Toynbee said Christianity was a synthesis of the Semite and Hellenic religious outlook. The Greek Gods had children such as Hercules and other demigods. Rick Riordan has written an interesting series of youth books on that theme featuring Camp Half Blood vs. Camp Jupiter. So Christianity introduced the Son of God concept. Christology is a very abstruse and convoluted concept and there has been much debate about the dual nature of Christ- Arianism, Monophysitism and such. As a reaction to that, Islam can be looked on as the restoration of the "pure and simple faith of Abraham." From a Buddhist perspective nothing implies one- duality and all that. In fact that's how Peano constructed the natural number system-out of nothing. OK, this is where i"m headed, The Sunna perspective is that the Shiite (Shia' Ali party of Ali) fondness for Ali detracts from the simpleness and unity of the Sunna view. Worst yet the Ahmadi believe their prophet was a prophet subsequent to Mohammed and also claimed to be Jesus and the Mahdi combined. For the Ba'hai their chief figures are "manifestations" of God, susceptible to many interpretations. Sunna and even Shia anathema. Personally, am partial to the the whadat al-mujud, identyism, the unity of creation. So if I were a Muslim, i guess i would be a Sufi? from my Christian perspective Jesus has already come back and lives in the hearts of those that love him and try to follow his teachings w/o thought for future reward or avoidance and punishment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identityism Given enough time, wars, and bloodshed, perhaps India, Pakistan, and other places will come to the accommodation that the Stuart King Charles II came to after his restoration- let everybody worship and do as they please within bounds. that is also the accommodation in Lebanon. They have to get along b/c they have no choice. Sayed Hassan Nasrallah is a beacon of light to the world in his compact with the Christians of Aouns's FPM (التيار الوطني الحر‎). From a Physics sci fi point of view this is an interesting as hell recast of Christianity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_J._Tipler#The_Omega_Point "This singularity is Tipler's Omega Point.[6] With computational resources diverging to infinity, Tipler states that a society far in the future would be able to resurrect the dead by emulating all alternative universes of our universe from its start at the Big Bang.[7] Tipler identifies the Omega Point with God, since, in his view, the Omega Point has all the properties claimed for gods by most of the traditional religions. ["

so forget context and perspective?

John Paul 23rd (?) said as much. That heaven is closeness to God and Hell separation from it. That there are many paths to Heaven thru all faiths and even for atheists. This certainly stands John 14:7 on its head. But you would have to read the original Greek and in context. "by me" could mean the path i have outlined. "5Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Well said, there are even militant Buddhists- witness Sri Lanka and Thailand. But there are religious figures that are lights in this world- Pope Francis being the foremost- this age's Pontifex Maximus Piscator Hominum. (disclosure- I am a nominal Episcopalian)

Violence is an attribute of the Abrahamic religions. Just watching the BBC series The Monarchy, the episode on Charles I Stuart. It was a three way game, the Scot Presbyters who did not believe in Apostolic succession but some organization of elders, the Episcopalians, and the Puritans who were for no state intervention in religion except of course for banning gaming, swearing, drunkedness, horse races, whorehouses, and other sinful practices. When Cromwell's New Model Army charged the Cavaliers, he exhorted them that they were Israelites charging the Midianites and they would capture and kill their king. Yes, it goes that far back. Ironic that Moses married the daughter of a priest of the land of Midian (Hejaz). Close to Mecca? It is entwined in Christianity, not just Islam. Vasco da Gama encountering a ship in transit from the Hajj to India, burning a civilian ship with women and children on board. Done out of religious zealotry. The Teutonic Kights crusades against the improperly consecrated Polish Catholics or the Eastern Orthodox Christians. (Battle of the Ice- there it was the Livonian Knights against Alexander Nevsky). Zionism has shown the violence embedded in the first of the Abrahamic religions. And Islam's spread from the Hejaz frpm Hispania to India was by military conquest. The breach in organized inter-religious violence was when the European kings started taking Muslim allies to aid in their intra-religious wars with each other. For instance the corsair Barbarossa and French Francis I. Barbarossa even wintered his fleet in Toulon. Or the Protestant English, the Catholic French, the Muslim Turks, against the Eastern Orthodox Russians in Crimea. So my thesis is that religions don't change all that much, just secularism displaces them. A game changer is the new Pope, who by his example, and ecumenical spirit, has shown a way out of the morass. Contrast this with some U.S. Christian Fundamentalists who are ready to nuke the Middle East, or are busily searching for the "Red Heifer," (a sign of the end times), are ready to demolish the Dome of the Rock, re-erect the Temple of Solomon. Some even want to restart animal sacrifices. Maybe a Hecatomb? All of this to hasten the second coming of the Messiah. As if Jesus was a mechanistic automaton that could be summoned by certain magic rituals. (sigh) Islam has re-invented itself several times, Fatimids, Druze, Sufis, Shiites. Christian Muslim hybrids such as the Alawites. Nothing unversal has taken hold. It is said that the Muslims of the Caucus and Central Asia were more Sufi oriented until infected by Wahabi petro Saudi money. Until there is change in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will there be progress? Maybe IS knocking on their gates will change their mind?

Additionally, al-Sissi's remarks must be evaluated with regard to his situation. The Muslim Brotherhood gained the presidency in the first free election in Egypt ever in that country's six thousand some year history. This is what he means by "political Islam." And he overthrew them at the urging of the majority of the population that wanted an election undone in which apparently many hadn't bothered to vote. He does not mean the Wahhabi Islam of his Saudi bankers.

i say, do not look at the religion but the people among which it lives. The Turkish nation at one time embraced secularism, and separation of church and state, which is itself a religion. Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Iran embraced secularism. The clock of modernity has been turned back. have my own theories on this, why and whom. hint- look at what happened to secular Iraq and is now happening to secular Syria. Completely agree with the Col. about evaluating information and its source separately. But when i see a questionable source, i google and try to find a more neutral one. Or at least one whose bias is readily apparent. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/06/africa/egypt-president-speech/ this canadian writer, Ezra Levant, is a real character https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Levant

mea culpa too. i also searched NEO and got the ONE from Matrix. Sometimes you have to know what you are looking for to find it. LOL

pepe don't like Kagan either http://atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-030614.html

thnx. shared it on my facebook page