Is Islam a religion of love and peace?

As somebody who is Jewish but not practising, in fact not really religious at all, I believe in God but a non religious one shall I say, I am lucky enough to live in London where faith leaders often come together, indeed Rabbis and Imams often appear together and call for peace and calm when the occasion demands it and there are open days at synagogues and mosques for schoolchildren and members of the public.
With relatives in Israel I can assure everyone that many Israelis condemn and protest against the far right war mongers in the Knesset, which again is a good example of extremism.
Instead of causing division and stirring up hatred we should seek ways to bring people together and by doing this will realise that they have much more in common than we think.

Downplaying the tens of millions of Africans, Indigenous Americans & Australians, Asians etc who were murdered as a direct result of Christianity makes one a racist. Their violent deaths matter as much as any European’s death. The deaths as a direct result of far-right Zionists matter. The Crusades alone, those wars that Christian Europeans left their continent to wage in the homelands of others, matter. You can only claim Christianity is not as bad if you devalue those lives. I don’t care who thinks what “works anymore” or doesn’t or what that even means. I’m calling it for what it is. You what also doesn’t work anymore? Being afraid to call racism out because some people want to make it less acceptable to acknowledge it than actually being racist. Those days are dead.

Well said Fallingstar.

Yes we know we are all racist.

And BlessedArt

This is a circular argument.

No-one on this thread has said that non Christian or non European or non Anything lives matter less in the murderous history of all religions, it's not top trumps on the atrocities of the past and it muddies the waters of discussion.

It isn't rascist - the word bandied about so often to close opinions down - to question beliefs.

Why study Theology?

What do the Bishops and Imams and Rabbis and other religious leaders actually discuss when they come together I wonder.

Well snd there we are.

A discussion on Islam has been shut down and has been determinedly been converted into a condemnation of Christianity.

Not unexpected somehow.

No - it has been widened to suggest that all religions have a paternalistic structure.

Threads always wander and widen

What do the Bishops and Imams and Rabbis and other religious leaders actually discuss when they come together I wonder.

In this country, the last time they 'got together', which is the one I remember, was to discuss the situation in Gaza and how to achieve peace.

Why study Theology?

It has formed history and is extremely interesting?

Nannee49 its quite easy to access fascinating and relevant discussions at an accessible level.

Radio 4 "Beyond Belief" is always doing so.

'Focus: The series explores the place of faith in today's world, often featuring a panel of experts to discuss theological and ethical themes across different religions.

Topics: Recent episodes have covered topics such as interfaith marriage, religious responses to the climate crisis, the role of religion in therapy, and comparisons of religious practices

Just check out on I player Sounds.

In addition (I'll just quote, its easier)

"Focus: The series explores the place of faith in today's world, often featuring a panel of experts to discuss theological and ethical themes across different religions.
Topics: Recent episodes have covered topics such as interfaith marriage, religious responses to the climate crisis, the role of religion in therapy, and comparisons of religious practices.

www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=programme+on+Radio+4+where+comparative+religions+are+disucssed&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

And not considered rascist.

Whoops, repeated the quote and missed out the bit where it names the other R4 programmes

In Our Time Religion: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of religious movements, figures, and doctrines (e.g., Karma, Daoism, Arianism).
Sunday A weekly programme that examines the ethical and religious issues of the week.
The Secret History of Science and Religion A series exploring the relationship between scientific and religious thought.

Whitewavemark2

No - it has been widened to suggest that all religions have a paternalistic structure.

Threads always wander and widen

A gathering of the clan😬

Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean?

Fallingstar

I think the awful things that Islamic extremists say and do cannot be ignored but do let’s remember that many Muslims, as in Iran, are fighting tooth and nail against this.
It is not how the majority of Muslims want to live.
Extremists might want a caliphate but is just a lot of BS because the majority don’t want a bar of it.
But making it sound as if Islamic extremists are on every street corner does make for good copy and there is one born every minute who will believe this.

I don’t know about every street corner but there are plenty of them about as all the many murderous attacks on innocent people just in the UK alone attest to.

Lathyrus3

Well snd there we are.

A discussion on Islam has been shut down and has been determinedly been converted into a condemnation of Christianity.

Not unexpected somehow.

Well they can try but it’s up to us all not to let this happen.
Anyone who uses the ‘racist’ card to stop a poster from discussing radical Islam and talking about extremism needs calling out.

How many centuries have gone by since the Crusades?
Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism have no place in the discussion when extremists from Islamism are the ones to fear and look out for generally, not only here, or the West but in very many Muslim countries too, how many Muslims have been victims of their bombings, shootings, stabbings and murder by vehicles?

Whitewavemark2

No - it has been widened to suggest that all religions have a paternalistic structure.

Threads always wander and widen

Quite.

Oreo

How many centuries have gone by since the Crusades?
Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism have no place in the discussion when extremists from Islamism are the ones to fear and look out for generally, not only here, or the West but in very many Muslim countries too, how many Muslims have been victims of their bombings, shootings, stabbings and murder by vehicles?

Rwanda, former Yugoslavia are well within living memory.

I don’t think that anyone is trying to shut this discussion down, far from it, any discussion about religion will not just stay within the very narrow parameters of discussing just one religion and then holding that religion responsible for all recent atrocities, indeed I would suggest the opposite, that those wishing to just discuss Islamic extremism - not Islam because that covers millions of ordinary Muslims - are trying to shut all other discussions down.
Am not saying that this is racist, but I am saying that it then ceases to be a discussion and more a monologue.

Rwanda wasn’t about religious differences at all.
Serbia was partially about it, as the Christian Serbs wanted to expand Serbia ( land grabbing) and using the excuse of getting rid of Muslims to support that.The UK got involved ( to their credit) to help the Muslim population.
The real threat to very many countries all over the world now are Islamist extremists.

To pretend otherwise is ludicrous.

Why does a specific question about any religion have to involve other religions?

Genuine philosophical question for those who think it is necessary.

It doesn’t.
If we had a discussion on Buddhism for instance I doubt that it would be compared and contrasted to other religions.It would be about the pros and cons of Buddhism.