Everything After - A 9.11 Youth Circle

In a lot of discussions we've agreed that we should understand eachothers' religions in order to have peace. That not only means peace in the world, but peace here. We've also said that we should explain eachothers' religions. So here goes - I'll do the kick off.

I have been raised in a very liberal family. I've attended a Unitarian Universalist church for as long as I can remember. At U.U. churches, you can believe anything, you should just adhere to the seven principles, which are basically respect, love, and the Golden Rule only more in depth and more eloquently. We believe everyone is equal, including homosexuals, transgenders, and those of different religions. Most of the kids I hang out with there don't believe that any one religion is supreme over another.
As for God, well, that's an iffy topic for me. I don't know yet. When I was little I believed in a big fluffy GOD, all capitals, with a long beard. For a while I was an atheist. Then I was agnostic (doesn't know what they believe), and after visiting a mosque for Sunday school I considered converting to Islam. Right now, I believe that every single religion in the world is correct, because they all believe in basically the same thing, and all the gods and goddesses and supernatural beings are products of belief, and all aspects of the same sense that we as humans need - a dependency on something, a love, a uniting force. I believe they are all right but I still don't know what I believe. Hypocritical, eh? Well, what your beliefs?

As I'm quite sure you all know by now, because it has come up in every topic, I am a revert to Islam :) I worship the same God-- we call Him Allah-- as Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and several other faiths.

I don't believe that Jesus is the son of Allah; I believe he was a prophet. Muhammed was the last prophet, and he wrote down the Quran (in Arabic, "recitation"), which is the holy book of Islam. For Muslims the Quran is the infallible word of Allah.

I think it is all right for people to be other religions, because Allah doesn't need our worship-- He created relgion for the benefit of humans, so we should believe and live in a way that is right for us personally.

I pray five times a day, fast from sunup to sundown for thirty days during Ramadan, and attend congregational prayers on Friday. I also cover my hair, and my entire body except for my face and hands.

I know Islam is often associated with war and politics and terrorism. Islam most definately does not condone terrorism. I am very much against war and killing. However, I don't think politics can ever be completely secular; religion can not be completely free of politics. Obviously people's morals and beliefs play a big part in decisions, political and otherwise. I think this is a good thing.

see the thing I hate about Islam is that peopel arent honest about it. There are so many thigns , it seems that , muslims are ashamed to say . liek that men will have 72 virgin girls once they have come to heaven and that liqour is bad and yet once yuo arrive in heaven that it will be flowing with wine. I dont hate Islam , I hate that people arent honest with what it believes. I think that someone should crate a television special about all major religions and tell the truths about it. because even chrsitanity has some knacks in the bible.BUt these are man -made mistakes. There is one crucial thing I believe and that is Trinity. THe Father( God), THe SOn ( Jesus) , and the HOly SPirit are all one and that they arent 3 gods but rather 3 in 1.

Also , technically Muslims,Jews,and Christians dont worship the same GOd . Yet the problem arises from the fact that Muslims insist that Allah is not a title, but the personal name of the God of Islam. This becomes problematic since according to the Holy Bible the name of the God of Abraham is Yahweh/Jehovah, not Allah:

God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am Yahweh (YHVH) and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty; BUT BY MY NAME, YAHWEH, I did not make myself known to them." Exodus 6:2-3
Therefore, Christians can use Allah as a title but not as the personal name for the God of the Bible.Militant Christian writers say Allah cannot be a representation of the true God because, according to the Qur'an, he is not Triune, he has no Son, etc. Well then, the Yahweh of the Jews today cannot be the true God either because they maintain that he too is not Triune and also has no Son. This is what I believe you aren't forced to beleve that Muslims, Christians , and Jews don't all worship the same God. Also, I am really confused what to believe I found out a lot of this information and I thought it made sense. I will have to ask my church's priest for conformation. So don't get too rough on the subject because I researched all of this information.

Actually Allah is not God's name. Allah is the Arabic word that means "the God" (al-Lah). Therefore we are not naming God when we call Him "Allah" anymore than Christians are naming Him when they call Him "God".

Perhaps you don't believe this, but in fact Muslims believe the Quran was sent as a confirmation and clarification of earlier scriptures, which were also the words of Allah, e.g., the Bible. Christians and Jews are given special status as "People of the Book". Later that title was extended to include several other monotheistic religions. The People of the Book all worship the same God, only in different ways.