@Nocturna - still am an atheist :)

起因: https://www.douban.com/people/gabialfie/status/1955862045/ 以及: https://www.douban.com/note/607177396/ As previously stated, I’m an atheist. My knowledge of each religion is limited because of my lack of interest in them. Thank the lord for (and of) Google! :) The problem with your Opinions piece lies in your misinformation and your logical fallacy. Misinformation can be addressed by research, and as an atheist I’m not the best person to inform you on either Christianity or Islam. As for logical fallacy, I will try my best to point them out. First of all, there is commonality in origin between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Muslims themselves celebrate Jesus as one of their most important prophets. If you were truly objective you would have pointed this out, because this would have actually strengthened your point that “Christianity has progressed while Islam regressed.” Unfortunately, not only did you lose an opportunity to strengthen your argument, you barely proved your point. (“Islam, on the other hand, stagnates, from the Meccan surahs to the Medina suras, the abrogation in the Quran has navigated the religion to regression and exacerbation.” This one-liner you offered is not evidence, but rather a statement. Where's your proof to back that statement?) Your next paragraph argues both for and against separation of church and state, which is when I realized your writing wasn’t going to change my mind. “The Christian Church had always been the biggest patron of art and science over the past few centuries” according to you. I can agree that they were the biggest patron of art, but they were definitely not hot for science. There are still Christians who do not believe in evolution. You argued that desirable values such as “democracy, liberty, justice” etc. originated from Christianity and therefore Christianity is to be credited for its propagation. Yet it is the separation of church and state that allowed these values to flourish and remain until today. Being separated from the church is what makes Western societies and these values desirable. Conversely, middle eastern countries which did not separate church/state is what makes them less desirable in my opinion. (As an atheist, I would even argue that if Christianity did not exist, people would still naturally desire “liberty/justice/individual rights” and all these beautiful things. The Greeks and Romans had early ideas for liberalism, philosophy, and justice which formed the backbone of many Western societies and they were polytheists that had nothing to do with Christianity!) Next, you fall prey to circular reasoning. It is true sharia law is “fully or partially implemented in almost all Muslim majority countries.” You argued that Sharia Law is problematic because it comes from the Islamic religion, and then argued the Islamic religion is problematic because it promotes Sharia law. This circular reasoning fails to prove that Islamic religion is problematic in itself. It also further fails to prove your point that Islam is somehow incompatible with modern society. You said “many Muslims were deprived of their moral agency” simply because the religion is “shame and honour based.” Yet shame and honour also guides other religion including Christianity (don’t they stone women who commit adultery in the Bible?) and is evident in other cultures including Confucian Chinese culture. You would have to prove that systems based solely on honour/shame are faulty, and that humans are unable to have moral agency when imbued with the honour/shame system, in order to prove that the Islamic religion is the culprit of lack of morality in certain individuals. You also said “it is those Islamic terrorists’ very religious belief that forged their intrinsic motivation, which drives them to kill; and it is the Islamic faith that gives them the motives and the license to kill”, which again is circular reasoning. So…. Islamic terrorists commit heinous acts because they’re intrinsically motivated, and they’re intrinsically motivated because they’re Islamic. Where is the proof that they’re intrinsically motivated instead of extrinsically? After proving this, where is the proof that their Islamic belief alone leads to intrinsic motivation? Historically Christianity and other religions have done terrible things in the name of religion, such as the Crusades. You failed to mention any of that, because you are a Christian or at least Christian-leaning and you’re biased in your writing. You tried to touch on morality, politics, and religion but did not explain any of them well. I fail to see how Christianity is superior to other religions such as Buddhism, and how Islam is more inferior than other religions. I don’t think I even need to rebut your last paragraph……… Many Christians are very conservative, and probably as many are liberal-leaning. It proves nothing. Religion is open to interpretation and those who interpret it shall bare the responsibility for their actions, not the religion itself. tldr: I support separation of church and state.