Christianity and Islam

I wrote this in 2007. My uncle is a liberal agnostic who was in prison for robbing several banks. I kept in touch with him through letters. We were discussing the role Islam has on current events. In his letter he wrote the following:

Saying Christians are more civilized, enlightened, and peaceful is bull. What do you base that on? What you see on TV? Civilized? What about the parents that won't take their son to the doctor because it's against their religion (Christian Science)? What about the white Christians who lynched blacks? But you say it's the fanatics. Well same with the Muslims. Enlightened? It's okay to bomb abortion clinics. It's okay to hate other religions as apostasy. It is okay to denounce science as bunk. It's only the fanatics you say. You say I can't base my dislike of Christianity on the people? Then why would you do the same with Islam?

The reason for the problems in the Middle East is poverty. Look at the US. Who causes the discontent and hatred? People who came from poverty. Look at Dubai, UAE. They don't rely as much on oil as other countries. They are extremely tolerant and civilized and enlightened. It is a tourist mecca for Europeans and Arabs. I read an article about oil prices. When it is lower, moderates tend to hold sway in Iran. When oil is high, it means more money for the government to use. That was the general idea. So yeah, I could see why Saudi Arabia would want to lower oil prices. Of course, Saudi Arabia practices the extreme form of Islam in the area.

I wrote him back with the following:

You might be right that poverty is the only difference between Christianity and Islam, but I think it is more than that. Perhaps Christians are better at running free market economies than Muslims. Christianity has had an extra 600 years to adapt. The religion also has Jesus who overhauled the old Judaic religion. He preached love and peace. He threw out many of the old laws and encouraged new ones. Islam doesn’t have anything like that.

During its infancy Muslims were probably the most enlightened group of Westerners, but that changed and they are going through a dark age. Christianity had to have a period of enlightenment to get away from the past. Now it is time for Muslims to step up and do the same thing. The five countries with the most Christians are: United States, Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, and Germany. Two of those countries are wealthy, two of them are developing their economies and the Philippines elected an Agnostic woman as their president.

The five countries with the most Muslims are: Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey. Turkey is a secular country and there have been several mass demonstrations this year to keep it that way. The wife, of a candidate running for their President, wears traditional Islamic clothing and it is feared she will have a strong influence on the rest of the nation. India is developing and could become a superpower during the next century, but they have a lot of poverty and class warfare. The other three are poor, chaotic countries with lots of support for terrorism.

In “The World is Flat” it mentions a Muslim country (Bahrain?) that ran out of oil and was forced to adjust its economic structure to survive and now it is far more successful. I think we need to lower our demand for oil for three key reasons: 1) It will force Muslim countries to change their economies to other sources 2) we will not be so dependent on political turmoil in other countries and 3) it will help the environment.

I contacted Roger Simon, a former Jew turned Atheist, to see if he had any suggestions. He frequently writes about Islam and Christianity on his blog. He only had time for a brief response. He said my uncle does not know anything at all about Islam and recommended he read something by Bernard Lewisan expert on the Middle East. Jesus encouraged separation of church and state (allowing for democracy and progress). Islam opposes such separation and demands that the whole world should live under Sharia Law. The difference between the two religions is huge and all of it stems from that reason.