Muslims and Christians in Thailand

[millwall_fan]

falling into the trap of believing that more than a tiny minority of Muslims support the violent antics of the groups he lists.

Except the reality is that it's not "a tiny minority". The vast majority of Moslems does not oppose such violent action. As was published in the press yesterday, in the UK only a tiny proportion of referrals (less than 10%) of would be terrorists to the government's Prevent programme came from within the Moslem communities - the very communities that are in the best position to root out extremism. In other words, at best they tolerate religious terrorism, at worst they actively support it. What is abundantly clear is that they are not against it.

It would be nice to believe that all religions are peace loving and tolerant. The truth, however, is that one is not.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/25/prevent-programme-lacking-referrals-from-muslim-community

That Muslims in UK would not shop their neighbours to some Tory government programme because they started going to the mosque more than once a week, is a far cry from condoning violent action.

Note: Christians cannot agree on the day of Jesus' birth either. Check out when Christmas occurs in Ethiopia (for example). And for those tempted to dismiss Ethiopia - it is one of the most significant areas of Christian cultural development and has been a rich source for Christian texts lost to the West.

Christians and Muslims believe in the same god and share a ton of the same prophets. They are people of the book. Jesus (Isa to Muslims) is also a sacred figure in Islam.

AS Gonsalviz says, many Thai's don't know their exact birthday, such things have only become important in the days of national ID's passports, birth certificates etc. My mother-in-law is one of the mant Thais who celebrate their birthday on January 1st and her mother - my wife's grandmother, doesn't know how old she is to within severla years. She is in here 'late 80's' so somewhere between 86 and 89.The point is that the actual date is not so important as commemorating His birth.

[Loaded]

So a thread intended to promote tolerance between Muslims and Christians at a time when, coincidentally, their birthdays are in alignment, gets hijacked by atheists who have nothing positive to offer so attack and trivialise the beliefs of others, by an irrelevant sidetrack about Judaism and by the post above which is falling into the trap of believing that more than a tiny minority of Muslims support the violent antics of the groups he lists.

I pray for unity between Christians and Muslims at this special time for both religions and for mutual understanding between both and between them and Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs. May we all live together as God's children and may atheists be taught the error of their ways. Amen!

The only way we, the disparate peoples of this planet, will be able to live together in peace and harmony is if religion is banned. It creates hatred and conflict between people. No religion, no wars ( or very few anyway).

I'm not god's child; however, I am a product of this great universe and the natural laws that apply to it.

You can pray as much as you want, it won't make any difference to anyone or anything except you.

Edited December 26, 2015 by Loaded

[AyG]

The only way we, the disparate peoples of this planet, will be able to live together in peace and harmony is if religion is banned. It creates hatred and conflict between people. No religion, no wars ( or very few anyway).

I believe there is an alternative: the peoples of the entire world are subjugated by Sunni Islam in a universal caliphate. Then there will be peace, but it will be a pretty miserable existence and come at an enormous price - particularly for Jews.

[daoyai]

So a thread intended to promote tolerance between Muslims and Christians at a time when, coincidentally, their birthdays are in alignment, gets hijacked by atheists who have nothing positive to offer so attack and trivialise the beliefs of others, by an irrelevant sidetrack about Judaism and by the post above which is falling into the trap of believing that more than a tiny minority of Muslims support the violent antics of the groups he lists.

I pray for unity between Christians and Muslims at this special time for both religions and for mutual understanding between both and between them and Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs. May we all live together as God's children and may atheists be taught the error of their ways. Amen!

I reread the OP, actually just a little encounter between two guys at a supermarket talking about the stuff on sale that progessed to bit of religion talk, hardly about "tolerance' and not hijacket by atheists or was it hijacket by theists (?) "may atheists be taught the error of their ways, Amen" It seems the OP is the one surprised or something that he can have a friendly encounter with a mussie, I have em all the time when I buy halal food .... even get some flirting by the mussie birds, now thats what I call promoting tolerance. .... but I will never be a believer, too smart for that. Amen.

