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Originally Posted by GlennD
And if you wrote a textbook with this information (all of it true), but neglected to mention that the same crimes had been committed all over the world in the name of different religions and other cultures, you'd be writing exactly the kind of textbook that the Texas board of education is trying to avoid.
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The earlier claim was that Christian founding of libraries and hospitals should be mentioned, but other religions & cultures doing the same thing should be ignored as not relevant to Western civilization. In the same manner, the conflicts between Islam and Hindu religions are not particularly important to a child in Texas today. However, the Christian oppression of women and subjugation of non-Christian cultures *is* relevant to them; they're dealing with it directly, rather than theoretically as something that happens on the other side of the planet.
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Christians don't have a monopoly on bigotry, racism and hatred any more than they have a monopoly on compassion.
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No, but their bigotry, racism and hatred is active in modern Texas. Certainly, I wouldn't feel safe being open about my religion if I lived in Texas. Not even in Austin.
I somehow doubt the Texas history books are mentioning that Islam gives the woman the right to divorce at will. The fact that many Islamic cultures make this impractical to impossible doesn't change the religion, just as the fact that the Christian exhortation to "love your neighbor" has often been set aside in favor of lynchings and cross-burnings doesn't mean the religion doesn't include compassion.