IDOL WORSHIPPING IS THE NEW ISLAM

parvez_mushtaq

People tend to see form instead of essence. This is our weakness, and it seems spontaneous.

For example

Faith healing works. But it works in all religions AND even in non-religious contexts. The religion member would explain away this by claiming that the reports of faith healing in other religions are things like lies or tricks from Satan.

People don't realize that there is an essence, a reality beneath, above and beyond the simplistic, limiting and artificial divides of releigions and creed.

Even atheists can do faith healing, if they believe (know) in it. Religion doesn't shape reality. Reality is there no matter what we say, think or believe.

Either we sense and know reality (to different extents), or we are blind to it.

Debates between different religions is so pathetic. It'd be better if we just opted out of religion (=blind faith), and into reality (which also contains faith healing, Rabb, unseen worlds...).

You don't have to be religious to be in touch with the unseen things of our reality.

There is only one scale... and that is between knowing/seeing and blindness/ignorance.

When we witness faith healing, we should see it for what it is and what happened (the essence) and forget the form (what was the context).

How does a Muslims explain that Christians who pray to Jesus for healing get healed? How do Christians explain faith healing carried out in non-religious contexts? Impossible? But it happens. Everyone think only 'their' group is on track with truth. Miracles happen in all sorts of contexts and creeds, but never is it accepted by the outsiders.

Forget form, focus instead on essence.

Peace

It is a good post ,Zulf
particularly the bold part which i have highlighted is really true .further ,people remember GOD more when they are in problems and the when healing comes to them they even forget to analyze the way in which they got it .
but what do you meant by "essence" your have not clearly defined it .

parvez_mushtaq

Agree and I like to add

People tend to judge others based on certain criteria..
And they always forget to apply the same criteria to themselves or their own group.

Here we have an example of a group of people who judge those who are outside of their group as Idolator
While they also perform their own Idolatry themselves.. in different form..

.................

You are correct ,jafar
I think ,it might be my wild guess and i might not be correct every religion is in a form of idolatry
if I am wrong ,than how you will explain a suffering Hindu is better than a normal Muslim . i don't know how ALLAH subhanvatala will make a hindu to suffer in both the worlds

Nestor

To be honest, the English word idolatry is a red-herring. the issue is shirk, which is trying to suggest that there is something in the universe besides Allah. The Quran is inescapably "priority monist" in its expressions. )

Man_of_Faith

I could agree that shirk and idolatry are two different words, but both are onto the same subject. Idolatry means excessive focus and attribution to objects, real or imagined. Shirk as a word means association and has been heavily used to defend a God whose sovereignty does not need to be defended or which God does not care whether someone attributes themselves with Him/Her, and actually association through merging is a desired aim of passing through. You are not greater (encompassing more) than God, but you can sure be a piece of the cake, as everything goes down to a Oneness we are all part of, nothing else in existence. Joining is about gaining independent consciousness, i.e. to be someone.

Association (shirk) with dead matter = negative

Association with the Unity of Being (God) = positive

Idolatry goes down to ancient Greek and contains a word that basically means image or shape. This means idolatry is when you attribute powers to particularly inanimate objects and you have a love for them. Fundamentally idolatry is the negative instinctive idolization of physical objects of this world, i.e. feeling objects in this world have any importance or relevance.

In some communities and their spiritual tradition this shows in minimalistic living with sparsely decorated homes and few possessions or very basic possessions filling their use and nothing more. This shows a person who is not idolizing.

People are just misinformed, missing relevant points, thinking God has to be feared or is some dictator skyman in the skies. It is your Creator you talk about, who expand and spread seeds of man in order to see which souls would pass along in best manner. You are simply in some kind of experiment. You were created in your Creator's image with a deceptive contradiction as your challenge in life created by the same Creator which is the world itself and your body.

Be well
Amenuel

Nestor

Well-said brother!

