NationStates Jolt Archive

Which is the greatest of the three 'Abrahamic' religions? Which has had the most profound effect on the world? What are those effects and how do they continue to affect us today? I don't mean just wars in the mid-east, I mean how they affect all of our cultures, traditions, & ideals.

Please, no flaming.

And please, no saying something like Judaism because the other two come from Judaism. I want to see the merits by which each religion stands on its own.

Please, no flaming.

Christianity, it has the most people, and is the most progressive today. Despite what most NSers would have you believe.

Wıthout out a doubt I would say Islam. If you ever have a chance to see the PBS documentary, Islam Empıre of Faıth, see ıt, ıts very ınformatıve.

Food for thought:


Whıle the notıon of fılth leadıng to dısease was consıdered rıdıculous ın Europe ın the Muslım world the ıdea of germs leadıng to sıckness was spreadıng and experıments were made wıth water purıfıcatıon.
Whıle the works of teh Greeks were deemed herıtıcal by the Church, Islamıc scholors translated the works of Arıstotle and etc. ınto Arabıc where they were later translated ınto European languages.
Practıcal paper was ınvented ın the Muslım world.



I have to go but there ıs a lot more.

Judaism. You'd all be polytheistic if it weren't for us.

I think I might say Christianity. It did bring down the fall of my own faith (Germanic Paganism).

M.

Christianity's most responsible for "our" culture I'd say, and of course Judaism, being the forbear of it.

I'd pay real money if someone could go and timeloop all that Abraham shit.

Wıthout out a doubt I would say Islam. If you ever have a chance to see the PBS documentary, Islam Empıre of Faıth, see ıt, ıts very ınformatıve.

Food for thought:


Whıle the notıon of fılth leadıng to dısease was consıdered rıdıculous ın Europe ın the Muslım world the ıdea of germs leadıng to sıckness was spreadıng and experıments were made wıth water purıfıcatıon.
Whıle the works of teh Greeks were deemed herıtıcal by the Church, Islamıc scholors translated the works of Arıstotle and etc. ınto Arabıc where they were later translated ınto European languages.
Practıcal paper was ınvented ın the Muslım world.



I have to go but there ıs a lot more.

Right. Too bad the Muslim world kinda hit the wall about 900 years ago and hasn't really recovered. :p Nah, I kid. Well, sort of.

And please, no saying something like Judaism because the other two come from Judaism. I want to see the merits by which each religion stands on its own.*Must find bodycounts on which religion murdered most people*

Probably per capita, to give Judaism a fair chance <.<

In the politest possible terms, I'd say everything 'great' in each culture has been done in defiance of their religion as opposed to because of it.

*Must find bodycounts on which religion murdered most people*

Probably per capita, to give Judaism a fair chance <.<

Good call. :p

The "people of the Book" (Jews, Christians and Muslims) have been responsible for the greatest destruction of life, the environment, cultures and individuals than all other religions combined, than all natural disasters combined. It's almost impossible to single out one to give credit and I really wouldn't want to try. But as a whole, hey, good job.:rolleyes:

Wıthout out a doubt I would say Islam. If you ever have a chance to see the PBS documentary, Islam Empıre of Faıth, see ıt, ıts very ınformatıve.

Food for thought:


Whıle the notıon of fılth leadıng to dısease was consıdered rıdıculous ın Europe ın the Muslım world the ıdea of germs leadıng to sıckness was spreadıng and experıments were made wıth water purıfıcatıon.
Whıle the works of teh Greeks were deemed herıtıcal by the Church, Islamıc scholors translated the works of Arıstotle and etc. ınto Arabıc where they were later translated ınto European languages.
Practıcal paper was ınvented ın the Muslım world.



I have to go but there ıs a lot more.


Here is some more,

Slavery ended in the western world, were most of the populace is Christian. Slavery, though not on the law books, is perfectly acceptable in the muslim world.

Marrage as americans understand it as a one-one deal is found in the Bible. The Koran has no such verses.

Christianity was, until constantine, a persecuted sect that nontheless expanded peacfully and continues to do so. There have been a few freak incidents that run contrary to this, but they are not the rule. The same cannot be said for Islam.

Islam conciders all non-muslims as evil and needing either to bow before the Haaba in Mekka or death.

Filled yet?

And Chirstian Monks recorded the ancient works pretty darned well. Better still, the Byzantines, essentially the Roman Empire Christianized, was a living repository of ancient knowledge.

Wıthout out a doubt I would say Islam. If you ever have a chance to see the PBS documentary, Islam Empıre of Faıth, see ıt, ıts very ınformatıve.

Food for thought:


Whıle the notıon of fılth leadıng to dısease was consıdered rıdıculous ın Europe ın the Muslım world the ıdea of germs leadıng to sıckness was spreadıng and experıments were made wıth water purıfıcatıon.
Whıle the works of teh Greeks were deemed herıtıcal by the Church, Islamıc scholors translated the works of Arıstotle and etc. ınto Arabıc where they were later translated ınto European languages.
Practıcal paper was ınvented ın the Muslım world.



