Hey, at least we can take comfort from the words of the Orlando shooter’s father

[The Jorge]

Yes, but since he is explicitly following the instructions laid out by his religion in his actions, he could quite easily have justified his actions as holy and therefore not only not in contravention of Ramadan, but actively in keeping with it.

Sure, though the Quoran is also pretty against killing people in other places. It's a bit like the bible like that.

[IUFG]

Now, I have not read either of these 2,000+ year old guidebooks of how to conduct oneself.

I take it both say killing someone is a generally a bad thing. Are there appendices which list when it is actually acceptable?

[The Jorge]

Now, I have not read either of these 2,000+ year old guidebooks of how to conduct oneself.

I take it both say killing someone is a generally a bad thing. Are there appendices which list when it is actually acceptable?

That's pretty much the long and the short of it, yes.

[Burney]

Now, I have not read either of these 2,000+ year old guidebooks of how to conduct oneself.

I take it both say killing someone is a generally a bad thing. Are there appendices which list when it is actually acceptable?

The Qu'ran is only about 1,300 years old. The New Testament is between 400 and 600 years older and offers no justifications for killing whatsoever. 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone'; 'Judge not lest ye be judged'; 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord'; ' - all of these explicitly demand that Christians do not even pass judgment, let alone perpetrate violence.

There is no such prohibition in Islam - quite the reverse, in fact.

[Ash]

Now, I have not read either of these 2,000+ year old guidebooks of how to conduct oneself.

I take it both say killing someone is a generally a bad thing. Are there appendices which list when it is actually acceptable?

Much of the book of Deuteronomy. Though, as has been pointed out, the OT is full of nasty stuff completely with odds of what Christianity is supposed to be about, and the NT supercedes all the rules of acceptable smiting and slavery and raping.

At this point we need the Ganpati chap to expound his theory that what Jesus was preaching was the Eastern philosophy he'd learned in the 'wilderness'. I find it quite plausible really, seeing as the OT seems so obviously a handbook of the leadership of a primative tribal culture where stuff was generally done according to violence, then along comes Jesus saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change. Radical stuff.

[Pokster]

Much of the book of Deuteronomy. Though, as has been pointed out, the OT is full of nasty stuff completely with odds of what Christianity is supposed to be about, and the NT supercedes all the rules of acceptable smiting and slavery and raping.

At this point we need the Ganpati chap to expound his theory that what Jesus was preaching was the Eastern philosophy he'd learned in the 'wilderness'. I find it quite plausible really, seeing as the OT seems so obviously a handbook of the leadership of a primative tribal culture where stuff was generally done according to violence, then along comes Jesus saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change. Radical stuff.

Didn't the Bible start mass genocide with a sodding great big flood that was meant to kill practically everything?

[Ash]

Didn't the Bible start mass genocide with a sodding great big flood that was meant to kill practically everything?

Kind-of sets the tone, doesn't it?

KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!

[The Jorge]

Kind-of sets the tone, doesn't it?

KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!

No, all that stuff doesnt count because Jeebus came along and he was all like a hippy and stuff.

Which would completely invalidate the following 1900 years of christianity, but there you go.

[Burney]

No, all that stuff doesnt count because Jeebus came along and he was all like a hippy and stuff.

Which would completely invalidate the following 1900 years of christianity, but there you go.

So you don't accept that there is a difference between the Old and New Testaments? Or that Christianity is based on one and not the other?

You don't seem to understand much about Christianity, if I may say so.

[Burney]

Kind-of sets the tone, doesn't it?

KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!

I've always liked the way the Noah story is told as a really kid-friendly Bible story (cuddly animals, etc), with no-one apparently seeming to notice that it represents God as a capricious, indiscriminate psychopath who, like a spoiled toddler, decides to smash up his toy because it's not doing what he wants, causing the deaths of (presumably) millions - and loads of innocent animals (except the fish, of course - they get off the hook entirely, as it were).

I appreciate that this is hardly an original sentiment, but it is amazing how quick churches are to use this frankly terrifying story to suck in kids. Even more terrifying is how successful they are in doing so.