Idols are in Arabic.

parvez_mushtaq

I could agree that shirk and idolatry are two different words, but both are onto the same subject. Idolatry means excessive focus and attribution to objects, real or imagined. Shirk as a word means association and has been heavily used to defend a God whose sovereignty does not need to be defended or which God does not care whether someone attributes themselves with Him/Her, and actually association through merging is a desired aim of passing through. You are not greater (encompassing more) than God, but you can sure be a piece of the cake, as everything goes down to a Oneness we are all part of, nothing else in existence. Joining is about gaining independent consciousness, i.e. to be someone.

Association (shirk) with dead matter = negative

Association with the Unity of Being (God) = positive

Be well
Amenuel

I agree with you .I my frank opinion ,Idolatry minus idols is Islam .shirk is the association to GOD .i can be anything ,we cannot restrict shrik only to idols or humans . it can be our profound love towards wealth ,woman ,children etc .if our love towards the worldly things exceeds our submission towards GOD then it is shirk .
for example , if we go against Quran in order to seek wealth then it is shrik . it might not be riba or cheating .if we knowingly try to misinterpret the actual meanings of the Quran in order to gain wealth then it is also shrik .
even performing salah thinking that it will, give such and such benefit is also shirk .for example most of the people think the morning salah will increase their wealth .so your prayer is not for ALLAH subahnavatala
In my honest opinion , i feel most of the people who turn towards GOD think that they will be given wealth only if they pray or do some kind of religious works .even praying or performing religious duties and thinking that they will get worldly benefits is a shirk .
i my opinion, a Hindu who is sanding in front the idol with ultimate submission towards his creator and thinking that the idol in front of him is not going to benefit or harm him except his creator is far better than a Muslim who perform salah for five times a day and thinks he will be benefited with all the worldly gains .
the true intentions can only be judge by ALLAH subhanavatala .

Jafar

You are correct ,jafar
I think ,it might be my wild guess and i might not be correct every religion is in a form of idolatry
if I am wrong ,than how you will explain a suffering Hindu is better than a normal Muslim . i don't know how ALLAH subhanvatala will make a hindu to suffer in both the worlds

Not only 'religion', this attitude relate to EGO and ATTACHMENT to it..
Football club fanatics also show the same attitude and so does Nationalist group..
Idolizing football club or their nation, respectively..

Hah.. saying "only member of my religion shall go to heaven" is as ridiculous as saying "only the fans of my favorite football club" shall go to heaven and/or "the fans of other football club shall go to hell"..

To be honest, the English word idolatry is a red-herring. the issue is shirk, which is trying to suggest that there is something in the universe besides Allah. The Quran is inescapably "priority monist" in its expressions.

Shirk was originally a Hebrew word.. the Israelite invented the concept..
Originally it means "Abandoning"..
Abandoning what? Abandoning the "Torah", the "Commandment"...
The purpose To keep all member of the group within the group..

Those who leave the community and/or getting married with somebody outside of the group (ie getting married to Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyirians, Hittites, anyone who are non-Israelite/Goyim thus not a member of "God's choosen people" thus an "idolator&quot are considered as performing the crime of "Shirk", the crime of "abandoning"....

I agree with you .I my frank opinion ,Idolatry minus idols is Islam .shirk is the association to GOD .

And some people idolizing the Quran...

Personally I don't see anything coherently wrong with "Idolatry", to whatever objects, figures or concept.. black cube, black stone, crosses, Quran, Bible, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, Mao Tse Tung, Kim Jong Il, Football club, pop star etc... As long as they don't enforce their idols upon others who don't share the same belief as they are to their own respective idols...

But I found it hypocritical that those who regularly judge the other group as "idolator" couldn't see it for themselves that they also perform their own 'idolatry'...

?Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother?s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"
-- Matt 7

Nestor

Not only 'religion', this attitude relate to EGO and ATTACHMENT to it..
Football club fanatics also show the same attitude and so does Nationalist group..
Idolizing football club or their nation, respectively..

Hah.. saying "only member of my religion shall go to heaven" is as ridiculous as saying "only the fans of my favorite football club" shall go to heaven and/or "the fans of other football club shall go to hell"..

Thumbs up! bravo

Shirk was originally a Hebrew word.. the Israelite invented the concept..
Originally it means "Abandoning"..
Abandoning what? Abandoning the "Torah", the "Commandment"...
The purpose To keep all member of the group within the group..

