Great cakes taste alike

Upon graduation of the world religions class at OCU, I had learned many things about Islam and their beliefs and how similar Islam is to Christianity. To my surprise, when I tried to communicate these similarities to others, I was put down in an incredibly angry way. Maybe it’s due to my origin, Vietnam, that I lack the sensitivity for the American culture and way of thinking. Because of that, I had always been a spectator, or to some a “troll”. A troll’s official definition is “One who posts a deliberately provocative message with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.”. I had no such intention, but my ideas angered many in a way that I had not intended.

However, upon reading Amr Salah’s posting on Ted, I finally felt like I wasn’t alone. In his posting, he claimed that archaeological evidences showed that Christianity is not that different from Judaism and Islam. Many of the replies agreed with his view on Judaism’s similarity to Christianity but rejected Islam’s. To my amusement, most of these rejections had no concrete evidence. Some just commented, “Jews & Christians have the same God, but the Muslim God is another thing entirely.” How different? He couldn’t say.

mkwjustdance, however, finally presented us with the ultimate similarity that no one can deny.” Blaming Islam for terrorism is like blaming Christianity for colonialism.” This shows that Christianity is more similar to Islam then we think. If Archaeological evidences can’t prove that, then let our actions be the proof. The comments in this blog are not only understanding but are also very supportive and, thus, gave the speaker the confidence to speak more proudly and more often.

Therefore, in order to provoke interesting conversations, everyone speaking must have a level of respect and a level of curiosity to at least try to understand the others’ opinions. No, arguments are not discouraged, but always be respectful.

http://www.ted.com/conversations/13303/aren_t_christianity_judaism_a.html

https://nutellarina.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/end-islamophobia/