut of all time.