Those who leave the community and/or getting married with somebody outside of the group (ie getting married to Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyirians, Hittites, anyone who are non-Israelite/Goyim thus not a member of "God's choosen people" thus an "idolator&quot are considered as performing the crime of "Shirk", the crime of "abandoning"....

That describes modern Judaism rather than the ancient Israelite religion of the Torah. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his sons all married Egyptians, Arameans, Syrians and Lebanese.

And some people idolizing the Quran...

If they actually followed what the Quran was telling them it would be obeying the messenger, but because they only glorify it and then ignore its instructions (e.g. where it tells us to believe in the Kitab of the Ahl ul-Kitab and say "all of it is from our Rab&quot then yes indeed they are idolaters.

Personally I don't see anything coherently wrong with "Idolatry", to whatever objects, figures or concept.. black cube, black stone, crosses, Quran, Bible, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, Mao Tse Tung, Kim Jong Il, Football club, pop star etc... As long as they don't enforce their idols upon others who don't share the same belief as they are to their own respective idols...

Very well said! bravo

But I found it hypocritical that those who regularly judge the other group as "idolator" couldn't see it for themselves that they also perform their own 'idolatry'...

?Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother?s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"
-- Matt 7

AMEN! yay

Bender

Dear Ben ,for both salah and tawaf ,we have proof from Quran and unanimously all the Muslim Ummah believes that .If you say ,kissing of black stone was ordained in Quran ,pl give me the proof .

Kissing the black stone is part of the hajj. As we all know the details how to preform hajj and prayer can be found in Bukhary & Co. Millions of people for centuries have been doing this, are they all wrong?
Just like giving salam to the right and left at the end of the prayer and all the other details of the prayer and the hajj.

All the above verses give the same message
But who will decide what is good and what it is evil.

maybe Allah?

from the day one people thought that stealing is wrong .suppose if they thought the other way then stealing might had been permissible among us and thus we might have thought that stealing is not an evil .who gave the criteria for the people to decide what is good and what is evil .the answer is simply GOD

RED permissible by who?
GREEN No this is not true. We will find out very fast that it is bad, there will be chaos everywhere. Allahs laws are clear.

It is the fear opf GOD that make keep us away from doing evil . for example , what if i perform one rakah for fajr salah when i am alone and nobody is looking at me .but fear of ALLAH subhanavatala makes me to perform two rakas because i do it for the sake of ALLAH subhnavatala and that fear continues with me in day to day life and thus keeps me away from evil

For a lot of the stone kissers the same is true.

and this what emphasized in the Ayah before 20.15
Verse 20.14
Sahih Intl
Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance.

So Musa did the same ritual as you do now?

secondly , let see the verses after Verse 3.30
Verse 3.31
Say, , "If you should love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

Verse 3.32
Say, "Obey Allah and the Messenger." But if they turn away - then indeed, Allah does not like the disbelievers.

again ,it is being emphasized on rituals .note that ,the surah is Ala Imran and the context is about Jesus .here ALLAH subhanavatala is ordering those who came to dispute about the authenticity of our prophet Mohammed sallahu alasiwasallam to follow our prophet .thus making it very clear that their previous scriptures are being abrogated by this final revelations .

GREEN you see a lot

thirdly , In verse 2.281 ,it is in and out about human relations because the context is about lending money

No, it is as universal as universal can be.

finally let me take the verse 5.48
Sahih Intl
And We have revealed to you, , the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation , but to test you in what He has given you; so race to good. To Allah is your return all together, and He will inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.

let me concentrate on the phrase
................... .................

the word
as per the roots so every nation was given a law as well as a way and the way .the question is what is the way .is it the rituals .because your cannot find a single religion on the face of the earth which did not have a ritual .pl read my answer post to mmkhan .it is evident that almost all the religion in some way or other overlap in their rituals

RED No, every single person.

Jafar

Thumbs up! bravo

That describes modern Judaism rather than the ancient Israelite religion of the Torah. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his sons all married Egyptians, Arameans, Syrians and Lebanese.