[tonray]

The only way we, the disparate peoples of this planet, will be able to live together in peace and harmony is if religion is banned. It creates hatred and conflict between people. No religion, no wars ( or very few anyway).

I believe there is an alternative: the peoples of the entire world are subjugated by Sunni Islam in a universal caliphate. Then there will be peace, but it will be a pretty miserable existence and come at an enormous price - particularly for Jews.

I think you are perpetuating a myth about Muslims hating Jews....what they actually hate is Israeli policy towards territory and settlements and the continual encroachment upon the rights of others. Same for Christians...Muslims only hate the fact that we are in their countries exploiting their resources (albeit with the help of their own countrymen)

If you believe in GOD you believe in the same one. If not that's fine too...but any other machination is created by worldly greed and not faith.

[daoyai]

The only way we, the disparate peoples of this planet, will be able to live together in peace and harmony is if religion is banned. It creates hatred and conflict between people. No religion, no wars ( or very few anyway).

I believe there is an alternative: the peoples of the entire world are subjugated by Sunni Islam in a universal caliphate. Then there will be peace, but it will be a pretty miserable existence and come at an enormous price - particularly for Jews.

I think you are perpetuating a myth about Muslims hating Jews....what they actually hate is Israeli policy towards territory and settlements and the continual encroachment upon the rights of others. Same for Christians...Muslims only hate the fact that we are in their countries exploiting their resources (albeit with the help of their own countrymen)

If you believe in GOD you believe in the same one. If not that's fine too...but any other machination is created by worldly greed and not faith.

You need to bit of Koran reading ... the hatred drips from the pages. (and yes, I have read more than half way through)

[tonray]

The only way we, the disparate peoples of this planet, will be able to live together in peace and harmony is if religion is banned. It creates hatred and conflict between people. No religion, no wars ( or very few anyway).

I believe there is an alternative: the peoples of the entire world are subjugated by Sunni Islam in a universal caliphate. Then there will be peace, but it will be a pretty miserable existence and come at an enormous price - particularly for Jews.

I think you are perpetuating a myth about Muslims hating Jews....what they actually hate is Israeli policy towards territory and settlements and the continual encroachment upon the rights of others. Same for Christians...Muslims only hate the fact that we are in their countries exploiting their resources (albeit with the help of their own countrymen)

If you believe in GOD you believe in the same one. If not that's fine too...but any other machination is created by worldly greed and not faith.

You need to bit of Koran reading ... the hatred drips from the pages. (and yes, I have read more than half way through)

Perhaps you should actually get out of your room and meet and talk with some Muslims.....maybe after that you can read a bit about Christian history.....start with the purges of heretics (non believers) in the Spanish Inquisition...and the systematic confiscation of their property after their torture and murder..

I am sure you have good intentions...but in the real world (I live in bang kapi) the muslims and their Buddhist and Christian neighbors get along just fine and it is a pleasure to live among them (more so I might add than native Thai buddhists)

[AyG]

The only way we, the disparate peoples of this planet, will be able to live together in peace and harmony is if religion is banned. It creates hatred and conflict between people. No religion, no wars ( or very few anyway).

I believe there is an alternative: the peoples of the entire world are subjugated by Sunni Islam in a universal caliphate. Then there will be peace, but it will be a pretty miserable existence and come at an enormous price - particularly for Jews.

I think you are perpetuating a myth about Muslims hating Jews....what they actually hate is Israeli policy towards territory and settlements and the continual encroachment upon the rights of others. Same for Christians...Muslims only hate the fact that we are in their countries exploiting their resources (albeit with the help of their own countrymen)

If you believe in GOD you believe in the same one. If not that's fine too...but any other machination is created by worldly greed and not faith.

The Christian god is not the same as the Moslem one, despite propaganda to the contrary. The Moslem god is a pagan moon god which Mohammed found convenient to adopt for his new religion. Jehovah isn't.

And as for Moslems hating Jews, well, it all started with Mohammed, long before the modern creation of Israel. He had all the (Jewish) men of Banu Qurayza (village) slaughtered because they refused to accept him as their prophet. It's gone on pretty unabated since then. For more info, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_antisemitism which is a pretty balanced account in my opinion.