I have to go but there ıs a lot more.

Right. Too bad the Muslim world kinda hit the wall about 900 years ago and hasn't really recovered. :p Nah, I kid. Well, sort of.


Well, kinda hard to expand when everbody around you is stopping you from murduring the infidel, which your own holy book says to do. And certain other thing, like poor treatment of women and slavery, both also indorsed by the Koran.

I think the real question is which has done the worst. All of the so called wonderful things done by religions could have been done sooner and better were it not for their ridiculous stigma and taboos on science and intellectual pursuits.

Here is some more,

Slavery ended in the western world, were most of the populace is Christian. Slavery, though not on the law books, is perfectly acceptable in the muslim world.

Marrage as americans understand it as a one-one deal is found in the Bible. The Koran has no such verses.

Christianity was, until constantine, a persecuted sect that nontheless expanded peacfully and continues to do so. There have been a few freak incidents that run contrary to this, but they are not the rule. The same cannot be said for Islam.

Islam conciders all non-muslims as evil and needing either to bow before the Haaba in Mekka or death.

Filled yet?

And Chirstian Monks recorded the ancient works pretty darned well. Better still, the Byzantines, essentially the Roman Empire Christianized, was a living repository of ancient knowledge.

Okay, my bad.

I should have said 'No dissing other religions or focusing on the negative'

I want to hear about who has done the most positive work on this earth.

Oh, and no saying 'They are all Teh Ebil', cause were focusing on the positive here.

Also, the 'people of the book' have been most influential, and thus being the most influential you naturally have the greatest impact, negative or positive (to anti-social darwinism)

Here is some more,

Slavery ended in the western world, were most of the populace is Christian. Slavery, though not on the law books, is perfectly acceptable in the muslim world.


The Koran discourages slavery. Try again.


Marrage as americans understand it as a one-one deal is found in the Bible. The Koran has no such verses.

So?


Christianity was, until constantine, a persecuted sect that nontheless expanded peacfully and continues to do so. There have been a few freak incidents that run contrary to this, but they are not the rule. The same cannot be said for Islam.

HA! Bullocks. Christianity was spread by the sword, and upheld by the sword just as much as Islam. Unless you want to forget about all those people burned as witches for nigh on a milenia.


Islam conciders all non-muslims as evil and needing either to bow before the Haaba in Mekka or death.

Er... no?

In the politest possible terms, I'd say everything 'great' in each culture has been done in defiance of their religion as opposed to because of it.
I think the real question is which has done the worst. All of the so called wonderful things done by religions could have been done sooner and better were it not for their ridiculous stigma and taboos on science and intellectual pursuits.
What's that you say? Religion stifles progress? I never would have thought of it that way :P

Which is the greatest of the three 'Abrahamic' religions? Which has had the most profound effect on the world? What are those effects and how do they continue to affect us today? I don't mean just wars in the mid-east, I mean how they affect all of our cultures, traditions, & ideals
The extent to which any or all of the Abrahamic religions have affected any particular part of the world is largely geographical, and different parts of the world will answer the question in different ways.

I'd probably go with Christianity as having had the largest overall effect to date. It was, after all, the dominant credo in Old Europe, from whence it spread to much of the rest of the world. That its spread was largely accomplished by conflict and the subsequent aggressive proselytization of conquered populations is not something that my Christian friends seem too keen to remember but that's just the way it was

If asked again in 50 years (although the chances are slim that I would be around to answer) I might find myself answering that Islam had had the greatest effect. The relatively recent rise of Islam and its growing dominance in some of the high-population centres of the far East mean that Islamic nations will find themselves in stronger and stronger positions on the world stage, economically if not militarily.

Barring my hoped-for global secular revolution, Islam will supplant Christianity as the dominant religion on the planet in the not too distant future.

Okay, my bad.

I should have said 'No dissing other religions or focusing on the negative'

I want to hear about who has done the most positive work on this earth.

Oh, and no saying 'They are all Teh Ebil', cause were focusing on the positive here.

Also, the 'people of the book' have been most influential, and thus being the most influential you naturally have the greatest impact, negative or positive (to anti-social darwinism)

Would you ask the question - which colour of people have been the most positive for the world - do you not see that this is a divisive and, on assumption, unchristian question to ask?

By asking which religion is best, you're naturally begging the question - which religion is worse. You're also making the assumption that any religion has any intrinsic quality to it that makes its followers better or worse than others.

Surely the best religion would be the one that recognises that all are equal in front of their respective God - and maybe you'd be a better person for accepting that rather than looking to cause division, which is what you're doing.