There were no Torah, Tanakh, Bible, Gospel, Quran or Harry Potter during the time of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob.
There were no Syrians or Lebanese identity during the time of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. Abraham himself was supposedly an Akkadian / Assyrian. Definitely Abraham, Isaac or Jacob were Non-Muslim, Non-Christian, Non-Israelite and Non-Judaism.
I was describing the "mindset" of the people during Ancient Israelite era (1000 BC - around 300 AD). The era when the Tanakh / Gospel was being written and the doctrines of "Chosen People", "God wrote a book", "Our God is only one God and Our God, The God of Avraham, Isaac and Jacov is the truest God", "Shirk/Abandoning the commandment crime" were being invented / developed.

Modern / today's Judaism has evolved far more than that...
The "Ancient Israelite/Judaism" described above has evolved into what today being recognized as Judaism, Christianity and Islam.... Thus no wonder all of them have similar mindset...

If they actually followed what the Quran was telling them it would be obeying the messenger, but because they only glorify it and then ignore its instructions (e.g. where it tells us to believe in the Kitab of the Ahl ul-Kitab and say "all of it is from our Rab&quot then yes indeed they are idolaters.

I categorize those who have the mindset of "X is true because Quran said so" as idolator of Quran, in similar manner of those who have the mindset of "X is true because Bible/Tanakh/Jesus said so" as idolator of Bible, Tanakh and Jesus respectively. The same criteria I apply to all...

What's wrong with it? Nothing...
It's their right to idolize anything or anyone that they want... as long as they don't enforce their idolatry to others who don't belief in the same idol as they are..

HP_TECH

There were no Torah, Tanakh, Bible, Gospel, Quran or Harry Potter during the time of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob.
There were no Syrians or Lebanese identity during the time of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. Abraham himself was supposedly an Akkadian / Assyrian. Definitely Abraham, Isaac or Jacob were Non-Muslim, Non-Christian, Non-Israelite and Non-Judaism.
I was describing the "mindset" of the people during Ancient Israelite era (1000 BC - around 300 AD). The era when the Tanakh / Gospel was being written and the doctrines of "Chosen People", "God wrote a book", "Our God is only one God and Our God, The God of Avraham, Isaac and Jacov is the truest God", "Shirk/Abandoning the commandment crime" were being invented / developed.

Modern / today's Judaism has evolved far more than that...
The "Ancient Israelite/Judaism" described above has evolved into what today being recognized as Judaism, Christianity and Islam.... Thus no wonder all of them have similar mindset...

I categorize those who have the mindset of "X is true because Quran said so" as idolator of Quran, in similar manner of those who have the mindset of "X is true because Bible/Tanakh/Jesus said so" as idolator of Bible, Tanakh and Jesus respectively. The same criteria I apply to all...

What's wrong with it? Nothing...
It's their right to idolize anything or anyone that they want... as long as they don't enforce their idolatry to others who don't belief in the same idol as they are..

wow you don't understand a single statement...
Every believer including prophets and messengers who followed/follows the creed of Ibrahim was/is a Muslimina by definition of the actual word this includes Isac Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Isa, Dhun Nun, Elijah etc.. all Muslimina.
Following Scripture is not idolatry your remarks are void of reason, following your reasoning is to disbelieve

Man_of_Faith

What is to disbelieve?

HP_TECH

What is to disbelieve?

parvez_mushtaq

Kissing the black stone is part of the hajj. As we all know the details how to preform hajj and prayer can be found in Bukhary & Co. Millions of people for centuries have been doing this, are they all wrong?
Just like giving salam to the right and left at the end of the prayer and all the other details of the prayer and the hajj.

Since you are talking about our bukharyi & co .can you give me the details of the hadith which proves the kissing of black stone .take that hadith and apply the qiyas(analogy). The hadith itself says that it is a shirk .BTW ,can you tell me how many Muslims around the world learn salah by the ahadith .

maybe Allah?

Then who .do you have any other GOD

RED permissible by who?
GREEN No this is not true. We will find out very fast that it is bad, there will be chaos everywhere. Allahs laws are clear.