[daoyai]

Quote.. "perhaps you should actually get out of your room and meet and talk with some muslims" I have spoken with many in my life, NEVER about religion or politics, ... I was simply stating what is in their book, not about the friendliness of individuals, .... that said, maybe the fact I witnessed a public stoning in a village in Turkey when I was 9yo has colored my viewpoint on the faith. The christo history of atrocities has no relevance here, I was responding to "hate" in Islam, luckily many of that faith haven't read their book.

Edited December 26, 2015 by daoyai

[tonray]

The Christian god is not the same as the Moslem one, despite propaganda to the contrary. The Moslem god is a pagan moon god which Mohammed found convenient to adopt for his new religion. Jehovah isn't.

And as for Moslems hating Jews, well, it all started with Mohammed, long before the modern creation of Israel. He had all the (Jewish) men of Banu Qurayza (village) slaughtered because they refused to accept him as their prophet. It's gone on pretty unabated since then. For more info, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_antisemitism which is a pretty balanced account in my opinion.

Of course you MUST be right.....sorry to have interfered in your fantasy .....carry on

I am wondering now why the Muslim vendors on my soi have not killed me yet ? clearly when I go to buy food at dinner time they have their opportunity...perhaps they are just diabolically planning a more tortuous death for me ? thanks for putting out the warning bell..I'll be careful from now on !

Edited December 26, 2015 by tonray

[ilostmypassword]

The only way we, the disparate peoples of this planet, will be able to live together in peace and harmony is if religion is banned. It creates hatred and conflict between people. No religion, no wars ( or very few anyway).

I believe there is an alternative: the peoples of the entire world are subjugated by Sunni Islam in a universal caliphate. Then there will be peace, but it will be a pretty miserable existence and come at an enormous price - particularly for Jews.

I think you are perpetuating a myth about Muslims hating Jews....what they actually hate is Israeli policy towards territory and settlements and the continual encroachment upon the rights of others. Same for Christians...Muslims only hate the fact that we are in their countries exploiting their resources (albeit with the help of their own countrymen)

If you believe in GOD you believe in the same one. If not that's fine too...but any other machination is created by worldly greed and not faith.

You need to bit of Koran reading ... the hatred drips from the pages. (and yes, I have read more than half way through)

Determining a religion's practices by parsing its sacred text(s) is a fool's mission. According to the Jewish Bible God approves of mass slaughter including women and children, stoning disobedient children to death, and selling your children into slavery. I didn't see much of that going on in the neighborhood I grew up in which was about 1/2 Jewish.

A better way to do it is to look at history. You'll find that for most of its existence, Islam has treated Christians and Jews better than Christians treated Jews and Muslims. Of course, this is a generalization and Islam has had plenty of bad batches, but Christianity consistently was overall far worse. And yet of all 3 holy books, the Christian Bible is the least belligerent.

For some reason God saw fit to give huge quantities of petroleum to an obscure Islamic cult located in Arabia. They used lots of the cash generated by selling it to promote their insanely intolerant form of Islam. So places like Pakistan, where the extremely tolerant Sufi version of Islam used to predominate, now have been persuaded by a combination of bad governance and Saudi cash to adopt Salafi Islam.

By the way, Hanukkah, which was just recently observed is actually a celebration of a jewish version of Isis' triumph over Hellenism and religious tolerance and the Jews who preferred to study things like math and science and art.

[CMBob]

The Moslem god is a pagan moon god which Mohammed found convenient to adopt for his new religion. Jehovah isn't.

From the dawn of time, man named anything he didn't understand as "god." Thunder, lightning, the ocean, disease, Bigfoot, or whatever. And, out of the hundreds/thousands of religions that teach that their brand is the one true religion....and that their "god" is the only one and true god....it's necessarily obvious that either all but one of those religions got it wrong or, alternatively, every one of them got it wrong. I vote for the latter.

I don't begrudge anybody believing anything they want ....hopefully privately....but I always marvel at the hubris of those who wish to argue that their fairy tale is truer than somebody else's fairy tale.

