"Quick quiz.
Find the main difference between these brief excerpts from accounts of the world's two major faiths.
First, this:
Christians believe [Jesus Christ] to be the Son of God....according to Christian teaching after three days he rose from the dead....Christians believe that there is only one God, but that he is revealed in three different forms.
Next, this:
The Qur'an was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during [Ramadan]. The actual night that the Qur'an was revealed is a night known as Lailut ul-Qadr ('The Night of Power').
The difference, of course, is that while the details of the founding of Christianity are presented as a set of beliefs, the supernatural elements of Islam's founding narrative are recounted as if they were historical fact.
Both of these excerpts are from a BBC website intended for the use of teachers in secular British schools.
After 9/11, it was imperative that people in the West be educated about Islam.
There was no need to stuff their heads with countless historical and theological details; all that was necessary was for Western leaders to get across the point that Islam isn't just another religion but is, rather, totalitarian ideology with religious elements.
That never happened.
Instead, we were all told repeatedly that Islam is a religion of peace, that all those terrorists are misunderstanding it every time they do something naughty, and that the chief victims of their misunderstanding are the overwhelming majority of their fellow Muslims who are thoroughly decent, God-fearing types.
As it happens, these days schools across the Western world do set aside time for Islam lessons.
But to judge by the teaching materials available online, what goes on during these classroom sessions is the very opposite of education..."
Read all!
Both of these excerpts are from a BBC website intended for the use of teachers in secular British schools.After 9/11, it was imperative that people in the West be educated about Islam.
There was no need to stuff their heads with countless historical and theological details; all that was necessary was for Western leaders to get across the point that Islam isn't just another religion but is, rather, totalitarian ideology with religious elements.
That never happened.
Instead, we were all told repeatedly that Islam is a religion of peace, that all those terrorists are misunderstanding it every time they do something naughty, and that the chief victims of their misunderstanding are the overwhelming majority of their fellow Muslims who are thoroughly decent, God-fearing types.
As it happens, these days schools across the Western world do set aside time for Islam lessons.
But to judge by the teaching materials available online, what goes on during these classroom sessions is the very opposite of education..."
Read all!
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