Search This Blog

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Two Arabic words: Falah, Fitna and General George Casey’s Koranic World View

This post has been moved. Read it here.

 

1 comment:

  1. One reader responded:
    "While I understand that you have ... felt that [superiority] was not a textual entitlement in Christian writings, I really wondered about religious rigour and those who practice it ... developing their own cultural understandings. ...

    I think there is often an element - damaging and discriminatory - that individuals or groups take upon themselves as identifying their life choices as superior - and themselves likewise; which can cross religious identification and be about the patterns of groups of people."

    Mark Durie comments: I agree wholeheartedly that all sorts of groups of people develop a sense of their own superiority. Indeed this is and has been an unpleasant feature of many Christian groups. Of course there have been many forms of Christian hatred and bigotry. This tendency to regard oneself as superior is one of the negative characteristics of human beings, a persistent human failing. But for a Christian to justify this THEOLOGICALLY from the teachings of Jesus is a tough call. Jesus often warned his followers against feeling superior, and said it was better to serve than to be served.
    But in contrast, this is easy to justify in Islam, and well-supported by the Koran.
    This is a good example of how no one religious tradition has a monopoly on people behaving badly. But differences in religious traditions do make a formative influence on how ideologies and cultures are formed.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated. Avoid profanities or foul language. Stay on topic. Avoid ad hominem attacks. Posts which violate these principles or are deemed offensive in any way will be deleted.