Please tell your Baptist friends "Allah" does not mean "the Devil."

[IdaBriggs]

It means GOD in Arabic. Like "rojo" means "red" in Spanish.

I am not sure where this misinformation is coming from, but I keep running into otherwise well educated people who attend Baptist services who SWEAR Muslims worship THE DEVIL.

They don't -- they worship GOD. :banghead:

Nor do they "worship" Mohammad (English = "Michael) -- they revere/respect/honor him as a PROPHET OF GOD (aka "TEACHER ABOUT GOD"). They also revere/respect/honor JESUS as a PROPHET OF GOD.

Get that? Muslims PRAY TO GOD, NOT MOHAMMAD. Mohammad was a Human Being with a "special" relationship with God.

Thank you, and Happy Ramadan.

[theoldman]

1. A similar mistake is made with Buddhists.

Buddhists do not worship the Buddha, past or present. They do not worship statures either.

[Mountainman]

4. I am studying Buddhism and it is funny what people think I am doing.

I tell them that the Buddha was a human being and I am studying about a way of life. I am not replacing Christianity with Buddhism as they think. I don't consider myself a Christian and never did but the teachings of Buddhism parallel my thinking on how I want to live my life. So if I meditate with a statue of Buddha in my room I'm not praying to the Buddha as some think.

[Dora]

11. It cracks me up, some of the notions people have about Buddhism.

My husband was quite earnestly asked, "What was your conversion like? Was it difficult?"

:rofl:

[backscatter712]

2. You'd think people would have a clue by now.

I'm certainly no theology scholar, but I know that perfectly well.

I think the fundies are being taught garbage by their preachers. It's not just Islam, they bash Wicca, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, even liberal denominations of Christianity like Unitarian Universalism, etc. etc. etc.

If you're not of The Faith(TM), you're eeeeeeeeeevil!

[A HERETIC I AM]

3. It's important to point out they worship the god of Abraham and Isaac.

Same god as Christianity and Judaism.

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. Not at all

See post #5. The doctrine of the Trinity makes the Christian god totally beyond the bounds of Jewish and Muslim theology and unacceptable to the vast majority of either of those faiths.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Weeeellll....

First off, keep in mind that to fundamentalists, they and they alone have the only god; all other so-called gods are actually manifestations of anti-god.

Second, Muslims do not worship God in the same sense that Christians worship God. Christian orthodoxy has held as official and unbreakable dogma that God is a Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit "neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance." To Muslims, this is polytheism and the very suggestion that Allah is actually a trinity will get even moderate Muslims extremely upset. Trinitarianism makes the Christian view of God and the Muslim view of Allah entirely incompatable.

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. There is little doubt that the "Father" part of the trinity

is indeed the god of Abraham and Isaac. There is also no doubt that these three faiths have the same roots, and trunk, just vastly different branches.

Personally, i view Judaism, Christianity and Islam as marketing ploys designed to promote the same basic product to different audiences. Judaism being the oldest, Christianity the next and Islam the upstart.

I agree with your point there, Tech but at the end of the day, it is still the same root entity.

[TechBear_Seattle]

32. But God is unalterable and eternal

Either the Christians have it all wrong, or the Jews and Muslims have it all wrong. Either God is a Trinity, or God is not. You can not have it both ways.

I'm not taking sides either way, as I'm an atheist with neo-pagan leanings and don't have a horse in this race. I am only pointing out that, at the most fundamental level possible, Christian theology is incompatable with the theology of Judaism and Islam.

[A HERETIC I AM]

33. No horse here, either!

I am also atheist but i was raised Episcopalian. Admittedly, this offers NO special insight, i merely mention it in passing.

From what i have come to understand about how these three religions got their start, your statement "Either the Christians have it all wrong, or the Jews and Muslims have it all wrong. Either God is a Trinity, or God is not. You can not have it both ways." is both correct and incorrect.

All three have it both ways, believe it or not. The concepts that led to cults that led to priesthoods that led to movements that led to bona fide religions had their genesis in the same place, namely the personification and historicizing of much older and remarkably similar prevalent customs, motifs, legends and myths common in the cultures around the ancient world.

All three have at their roots, and use as their basis, the repetitious movements of the sun, the moon and the stars through the skies throughout the seasons. The study of these movements was related through the generations via parables that have been bastardized and twisted by the promoters of these mystery religions in order to perpetuate a status quo.

