Muhammad seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teaching also contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity. He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth. On the contrary, Muhammad said that he was sent in the power of his arms—which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants. What is more, no wise men, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning, Those who believed in him were brutal men and desert wanderers, utterly ignorant of all divine teaching, through whose numbers Muhammad forced others to become his followers by the violence of his arms. Nor do divine pronouncements on the part of preceding prophets offer him any witness. On the contrary, he perverts almost all the testimonies of the Old and New Testaments by making them into fabrications of his own, as can be seen by anyone who examines his law. It was, therefore, a shrewd decision on his part to forbid his followers to read the Old and New Testaments, lest these books convict him of falsity. It is thus clear that those who place any faith in his words believe foolishly.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Yup. Islam is the longest-running con in human history. Unlike almost any other world religion, it thrives in barbarism. As the other religions (including Eastern ones like Buddhism or Confucianism) require a civilized order and promote one wherever established, Islam degrades whatever it touches, even if some nobler spirits (i.e. Ibn-Rushd) slow that process. Hard to believe Gaza was once a port city with a thriving commerce and art school or that Beirut had the best Roman law school in the Eastern Empire.
I have unpopularly opined that Islam is a worse neighbor the more closely it is followed while Christianity is a better neighbor the more closely it is followed.
Before Jefferson wrote the “Wall of Separation”, Jefferson wrote that man’s conscience is primary.
Faith is a gift from God that atheists must request.
Religion is how man responds to the gift of Faith from God, a completely civil right. Each in his own way and unique.
To deny or obstruct the discharge of one’s relationship with God is totalitarianism, tyranny and enslavement and nothing less.
Any relationship between two or more sovereign persons and God is a Trinity of three Sovereign Persons is freedom itself, like marriage or friendship.
Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus.