Can A Muslim Be A Good American???

[Antipas]

Praxeas, Islam is a really big religion with differing schools of interpretation, just like Christianity. One cannot just take verses from the Quran and proof-text and give an accurate picture of the religion's true teachings. For example, what if someone took verses from the Old Testament where God commanded the Israelites not to spare a single soul, killing all enemies in the promised land, be they men, women, or children? One could take verses such as those and characterize our God as terribly brutal. However, theologically speaking, when the entire picture is examined we see that though God's means were very brutal, it wasn't meant to be something eternally espoused as a course of action and we see the battles in context. Much in Islam is the same way.

Some Muslims believe that the militant Jihad was essentially only for Muhammed's generation and that today that Jihad is a battle of ideals. Others are blood thirsty fundamentalists that take it literally to be applied throughout all generations and so we see the extremism we see today.

Even the King James Version commands that adulterers be stoned. Some Christians (Reconstructionists) want to see these laws imposed in modern times. Other more moderate Christians see them in their covenantal or dispensational context. Same with some schools in Islam.

Let's be even handed when dealing with Islam. Much of what you say might be true for one who is an Islamic fundamentalist who takes the Quran to an extreme, but it's not true of the over all religion itself.

As for Islam's view of Heaven.....I was a little bummed. They get to recline in paradise with beautiful virgins...and all I get is this silly white robe and eternal celebacy. lol