[Rancid]

Walk around the Night Bazaar, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Chinese, black, white, Brown or whatever all out shopping and mingling without any drama or angst whatsoever. Such is the natural nature of most people.

Prior invading Iraq pt1 there was no significant dispute with Islam, no jihads, no suicide bombers and no war. Israel and the PLO were at it but it was a localised dispute. That war instigated by the West for no justifiable cause started the whole perpetual war on terror. If we had stayed out there would be nothing to be fighting about, but instead we are still there stirring the pot.

Organised religion provides many with solace, however it does create the hierarchy where the religious leaders are closer to God and as such empowers them to interpret his will. Those human interpretations are what have lead to so much killing and carnage through time. As such it is a control system whether intended or not.

[AyG]

The Moslem god is a pagan moon god which Mohammed found convenient to adopt for his new religion. Jehovah isn't.

From the dawn of time, man named anything he didn't understand as "god." Thunder, lightning, the ocean, disease, Bigfoot, or whatever. And, out of the hundreds/thousands of religions that teach that their brand is the one true religion....and that their "god" is the only one and true god....it's necessarily obvious that either all but one of those religions got it wrong or, alternatively, every one of them got it wrong. I vote for the latter.

I don't begrudge anybody believing anything they want ....hopefully privately....but I always marvel at the hubris of those who wish to argue that their fairy tale is truer than somebody else's fairy tale.

The point here isn't the veracity of one god over another. It's that Islam claims ownership of parts of other religions. The OP tries to syncretise Christianity by claiming that Mohammed was born on the same day as Jesus. Mohammed syncretised the pagan moon god for his own convenience. Mohammed tried to syncretise Judaism by claiming to be a prophet in their tradition (but the Jews at Banu Qurayza wouldn't play ball, so had to be killed).

The Koran is muchly a jumble of myths and tales from the Judaeo-Christian tradition adopted in an attempt to give Islam some "respectability" - though ultimately ends up looking ridiculous.

At the end of the day, all religion is a ludicrous fabrication. However, even so, it can be very dangerous to the lives and thoughts of right-thinking men.

[northernjohn]

So a thread intended to promote tolerance between Muslims and Christians at a time when, coincidentally, their birthdays are in alignment, gets hijacked by atheists who have nothing positive to offer so attack and trivialise the beliefs of others, by an irrelevant sidetrack about Judaism and by the post above which is falling into the trap of believing that more than a tiny minority of Muslims support the violent antics of the groups he lists.

I pray for unity between Christians and Muslims at this special time for both religions and for mutual understanding between both and between them and Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs. May we all live together as God's children and may atheists be taught the error of their ways. Amen!

I reread the OP, actually just a little encounter between two guys at a supermarket talking about the stuff on sale that progessed to bit of religion talk, hardly about "tolerance' and not hijacket by atheists or was it hijacket by theists (?) "may atheists be taught the error of their ways, Amen" It seems the OP is the one surprised or something that he can have a friendly encounter with a mussie, I have em all the time when I buy halal food .... even get some flirting by the mussie birds, now thats what I call promoting tolerance. .... but I will never be a believer, too smart for that. Amen.

Yes we have kind of drifted off the target. Become more involved in trivialities that deprive the spirit. I spent some time talking with an Israelite the other day. He said people should come live in Israel for a while. He informed me that he could be very good friends with a Muslim. But what he could not do is predict if they would put on a bomb vest and blow them selves up in a public place. There is that small a percentage that makes them all seem so dangerous. As we all know at least those of us who have being scanning through the news it is becoming more and more OK for Muslims to actively protest against the terrorists. It is no longer just one Imam speaking out against them. People in large groups are.

It is my hope that they will in the future come to realize that it is a part off their religion that should be dropped. Much as the Catholic Church did with the Crusaders. Those actions have no place in any religion. In closing who really gives a damn when either Jesus or Mohammad was born. It will never change the actions of either group.

[tonray]

The Moslem god is a pagan moon god which Mohammed found convenient to adopt for his new religion. Jehovah isn't.