I think you are wrong , for example , Alcohol is banned in few countries and few countries make it as a social affair .In both the countries there is no chaos .i think evil is situational and of personal choice .

So Musa did the same ritual as you do now?

I cannot talk about the things which i cannot prove .i can comment on the things which are in front of me
BTW
quran says
Verse 2.141
That is a nation which has passed on. It will have what it earned, and you will have what you have earned. And you will not be asked about what they used to do.

So why we have to bother about Musa alaisalam

GREEN you see a lot

Thanks

No, it is as universal as universal can be.

Yes ,you are correct

RED No, every single person.

Can you be bit clear .i mean can you elaborate your view point

parvez_mushtaq

......................................

I categorize those who have the mindset of "X is true because Quran said so" as idolator of Quran, in similar manner of those who have the mindset of "X is true because Bible/Tanakh/Jesus said so" as idolator of Bible, Tanakh and Jesus respectively. The same criteria I apply to all...

What's wrong with it? Nothing...
It's their right to idolize anything or anyone that they want... as long as they don't enforce their idolatry to others who don't belief in the same idol as they are..

Yes i agree with you , Jafar
idolization and religion are not separable .Idolatry is shirk .we cannot judge human Intentions .Only ALLAH subahnavtala know about the true intentions and he will judge among us on the day of judgement .i idolize Quran and i want to stick to it .

Bender

Since you are talking about our bukharyi & co .can you give me the details of the hadith which proves the kissing of black stone .take that hadith and apply the qiyas(analogy). The hadith itself says that it is a shirk .

I am not well-read in the ahadith but I think there was a hadith about Omar (could be someone else) kissing the black stone, when people asked him why he did that as they thought it was shirk, he said that he would also have not done it if he did not saw the messenger also doing it. So clearly no shirk because who are we to judge one of the best sahaba.

BTW ,can you tell me how many Muslims around the world learn salah by the ahadith .

Everyone, they learned it from their parent and their parents from their parents but the source are the ahadith.

Then who .do you have any other GOD

that was not a question but stating something that is obvious.

I think you are wrong , for example , Alcohol is banned in few countries and few countries make it as a social affair .In both the countries there is no chaos .

I was talking about theft not alcohol. The difference between alcohol and theft is that theft ALWAYS harms others while alcohol not always.
Things that harms others are always a forbidden by Allah.
So drinking while you have a responsible duty is forbidden by Allah, because this creates chaos, unjust, evil, etc

i think evil is situational and of personal choice .

I do not think so. There is a difference between real evil and what you think is evil.

I cannot talk about the things which i cannot prove .i can comment on the things which are in front of me
BTW
quran says
Verse 2.141
That is a nation which has passed on. It will have what it earned, and you will have what you have earned. And you will not be asked about what they used to do.

So why we have to bother about Musa alaisalam

Because you are "claiming" that your salaat is the correct one and that the word salaat in the quran means your way of prayer and not how I do it or how Christians do it or how atheists do it.
So if you are right then I like to know how Musa did his salaat, is it the same as yours?

Thanks Yes

that was not a compliment
You have not to follow my advice but you may take it in consideration. Read only what there is and not what there is not, every single thing that we "read" what is not written is nothing more then our own speculation. That is not really harmful but if we take our own speculations as truths then we can never make any progress and I think we will miss the real beauty of what is written.

Can you be bit clear .i mean can you elaborate your view point

Allah has made for every person his/her way to salvation. BUT all those ways have one thing in common, that is the way how to reach this salvation. While we all have different paths the common denominator is striving for betterment.

parvez_mushtaq

I am not well-read in the ahadith but I think there was a hadith about Omar (could be someone else) kissing the black stone, when people asked him why he did that as they thought it was shirk, he said that he would also have not done it if he did not saw the messenger also doing it. So clearly no shirk because who are we to judge one of the best sahaba.

