[nik-]

Originally Posted by Itse

I'd be a little freaked out if it did



This claim I think holds the most water here. Of course "in the style of the prophet" is pretty much a randomly cherrypicked collection of ideas, but there isn't a clear Christian equivalent of Wahhabists... That I can think of at least. (I'm sure there's some small cult somewhere.)

However, my view is that it's mostly coincidental. If you look for this kind of proof, you're going to find something that fits your case. In the big picture I don't think it's evidence enough.

In general my view isthat the impact of scripture on religions is mostly historical and that they are as much or more shaped by completely unrelated phenomenons, such as pre-existing traditions, surrounding cultures, social and enviromental conditions etc etc.

Sorry, but how is this cherry picking? The central prophetic figure in Islam was a warlord. Attack the pagan Meccans. Smash the idols of other gods. This is a core component of his history, hardly cherry picking and hardly dug out of some obscure book I happened to find while searching for negative facts. Emulating his lifestyle inevitably leads to violence because he was violent. It's not coincidental, it's critical.

Essentially, if you gave aliens a Quran and a Bible and asked them to project what kind of religious practices and societies they'd produce, you probably couldn't tell which example was produced by which book.

No argument there. A being without the context of history, or knowledge of how both fit into modern life, and assuming a literal and complete interpretation of, both books would be considered problematic.

The existence of millions of modern peaceful secular Muslims all over the western hemisphere I think pretty much counters this claim. Peoples ability cherry pick and re-interpret holy scriptures is endless.

Lets hope the dropping of tenets that conflict with modern secular life continues in a mass scale.

Millions of Christian fundamentalists feel that secularism is in direct conflict with their values. And other millions feel that it doesn't. So whether or not this passage exists or not doesn't seem to matter much.

That's too bad for them. Separation of church and state comes right from the words of the central prophet himself in the Bible.

Yeah it's just mentioned in passing, as in the big picture it's kind of a sidetrack. Here's the bit:

That's not saying anything about your claim. It only says that the list of causes can be applicable across religions or in the secular realm