From the dawn of time, man named anything he didn't understand as "god." Thunder, lightning, the ocean, disease, Bigfoot, or whatever. And, out of the hundreds/thousands of religions that teach that their brand is the one true religion....and that their "god" is the only one and true god....it's necessarily obvious that either all but one of those religions got it wrong or, alternatively, every one of them got it wrong. I vote for the latter.

I don't begrudge anybody believing anything they want ....hopefully privately....but I always marvel at the hubris of those who wish to argue that their fairy tale is truer than somebody else's fairy tale.

The point here isn't the veracity of one god over another. It's that Islam claims ownership of parts of other religions. The OP tries to syncretise Christianity by claiming that Mohammed was born on the same day as Jesus. Mohammed syncretised the pagan moon god for his own convenience. Mohammed tried to syncretise Judaism by claiming to be a prophet in their tradition (but the Jews at Banu Qurayza wouldn't play ball, so had to be killed).

The Koran is muchly a jumble of myths and tales from the Judaeo-Christian tradition adopted in an attempt to give Islam some "respectability" - though ultimately ends up looking ridiculous.

At the end of the day, all religion is a ludicrous fabrication. However, even so, it can be very dangerous to the lives and thoughts of right-thinking men.

LOL...and the New Testament isn't. You clearly have an agenda...to demonize Islam. The moon god thing is something that evangelicals throw around to do the same. the Quaran is quite clear....Allah is the god of all, Muslims, Jews and Christians...not some pagan moon god

"And from among His Signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Do not bow down (prostrate) to the sun nor to the moon, but only bow down (prostrate) to "Allah" Who created them, if you (really) worship Him." [Noble Quran 41:37]

[simple1]

The Moslem god is a pagan moon god which Mohammed found convenient to adopt for his new religion. Jehovah isn't.

From the dawn of time, man named anything he didn't understand as "god." Thunder, lightning, the ocean, disease, Bigfoot, or whatever. And, out of the hundreds/thousands of religions that teach that their brand is the one true religion....and that their "god" is the only one and true god....it's necessarily obvious that either all but one of those religions got it wrong or, alternatively, every one of them got it wrong. I vote for the latter.

I don't begrudge anybody believing anything they want ....hopefully privately....but I always marvel at the hubris of those who wish to argue that their fairy tale is truer than somebody else's fairy tale.

Learned something new today.

Allah as Moon-God is a claim put forth by some critics of Islam that the Islamic name for God, Allah, derives from a pagan Moon god in local Arabic mythology. The implication is that "Allah" is a different God from the Judeo-Christian deity and that Muslims are worshipping a "false god".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah_as_Moon-god

I lived among a Thai Muslim community in Pattaya for four years, as said by another poster in this topic - good people. Christian evangelists sometimes walked around the area handing out Christian pamphlets, invited them to meetings, no hostility, but were turned down.

As a side note I saw a picture of Noah's Ark with Arabic language hanging above the entrance to a house and when questioned they all knew the background. As we know respect for Biblical figures is very much a part of the Islamic tradition.

Don't subscribe to any Abrahamic religion so....

Happy New Year

Edited December 26, 2015 by simple1

[northernjohn]

Walk around the Night Bazaar, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Chinese, black, white, Brown or whatever all out shopping and mingling without any drama or angst whatsoever. Such is the natural nature of most people.

Prior invading Iraq pt1 there was no significant dispute with Islam, no jihads, no suicide bombers and no war. Israel and the PLO were at it but it was a localised dispute. That war instigated by the West for no justifiable cause started the whole perpetual war on terror. If we had stayed out there would be nothing to be fighting about, but instead we are still there stirring the pot.

Organised religion provides many with solace, however it does create the hierarchy where the religious leaders are closer to God and as such empowers them to interpret his will. Those human interpretations are what have lead to so much killing and carnage through time. As such it is a control system whether intended or not.

You say

"Prior invading Iraq pt1 there was no significant dispute with Islam, no jihads, no suicide bombers and no war. Israel and the PLO were at it but it was a localised dispute."

