orangebaw

I suppose I can understand it in a way, there are a lot of Americans here who were brought up in Christian environments and you have that nasty "Bible Belt" too. But Surely you should not concentrate all your energy questioing this one religion. For starters, Christianity, Judism and Islam are all linked, so it would give you far more ammunition if you researched all three and questioned all three equally.

I just joined this site less than 24 hours ago and am someone dismayed at the one-dimesionallity of so many of the posts, espesially on this particular board.

jackrabbit

Speaking only for myself, I have absolutely no interest in any religion other than x-ianity, because the others are not in my face and attacking my freedoms. To me, the only reason to learn anything about x-ianty is to get ammunition to fight it. Sure, this is an extreme view and probably not shared by many here. But probably not unique, either.

x-ians are not likely to pay attention to arguments related to other religions. In fact, they will agree with such arguments.

Asha'man

We don't limit ourselves, you need to read around some more.

First, we aren't looking for ammunition as much as we are looking for understanding. For most of the people in BC&H, we are past the stage of looking to attack the insanity of religion, but are trying to understand where it came from and how it evolved. Trying to extract some real history is difficult given the lies and forgeries that surround religions, but it can be an interesting challenge.

Additionally, any discussion of the Christian Old Testament is also a discussion of the Hebrew Bible. Any criticism of YHWH as a psychopathic genocidal killer can be understood as being directed towards all religions based on this root, including even the more extreme offshoots such as the Mormons.

You need to read around some more. We generally hate all forms of stupidity and ignorance, and are equal-opportunity bashers of nonsense. Did you even notice the Non-Abrahamic forum? The Science and Skepticism forum? Many non-Biblical conversations happen in those areas.

Finally, your initial observation is correct, most of the posters here are from a culture dominated by Christianity. We are faced with this nonsense every day, and many of us were once under it's power. It's very natural to focus on what is in front of you before moving to wider targets.

Splarnst

When one questions the Christian Bible, one does focus on the Old Testament and Judaism. And most Christians don't give any weight whatsoever to the Qu'ran, so questioning Islam would accomplish nothing. It would be like showing them that Scientology is screwed up.

Diogenes the Cynic

You're asking this question in a forum entitled "Biblical Criticism and History?"

What religion do you think produced the Hebrew Bible? I think you'll find that just as much attention and critical analysis is given to the historical claims of Judaism as to Christianity. If anything, the Tanakh (especially the Pentateuch) gets treated even more ruthlessly than the NT, both in terms of the legitimacy of its historical claims and its ethical content. There has also been much discussion about the development of Jewish monotheism from the Canaanite pantheon, the influence of Persian and Greek beliefs, etc. Jewish scripture doesn't exactly get a free ride around here but Judaism as a contemporary institution doesn't get complained about much because it does not cause the kind of problems that many Christians do. Judaism is not an evangelical religion. They aren't trying to convert me. They aren't trying to codify their beliefs into law or teach creationism in schools. Jewish people, by and large - even the most Orthodox practicioners - are content to believe and practice as they wish while leaving everybody else alone and that's all we ask.

There's also an obvious cultural aspect to an interest in the Bible. Many, if not most of us have grown up with the Bible and with Bible stories. More than a few Infidels used to believe them. For many of us, the subject is naturally going to hold more interest than traditions or scriptures that we have little or no familiarity with.

It also needs to be said that plenty of us actually study the Bible and in subjects like Christianity out of genuine curiosity and interest, not just empty hostility or desire to "debunk" anything.

orangebaw

This is false. If we talked about the stupidity of Islam more, it may encourage more muslims to leave the faith.

Also, Islam does affect all of you. Your troops are in Iraq at the moment, dying, being maimed and suffering perminent brain damage. Islam affects everybody, and I think a good proportion of you are being extremely short-sighted.

Harry Bosch

We focus more on Christianity and the bible because many of us are deconvereted Christian fundies! I don't know much about Islam and the Koran, so I don't critize it as much.

orangebaw

I didnt know much about Islam either until I read about it. Read this:

http://www.secularislam.org/research/origins.htm

Diogenes the Cynic

I know something about Islam and I still don't personally find the subject very interesting. I also don't have any interest in persuading people to leave their faiths. As long as they're not bothering me, what do I care?

Incidentally, your troops are being killed in Iraq because of your president, not because of Islam. We attacked them, they didn't attack us.

In any case, this specific forum is dedicated to Bible discussion. This whole thing is better suited for GRD. Hang on...

orangebaw

I disagree with you again. As an Atheist I feel religions do damage, and they brainwash people with dated views from a set text. I think it is important.

And there is no board dedicated to discussing Isalm yet there is one for Christianity and there is a "Non-Abrahamic" board. Makes no sense.