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Originally posted by Wednesday:

Muslims ruled Spain for roughly 800 years and during that time, the non-Muslims there were alive and flourishing. Christian and Jewish minorities have survived in the Muslim lands of the Middle East for centuries. Countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan all have Christian and/or Jewish populations. If Islam taught that all people are supposed to be killed or forced to become Muslims, how did all of these non-Muslims survive for so long in the middle of the Islamic Empire?

After Christianity gained dominance in the Roman Empire, it became clear that they regarded their God as very authoritarian in nature. Christians then began imitating their God and become exceptionally authoritarian themselves. Controlling society, they ruthlessly exterminated other religious beliefs, with only Judaism being permitted to co-exist with their own One True Faith.

I'm not trying to bash Christianity here, just point out that it's not as innocent as you portray.
Muslims have certainly lived in Christian lands as well.

The Inquisition, as I said is (1) arguably not true Christianity, and certainly an era where the Bible was kept from the public by Catholic clergy, and (2) an extremist reaction to Muslim invasion of Christian lands.

All nations, whether Christian, Muslim, or whatever, have trade relations and visitors from other lands of other religions. You take the most extreme period of Christian history, and say "this is what Christianity is about". I disagree.

Christianity was peaceful in its spread for 300 years, and has been throughout most of its history.
Islam, again, was violent in its spread from the time it began.

There have been peaceful and violent periods in both Muslim and Christian history. But at its root beliefs, Islam advocates violence in the name of Islam. Christianity does not. They are NOT comparable religions.

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klinton:
This is simply not true. You don't really believe this do you?
Yes, I "really believe this."
klinton, if you look at the histories of Harvard, Princeton and Yale, in the founding of those Universities, you will quickly see this confirmed.
In the age of the Reformation, literacy was promoted by Protestant Christians, so each individual could read the Bible for themselves.

Most of the major scientists until the 20th century were devout Christians. Including Isaac Newton, the founder of modern Mathematics and Physics.