The only reason that was true was because Sadam prevented the rest from happening. It was always there and with out Sadam it became a visible reality. He held most of them in check. He did not use Christian means in any way but he kept them localized under his thumb.

[mascarabertha]

The Moslem god is a pagan moon god which Mohammed found convenient to adopt for his new religion. Jehovah isn't.

From the dawn of time, man named anything he didn't understand as "god." Thunder, lightning, the ocean, disease, Bigfoot, or whatever. And, out of the hundreds/thousands of religions that teach that their brand is the one true religion....and that their "god" is the only one and true god....it's necessarily obvious that either all but one of those religions got it wrong or, alternatively, every one of them got it wrong. I vote for the latter.

I don't begrudge anybody believing anything they want ....hopefully privately....but I always marvel at the hubris of those who wish to argue that their fairy tale is truer than somebody else's fairy tale.

Learned something new today.

Allah as Moon-God is a claim put forth by some critics of Islam that the Islamic name for God, Allah, derives from a pagan Moon god in local Arabic mythology. The implication is that "Allah" is a different God from the Judeo-Christian deity and that Muslims are worshipping a "false god".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah_as_Moon-god

I lived among a Thai Muslim community in Pattaya for four years, as said by another poster in this topic - good people. Christian evangelists sometimes walked around the area handing out Christian pamphlets, invited them to meetings, no hostility, but were turned down.

As a side note I saw a picture of Noah's Ark with Arabic language hanging above the entrance to a house and when questioned they all knew the background. As we know respect for Biblical figures is very much a part of the Islamic tradition.

Don't subscribe to any Abrahamic religion so....

Happy New Year

what is abrahamic religion

[Genericnic]

So a thread intended to promote tolerance between Muslims and Christians at a time when, coincidentally, their birthdays are in alignment, gets hijacked by atheists who have nothing positive to offer so attack and trivialise the beliefs of others, by an irrelevant sidetrack about Judaism and by the post above which is falling into the trap of believing that more than a tiny minority of Muslims support the violent antics of the groups he lists.

I pray for unity between Christians and Muslims at this special time for both religions and for mutual understanding between both and between them and Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs. May we all live together as God's children and may atheists be taught the error of their ways. Amen!

Are you sure you didn't mean Gods' children?

David

[simple1]

The Moslem god is a pagan moon god which Mohammed found convenient to adopt for his new religion. Jehovah isn't.

From the dawn of time, man named anything he didn't understand as "god." Thunder, lightning, the ocean, disease, Bigfoot, or whatever. And, out of the hundreds/thousands of religions that teach that their brand is the one true religion....and that their "god" is the only one and true god....it's necessarily obvious that either all but one of those religions got it wrong or, alternatively, every one of them got it wrong. I vote for the latter.

I don't begrudge anybody believing anything they want ....hopefully privately....but I always marvel at the hubris of those who wish to argue that their fairy tale is truer than somebody else's fairy tale.

Learned something new today.

Allah as Moon-God is a claim put forth by some critics of Islam that the Islamic name for God, Allah, derives from a pagan Moon god in local Arabic mythology. The implication is that "Allah" is a different God from the Judeo-Christian deity and that Muslims are worshipping a "false god".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah_as_Moon-god

I lived among a Thai Muslim community in Pattaya for four years, as said by another poster in this topic - good people. Christian evangelists sometimes walked around the area handing out Christian pamphlets, invited them to meetings, no hostility, but were turned down.

As a side note I saw a picture of Noah's Ark with Arabic language hanging above the entrance to a house and when questioned they all knew the background. As we know respect for Biblical figures is very much a part of the Islamic tradition.

Don't subscribe to any Abrahamic religion so....

Happy New Year

what is abrahamic religion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions

[millwall_fan]

So a thread intended to promote tolerance between Muslims and Christians at a time when, coincidentally, their birthdays are in alignment, gets hijacked by atheists who have nothing positive to offer so attack and trivialise the beliefs of others, by an irrelevant sidetrack about Judaism and by the post above which is falling into the trap of believing that more than a tiny minority of Muslims support the violent antics of the groups he lists.

