Is Islam a religion of love and peace?

For me it's all about control, whether it relates to a patriarchal theocracy or a totalitarian regime of either the far right or far left persuasion. A complete subjugation of the masses. Theocracies are just as awful as any other ideology they rule by fear. The iron grip of churches has pretty much been broken, now swathes of them have fallen into disrepute and we have the freedom to cherry pick what we find acceptable.

Lathyrus3

That’s the way I see it. Spreading the discussion out to all other religions prevents depth of discussion of the original question.

I'm sorry, I must be missing something here. Many discussions on line and in the real world broaden out and then may narrow back ( for want of a better way of putting it)

Personally I wouldn't feel able to contribute to an in depth discussion on Islam as this is not familiar to me culturally. Nor have I studied Islam in any depth.
But I am eager to hear from those who know more.

fallingstar that was a good post👍🏽

It is just my opinion, am not clued up on philosophical reasons for broadening a discussion, but I feel it is much better to have a balanced and more nuanced discussion that doesn’t seem to just target one kind of religious extremism.
The fact is that none of it is to do with religion at all but politics. In Iran. In Israel. In the US. Lots of very angry people full of hate intent upon division and destruction in order to rule by fear.
I doubt that God has a look in.
So is Islam a religion of peace and love?
It probably is for the ordinary law abiding Muslims around the world, but extremists only want to twist and poison that message in order to spread hatred and fear.
Am sure this won’t by any means satisfy some on this thread, but it is my opinion, it may not be right but by the same token it may not be wrong, and perhaps there is somewhere in the middle where we probably agree on more than we disagree about.

👍🏻

That was a reply to Oreo

That’s the way I see it. Spreading the discussion out to all other religions prevents depth of discussion of the original question.

Living memory exactly!, if we delve back deeply into history, where would you stop? every invading force, The Romans, Genghis Khan, the Mongolian hordes, the Vikings. All would have been responsible for subjugation of the indigenous populations, executions and slavery that was the nature of a conquering force. Masses of people suffered all the time, I don't see anyone on this thread denying those horrors whether they were at the hands of Christians, colonialists, or saying the lives of whoever those people were didn't matter, or whether they believe invaders, Christian or otherwise, had righteousness or God on their side. Events such as the Crusades were just too steeped in the mists of time to create a strong emotional connection.

Recent history has a resonance. Posters have been talking about pretty up to date events, for example those who suffered when Isis set up their de facto headquarters in Raqqah, Iraq and used barbaric methods of torture and execution, the very terrors that belonged to those bygone eras. Every genocide that has happened in the 20th century numerous, the slaughter of Armenians by Turks in the early part of the last century. The Holocaust, Pol Pot in Cambodia, the mass killings of those by Stalin and Mao, Rwanda, Bosnia. Not to mention what's going on right now, the mass murders of young people in Iran just one example.

It doesn’t.
If we had a discussion on Buddhism for instance I doubt that it would be compared and contrasted to other religions.It would be about the pros and cons of Buddhism.

Why does a specific question about any religion have to involve other religions?

Genuine philosophical question for those who think it is necessary.

To pretend otherwise is ludicrous.

Rwanda wasn’t about religious differences at all.
Serbia was partially about it, as the Christian Serbs wanted to expand Serbia ( land grabbing) and using the excuse of getting rid of Muslims to support that.The UK got involved ( to their credit) to help the Muslim population.
The real threat to very many countries all over the world now are Islamist extremists.

I don’t think that anyone is trying to shut this discussion down, far from it, any discussion about religion will not just stay within the very narrow parameters of discussing just one religion and then holding that religion responsible for all recent atrocities, indeed I would suggest the opposite, that those wishing to just discuss Islamic extremism - not Islam because that covers millions of ordinary Muslims - are trying to shut all other discussions down.
Am not saying that this is racist, but I am saying that it then ceases to be a discussion and more a monologue.

Oreo

How many centuries have gone by since the Crusades?
Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism have no place in the discussion when extremists from Islamism are the ones to fear and look out for generally, not only here, or the West but in very many Muslim countries too, how many Muslims have been victims of their bombings, shootings, stabbings and murder by vehicles?

Rwanda, former Yugoslavia are well within living memory.

Whitewavemark2

No - it has been widened to suggest that all religions have a paternalistic structure.

Threads always wander and widen

Quite.

How many centuries have gone by since the Crusades?
Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism have no place in the discussion when extremists from Islamism are the ones to fear and look out for generally, not only here, or the West but in very many Muslim countries too, how many Muslims have been victims of their bombings, shootings, stabbings and murder by vehicles?

Lathyrus3

Well snd there we are.

A discussion on Islam has been shut down and has been determinedly been converted into a condemnation of Christianity.

Not unexpected somehow.

Well they can try but it’s up to us all not to let this happen.
Anyone who uses the ‘racist’ card to stop a poster from discussing radical Islam and talking about extremism needs calling out.

Fallingstar

I think the awful things that Islamic extremists say and do cannot be ignored but do let’s remember that many Muslims, as in Iran, are fighting tooth and nail against this.
It is not how the majority of Muslims want to live.
Extremists might want a caliphate but is just a lot of BS because the majority don’t want a bar of it.
But making it sound as if Islamic extremists are on every street corner does make for good copy and there is one born every minute who will believe this.

I don’t know about every street corner but there are plenty of them about as all the many murderous attacks on innocent people just in the UK alone attest to.

Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean?

Whitewavemark2

No - it has been widened to suggest that all religions have a paternalistic structure.

Threads always wander and widen

A gathering of the clan😬

Whoops, repeated the quote and missed out the bit where it names the other R4 programmes

In Our Time Religion: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of religious movements, figures, and doctrines (e.g., Karma, Daoism, Arianism).
Sunday A weekly programme that examines the ethical and religious issues of the week.
The Secret History of Science and Religion A series exploring the relationship between scientific and religious thought.

And not considered rascist.

Nannee49 its quite easy to access fascinating and relevant discussions at an accessible level.

Radio 4 "Beyond Belief" is always doing so.

'Focus: The series explores the place of faith in today's world, often featuring a panel of experts to discuss theological and ethical themes across different religions.

Topics: Recent episodes have covered topics such as interfaith marriage, religious responses to the climate crisis, the role of religion in therapy, and comparisons of religious practices

Just check out on I player Sounds.

In addition (I'll just quote, its easier)

"Focus: The series explores the place of faith in today's world, often featuring a panel of experts to discuss theological and ethical themes across different religions.
Topics: Recent episodes have covered topics such as interfaith marriage, religious responses to the climate crisis, the role of religion in therapy, and comparisons of religious practices.

www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=programme+on+Radio+4+where+comparative+religions+are+disucssed&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Why study Theology?

It has formed history and is extremely interesting?

What do the Bishops and Imams and Rabbis and other religious leaders actually discuss when they come together I wonder.

In this country, the last time they 'got together', which is the one I remember, was to discuss the situation in Gaza and how to achieve peace.