Regardless, it is a fascinating subject, whatever ones position.

[sampsonblk]

7. It ain't just the baptists. Look at this 'gospel' tract

These are being handed out all over the world.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0042/0042_01.asp

You might want to peek around this site even further, if you are concerned. You won't believe this stuff.

[adadem]

17. This is the same type

of garbage that was shoved down my throat as a child. The Sunday School teachers must have thought me the "devils child" because I always, always asked provoking questions. My mom would say I had the "devil on my shoulder whispering in my ear".

Will people never be intelligent enough to see through this propaganda.

[sampsonblk]

21. Unfortunately, this stuff works

Especially on children, apparently.

[The Stranger]

24. Here is another -- it shows how the Middle East crisis started with Abraham's MISCEGENATION.

Abraham had a son, Ishmael, with Hagar, who was a brown person (Egyptian), and brown people are therefore cursed to be "wild" and evil in the Bible.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/5004/5004_01.asp

Pure fucking racism and hate -- right out of the Bible.

[sampsonblk]

25. Those tracts are hilarious, aren't they?

And people believe that stuff. Wow.

[The Stranger]

26. If I weren't laughing, I'd be crying.

[yella_dawg]

8. I disagree.

Given that Muslims worship the God of Abraham, the same as Jews and Christians, and following the biblical admonition that "by their works shall you know them", then I think devil pretty much covers it.

[Clark2008]

9. Ahh heck. Baptist think Catholics pray to Mary.

As a Catholic, I've been asked on many occasions by Southern Baptist if I'm Christian.

:rofl:

Imagine their shock when I tell them my religion is one of the OLDEST of Christian faiths - much older than theirs.

:eyes:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

15. say three Hail Marys and ask yourself to whom you are praying

not that I have a problem with that, I talk to dead relatives all the time (fortunately none of them have spoken back :-) ).

sP

[rateyes]

10. You are absolutely correct, and as a liberal Baptist,

allow me to say to you:

Salaam aleikum.

[yardwork]

12. The ignorance gets me down sometimes.

[Connie_Corleone]

13. I don't know about the Baptists you know...

but what I hear on those religious shows is that even though Allah means God, some fundamentalist Christians (most?) don't believe Muslims worship the same God as they do, so therefore Muslims must be worshipping the "devil" or a false god since there is only one true God (Jesus/Christian superGod).

[sampsonblk]

23. Yep. A lot of people miss that point

To virtually every single fundamentalist christian (not talking about baptists) I know, a false God is the same as Satan, or the devil. The 'logic,' as I understand it, is that Satan has a plan to turn us all from the true God. He uses tricks to get us to worhsip him instead of God.

Even halloween - the devil's birthday. Another trick to get us to worship him. Unbelievable.
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news1199/trickortract.html

On edit: You guys will love this Landover Baptist site. Its hilarious.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Arab CHRISTIANS refer to God as "Allah"

a little fact that the purposely misinformed like to ignore.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

16. Excellent point! n/t

[progressoid]

18. When I was a teen, I was told that Pink Floyd was Satan.

[Pyrzqxgl]

31. Pink Floyd comes from 2 old time blues performers: Pink Anderson & Floyd Council,

neither of whos music sounds like anything PF has ever done.

[karlrschneider]

20. Yeah but that doesn't resolve the question of just how many gods there actually are...

Too bad the First Commandment isn't a little more specific. :eyes:

[yardwork]

22. Some needs to tell John McCain. I hear he converted to Baptist the other day.

[Pyrzqxgl]

27. I had a friend who's father was a Christian Missionary in China & he was born there.

He remembers a time when the Japanese had attacked China and his family was threatened. A group from a Muslim community led his family to
safety even though they were Christian because as they said they were "People of the Book". According to my friend Muslim scholars study the Old
& New Testaments as well as the Koran. They believe in the same Devil & the same God that your Baptist friends do. It's the supporting cast thats
a bit different.

[Clintonista2]

28. Similar mistake made with Buddhists. People think Budda is their God

He's not.

[LeftishBrit]

29. Wow - they really think Allah means the Devil???

I'm less surprised at the 'worshipping Mohammed' bit; as I have come across some prejudiced Protestants who think that Catholics worship the Virgin Mary and the Pope.

Religious intolerance is a great thing - NOT!

[porphyrian]

30. Do you really expect that they'll listen? - n/t