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1. 

   dtroutma said, 8 months ago

   Jericho, Inquisition, dunking chairs, Islam, radical evangelicals, yup, “radical” has been with us for a long time.
2. 

   SkepticCal said, 8 months ago

   Sounds like the Cairo Speech to me.
3. 

   ansonia said, 8 months ago

   It’s a scary world.
4. 

   Radish said, 8 months ago

   They are trying to wake up to the fact that they don’t need the thumb.
5. 

   Ms. Ima said, 8 months ago

   The world sees what happens when capitalism is rejected.
6. 

   Fairportfan2 said, 8 months ago

   @Ms. Ima

   Capitalism has nothing to do with it.
   .
   Of course, when, like you, all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
7. 

   Mhic Dhu Ghaill said, 8 months ago

   @Orthodox Catholic

   You first paragraph is pure male bovine excrement. The second has a tiny kernel of ¿ truth ?
8. 

   iamthelorax said, 8 months ago

   @orthodox catholic I’m sure there is some truth to that, but please don’t try to fool us into thinking Christianity was spread with peace and love. Islam is the last of the middle eastern religions to be neutered into it’s place, but Christianity and Judaism were never about peace and love.
9. 

   Ian Rey said, 8 months ago

   Some choose to live under the thumb of religion, some reject it.
10. 

    furnituremaker said, 8 months ago

    actually, the Inquisition was a money and land grab by the
    (ahem) Catholic Church…and how ’bout the crusades?
11. 

    Fourcrows said, 8 months ago

    @Orthodox Catholic

    “They would open the gates of the city at night and the Muslims would come in and cut the throats of all the Christians in the city. This was happening in city after city.”
    That never actually happened, not even once. The Inquisition had its roots in Spain’s distrust of the Jews. Around 1500, they issued an edict stating all Jews must leave Spain or convert under penalty of death. Around 50,000 converted, and Spain then did the same with the Muslims. over time, there was a growing distrust of the Jews who had converted, and Torquemada and others distributed propaganda to animalize those of Jewish and Muslim descent, including stories of cannibalism, child sacrifice, and any blasphemous act they could think of. The Inqisition was about the political power of the church, it was not defending itself against anything. Please read valid historical documents and not repeat old wives’ tales if you want to understand history.
12. 

    lonecat said, 8 months ago

    @Orthodox Catholic

    “I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword” (Matthew 10:34),
13. 

    dtroutma said, 8 months ago

    Also Ratzinger, also known as Benedict, was placed in charge of the office of the Inquisition, in 1981! Christians trying to convert Muslims in Afghanistan, and around the world, are part of the reason things are so dangerous for our troops, and civilian State Dept. folks and ambassadors.

    
    The most dangerous “elements” of Islam, and other “foreign” religions, are myths created, and touted, by Christian “missionaries”.

    
    Yes, that Quran, where in Sura II, it clearly states that ALL who believe in the God of Abraham will be saved, not just Christians (of only certain sects of course) . That Mohammed’s followers divided, and “changed the rules”, JUST as the followers of Christ, and Moses did, isn’t the fault of those prophets, but rather of weak-willed men, who demanded all the power, especially over women, go only to THEM!
14. 

    omQ R said, 8 months ago

    @Orthodox Catholic

    “In Spain, there were false converts to the Catholic faith who were Jews”
    
    False converts?! The poor buggers didn’t have a choice! If they did not convert and become “New Christians”, they were expelled or worse [look up ‘auto-da-fé’]! Of course many “New Christians” (or Marranos as we called them in Portugal) were crypto-Jews. Look up the “Belmonte Jews” of Portugal… Just as there were crypto-Catholics in other countries where they were persecuted for their faith.
    One of my surnames is Sephardic in origin; look thru’ any Spanish or Portuguese phone book, you will see many former Sephardic names (some were altered to avoid being identified as a Converso). You just don’t find many Jews in the Iberian peninsula now because the Spanish & Portuguese inquisitions were highly successful in driving them out or under-ground, sometimes literally!
    
    "They would open the gates of the city at night and the Muslims would come in and cut the throats of all the Christians in the city. This was happening in city after city. "
    What utter nonsense!
    
    False converts, indeed. You bring about false witness, something your religion mentions one should not do. You should try adhering to your religion’s tenets.
15. 

    dtroutma said, 8 months ago

    Islam allowed Jews to pay a tax, and continue to worship freely. The “Christians” came in, and killed them, or drove them out, end of story.
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