I pray for unity between Christians and Muslims at this special time for both religions and for mutual understanding between both and between them and Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs. May we all live together as God's children and may atheists be taught the error of their ways. Amen!

Are you sure you didn't mean Gods' children?

David

Nope! It's the same God as far as I'm concerned, so the apostrophe comes before the 's'

[DogNo1]

Has anyone seen the latest Time Magazine article regarding the uncertainty about the year of Jesus birth, the time of year and the location? I suppose that the Muslim was just trying to be friendly by saying that Jesus and Mohammed were born on the same day and friendliness is much to be wished for but saying that religious figures and religions are actually the same is wishful and inaccurate.

[Naam]

The Muslim calendar has 10 months. The Julian calendar as we know has 12. Do the math folks. The 2 birthdays can never align.

and pigs can fly?

The Islamic calendar, Muslim calendar or Hijri calendar (AH) is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar

[millwall_fan]

Has anyone seen the latest Time Magazine article regarding the uncertainty about the year of Jesus birth, the time of year and the location? I suppose that the Muslim was just trying to be friendly by saying that Jesus and Mohammed were born on the same day and friendliness is much to be wished for but saying that religious figures and religions are actually the same is wishful and inaccurate.

I don't think is is wishful or inaccurate. Mohammed is not God, Allah is God and he is the same God that I pray to and the same God the Jews worship. Although Buddhists pray to Buddha - an act the man himself would have been horrified by - their prayers ultimately, are accepted by God in my view. Although Hinduism is multi-theistic, the idea of a Holy Trinity with one of its triumvirate as the supreme deity, has resonances with other religions and Sikhism of course is mono theistic like the Abrahamic faiths Human beings seek to highlight the differences, and Increasingly atheists try to drive wedges between religions to support their own negative cause. Everyone has a route to God if he chooses to follow it.

[ilostmypassword]

and Increasingly atheists try to drive wedges between religions to support their own negative cause.

Given that this is Thaivisa, I can understand why someone would say being rational is negative. And I don't understand how asserting that all religions are false would drive wedges between them. If anything, the effect should be opposite.

[tonray]

I think we all forget that whatever you believe, your relationship with God or some other deity or philosophy is personal. It was never intended to be used as a tool for mass conversion or the swaying or opinion of millions of others to do your worldly bidding. Your relationship to your God and your adherence to his rules or guidelines was meant to test your personal accountability. Too often you have people who behave shamefully but are considered pious because they go to church every Sunday or they run a ministry (think TV preachers). Your daily life is your chance for redemption in the afterlife and the things you do or don't do are the test. It does not matter what the church says or what the Quaran or the old or new Testament says. Those were just guidelines to keep you in line and make you more easily manipulated by those seeking to use religion as a tool for power as we see all over the glove today.

Personal behavior, responsibility and ultimate accountability is what believing in God is all about. If everyone took care of their own business and behaved accordingly we would need no organized religions but they exploit those that are too weak to do it themselves.

Edited December 27, 2015 by tonray

[daoyai]

^^^ I have to disagree, I think the whole purpose of god mythology was intended to control and manipulate people.

[tonray]

^^^ I have to disagree, I think the whole purpose of god mythology was intended to control and manipulate people.

What I wrote was intended for those that believe in some higher authority. If you believe in nothing then you are exempt, funny thing is though, many studies have shown that atheists almost overwhelmingly move to believe that 'god mythology' at the end of their lives if they are of free will to do so...perhaps hedging their final bet at the table....555

[ilostmypassword]

^^^ I have to disagree, I think the whole purpose of god mythology was intended to control and manipulate people.

What I wrote was intended for those that believe in some higher authority. If you believe in nothing then you are exempt, funny thing is though, many studies have shown that atheists almost overwhelmingly move to believe that 'god mythology' at the end of their lives if they are of free will to do so...perhaps hedging their final bet at the table....555

It shouldn't be surprising that a fearful and enfeebled mind would be more willing to embrace various superstitions. That said, I looked for evidence of the existence of those studies you referred to and found none. It seems you have a genuine gift for making things up. Maybe you should found your own religion.