About three weeks ago I wrote a poem for the Huffington Post Religion called “Allah or God, It Doesn’t Matter to Me.” While the poem did not receive a ton of attention, a few Huffington Post users left their thoughts, of which one stood out more than the others. Alongside posting several biblical passages which had no context or description, the user said:
“Allah is a fake God that does not exist and is the heart of deception. No real Christian that believes in God/Christ of the scriptures can have anything to do with cults and doctrines of demons.
You will, with your own eyes, see the resurrection/rapture and all of the cults, interfaith movements, emergent churches and nonbelievers left behind to face Gods wrath.”
The user also posted a video (below) on his own preparations for the rapture.
How do you feel about the rapture? What does the response and video tell us about religious extremism in general?
craigconsidinetcd.com 
Hey Craig! That was a simple poem with a lovely sentiment. Thanks for that.
As a Muslim, I would’ve been outraged before. But I’m beginning to see that I call his God ‘Allah’ and he calls my Allah, ‘God’. Its a British-football-American-soccer thing. I feel a majority of people grasp this now.
What emanates from the comment is a ‘cult’ approach to religion – where there are teams instead of principles. Its a battle of cultures/nations as opposed to one of ideologies. And this has led to us all believing that when talking about ‘believers’ – the Bible means (mostly white) Christians and the Qur’an, (most Arab) Muslims. That’s simply not true.
All of this has to do with geography and boundaries of religions (Muslims / Christian / Hindu countries). As nations integrate more and more people from other religions – when I hear of Christianity from a brown man – I will understand it better. And vice-versa.
Peace out, brother.
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Excellent words Adnan. Many thanks and peace to you as well brother.
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(I’ve seen films on the rapture, sorry, I don’t think I could bear seeing another.) I don’t believe extremism, like ignorance, can be reasoned with. It comes from such a deep place inside someone, a place of fear. I think even Jesus recognized some people were not able to be reasonable… that is if this quote was written accurately in the bible: Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” -Attempts at holding conversations with extremists (religious or political) are a waste of time and energy because they’re not capable of mentally processing another point of view. The strength of their emotion doesn’t allow it. I’m not saying that to be condescending or judgmental, I simply think it is a fact, no more, no less. It is what it is. Humans are for the most part, emotional creatures. – I believe we each walk our own path and that we must all be allowed to do so. – Some choose to walk in darkness and fear.
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