Re: do christians respect other religions?
Clasically: No.
Now, however, is a different story. In general, the Liberal movement, as horrid as it may be, is based on Christo-Victorian values (ideals, rather); as such it can be said that while perhaps Christianity or early Christians weren't too accepting, nowadays and over-all their countries are probably the most accepting.
Christians don't tend to do any of the following nowadays:
Note on my usage of the term 'heathen':
I am not using it in a pejorative sense, simply in the sense of "Non-Christians", because I hate typing "Non-Christians."
--Kill people for not converting
--Kill heathens
--Kill apostates
--Kill heretics
--Kill foreigners (for religious reasons)
--Kill polytheists/competing monotheists/
maltheists/atheists/deists/agnostics
--Destroy or discredit the works of heathens
--Burn the works of heathens
--Torture people on basis of religion
--Blow up the works/the beings of heathens
--Completely disregard their holy book
--Show complete ignorance to their religion, the religions and beliefs of others, and the religion of science* including the ability to admit that parts of any book are flawed.
This is of course the majority -- while I would most certainly and readily style myself a Christian, I generally believe the Bible is a Crock and prefer to generally try to abide the spirit of the religion within reason. Please remember, when you see country-bumpkin Christians on the news, you are dealing with a minority: there are two billion Christians world wide. In general, they're pretty peaceful, pleasant and tolerant.
Examples:
# of people murdered in Churchs in Western Canada in the last 50 years: Under fifty, easily. (Note: I have not done extensive research into this.)
# of people killed at a single Sihk Gudwara in British Columbia in the last 25 years: Over 55. (Fact.)
# of people killed in Mosques in BC in the last 25 years: Over 50.
# of Christians killed world wide by Muslims for the express reason that they profess Christianity in an average year: Over 20,000 (estimates based on sound research go far, far higher).
# of Muslims killed world-wide by Christians due to their faith (per year): Under 2000. (I'm being a bit liberal, estimates vary, and I don't always trust purely Christian news sources)
Further examples:
Canada/USA: Officially, freedom of religion. Equality.
Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, any country under Shariah Law:
No equality. Apostacism is punishable by death. Heresy ditto. Preaching for another religion? Ditto. Ruling the country? Muslims only. Christians? Alright, but you're officially second-class. Jews? The Koran explicitly says so, but we'll just glance over that.
Israel: Inequality. Citizenship for Jews only.
The Punjab: Muslim? Hindu? Tough. We'll just forget Guru Nanak's command that there is only love, ("No Muslim, No Hindu").
In general, Christians have, for the most part, discerned that not everything in the Gospel is the Gospel, and have worked past that -- as a prime example, ladies, please note that in our countries, you are allowed to vote by virtue of people arguing that all mankind is created Equal by the Creator -- not that it is "ethically" right: most of the old arguments involved, to some degree, interpretation of the will of the [Christian] God, on Ms. Murphy's part or otherwise.
Of course, I am a proud Westerner, so take my view (just like you should take anyone's), cum grano salis.
*I use 'religion' merely in a purely logical sense: the idea that nothing can be proven universally impossible being a very important logical component. I mean to spark no debate: certainly gravity et al is in effect, even if man is yet unsure how.
As to myself? I really don't care what faith you profess, so long as you're an intelligent person, you don't want to kill me, and you don't get all preachy. If you're ignorant as to your religion, and insist it's better than mine, expect a quiz. As to atheists et al? As far as I'm concerned, it's more or less a different philosophy or religion, and again, I don't care -- assuming you aren't one of those MTV-Atheists. "i dont beleeve in godd cause MTV told me not too. FIGHT TE POWR!!!" people need not apply. Ditto "BIBLE OR BRIMSTONE," and "KORAN OR DEATH, INFIDEL!!"
[This message has been edited by kafka (edited 02-05-2005).]
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