I think the real question is which has done the worst. All of the so called wonderful things done by religions could have been done sooner and better were it not for their ridiculous stigma and taboos on science and intellectual pursuits.Well, one has to be fair - I'm unfamiliar with the Muslim- and Jewish side of things, but at least as far as Christianity was concerned, the monks were originally the carriers of culture and, indeed, science. They did keep the ancient knowledge and later provided it to the secular sciences as they were emerging.

It is worth noting that it were the worldly 'Scientists' who even refused to look through Galilei's telescope - it were men of the church who accepted the possibility of the Greek scholars being wrong (Admittedly, easy to do - these scholars had been heathens, and the church wasn't happy with them), who looked through it, and saw with their own eyes that the ancients were wrong - and admitted as much. What they later objected to was Galilei's mindboggling arrogance and the fact that his math didn't actually work out better than Ptolemeus' own - in essence, that there was still work to be done (And it would be done, by Kepler and Newton).

Likewise, it was a priest - Gregor Mendel - who eventually started what has by now developed into genetics, with relevance to virtually all of biology. ANd there's plenty of other examples - these two are probably among the better known and relevant ones.

So I wouldn't dare calling everything religion - or rather, its devout followers - have done 'Bad', nor that these things would have been done better and sooner by more secular people.

But by and large, the balance is still negative.

Would you ask the question - which colour of people have been the most positive for the world - do you not see that this is a divisive and, on assumption, unchristian question to ask?

By asking which religion is best, you're naturally begging the question - which religion is worse. You're also making the assumption that any religion has any intrinsic quality to it that makes its followers better or worse than others.

Surely the best religion would be the one that recognises that all are equal in front of their respective God - and maybe you'd be a better person for accepting that rather than looking to cause division, which is what you're doing.

Okay, No.

Maybe I should rephrase my question: Which has had the most influence on the world? Thats what I originally meant by greatest.

I just wanted to see your opinions and ideas on the subject of which one was the greatest, in which one had the most influence.

What I didn't want to see was anyone demonize anyone else's religon. My bad, as I stated I should have said I wanted people to argue the positives of each religion, and see which one had the most positive influence.

And sure, a religion that recongnizes all as equals sounds great in a perfect world. But I'm talking about these three religions that actually exist, not some utopian religion.

Who cares?

What ıs the poınt of tryıng to badmouth my and others faıth? I dıdnt ınsult Chrıstıanıty, hell my ancestors were pagans and Chrıstıans before they converted to Islam..

I dont thınk the purpose of thıs thread ıs to say whıch faıth has the most power or prestıge or ıs the prettıest today. Durrıng the mıddle ages Chrıstıan and pagan Europe lıved ın squalor whıle Islamıc Arabıa and Meddıterranean culture flourıshed. After hundreds of years thıngs started to change. Advances from the Islamıc world found theır way ınto the rest of Europe and thıs knowledge was used as a base of many advances and the Renaıssance. As Europe rose the Ottoman Empıre fınally weakened and fell due to shıtty leadershıp and much the way of the Roman Empıre and sınce then the MıdEast and Co. have taken a back seat ın the world's power balance. If you want to debate power hıstory thats a dıfferent story than the subject of thıs topıc, ıts natural that certaın groups wıll weaken and get stronger ın tıme, ıt all fluctuates..

argh...

/tangeant....

but I dıgress....

...wtf does that mean anyway?....

whatever lol, ıf you thınk Chrıstıanıty ıs so perfect and better than Islam (whıch ıf you notıce I one was better than the other) then explaın why rather than faıth-bashıng. Asıde from spreadıng all over the world and possıbly unıtıng some really devout people, I have yet to see what good Chrıstıanıty has done the world ın advances.

Christianity was, until constantine, a persecuted sect that nontheless expanded peacfully and continues to do so. There have been a few freak incidents that run contrary to this, but they are not the rule. The same cannot be said for Islam.

Dude, don't lie about my faith.

We knew exactly what we were doing when we took Jerusalem.

The persecution of the Jews was... okay, I still don't understand why the Jews were persecuted (other than the fact the ebil Jewish merchants gave us teh black death).

The purpose of the original Inquisitions was very clear: the consolidation of power. Although, you can't blame us for the Spanish or Portuguese Inquisitions: that was run by the monarchs of Spain and Portugal.

The negative actions of the Church have not been "freak incidents", they were very cold, calculated, and effective maneuvers to consolidate the power of the church. It has been doing this since the First Council of Nicea.

However, throughout its history, the Church has also given its followers a source of stability and hope in a world full of pain and suffering, much like any other faith has. The negative impact of the Church is definitely more noticeable than any positive effect we've ever had, but, hey, they're dead and we're not. Take that, fuckers! (Okay, so I lost my train of thought and started quoting Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Sue me. :))

Also, the church gave a cool name to my favourite character from RvB:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/Rvbchurchhalo2.jpg