Can you give the your form of hadith .i mean how many people asked umar rasiallahuanhu about his act of shirk

Everyone, they learned it from their parent and their parents from their parents but the source are the ahadith.

tell me honestly ,did ever cross checked ahadith for salah .the majority of Muslims don't even know about salah ahadith .you are just basing with ahadith just to prove your point .
We check ahadith only in disputes .that too by the people who got knowledge, not by everyone .I will give one common example which arises during taraweeh .
just answer this question ,Is it valid to pray isha salah behind the imam who is praying taraweeh .how many people do you think will seek the solution for this problem .note that there is no ather to support this .there are athers to support taraweeh .The ijma is we can pray isha salah behind the imam with the niyah of isha fard salah and then we should continue our four rakas once the imam finishes his taraweeh prayer .but we cannot make a individual isha fard salah while the imam is making taraweeh as it will be like forming a faction in masjid .
this example clearly proves that ahadith are not enough to know about salah we need more to solve our problems .here ijma is giving the solution .Islam is much more than ahadith .

I was talking about theft not alcohol. The difference between alcohol and theft is that theft ALWAYS harms others while alcohol not always.
Things that harms others are always a forbidden by Allah.
So drinking while you have a responsible duty is forbidden by Allah, because this creates chaos, unjust, evil, etc

I don't know which part of the world you are. as per my reasoning you are a Pakistani settled in Netherlands .just check out the evils of alcoholism in my sate tamilnadu this is the trailer .i am seeing the main picture daily in my area .it is a real nonsense .

Because you are "claiming" that your salaat is the correct one and that the word salaat in the quran means your way of prayer and not how I do it or how Christians do it or how atheists do it.
So if you are right then I like to know how Musa did his salaat, is it the same as yours?

same question in a different way . i really don't know how musa alaisallam performed salah .i know one thing for sure , he would not jumped 100 times . . i am bothered about my way .can you tell me about the picture you get in your mind when you hear the word "salah",don't tell you get the picture of someone jumping 100 times .

that was not a compliment

You disappointed me .i was about to throw a party .i even ordered briyani for that . '(

Allah has made for every person his/her way to salvation. BUT all those ways have one thing in common, that is the way how to reach this salvation. While we all have different paths the common denominator is striving for betterment.

I agree with you .but what about the rituals .the religion and rituals are not separable .that is the meaning of

Jafar

Yes i agree with you , Jafar
idolization and religion are not separable .

I disagree..
Idolization is caused by fanaticism, arrogance and ignorance.
Idolization is a common theme to be found among religions BUT NOT ALL religion.
There are religion who do not idolize anyone or anything..

Idolization is a common theme to be found on ALL form of fanaticism, including but not limited to Religionism, Nationalism, Facism, Nazism, Communism, Hooliganism (Football club)...

i idolize Quran and i want to stick to it .

Human tend to idolize something or someone, it has been as such since the dawn of history.

It's good that you realize that you idolize the Quran and wanted to stick with your idolatry...
But.. just remember that when you see someone else who are idolizing different idols.... that you, yourselves and not far too different.. it just happened that you idolize different idol.

I have cited that this "Shirk is a bad thing" thing was started by the Israelites.. specifically Judeans..
Here I add more depth to the background..

The concept then evolved into "Shirk is a crime" and punishable by death through stoning.. (as can be found in the Torah). They did that as a mean for their culture / tradition to survive (as a group identity) in the midst of dominance from their less fanatical to specific idol neighbors..

The Hittites, the Assyrians for example, are known to have adopted Deities from their neighboring cultures to their pantheon.. They did this to 'foster unity and good relationship' with their neighbors..
Their attitude were "We adopt your deities, you adopt ours, we worship them all together"...

The Persians / Medes are not so fanatical about their idol / deity either..
There are historical record which shows Cyrus praising Marduk (The deity of Akkadian) and YHVH.. in addition to "Ahura Mazda". And he ordered great temples to be built to all of them.. t

YHVH was also adopted by the Hittites/Assyrians to their pantheons (as either sky god or mountain god) and they "marry him" to their native deity named "Asherah"/"Ashertu" as such "Asherah the consort of YHVH". Symbolizing good relationship between themselves and the (Northern) Israelite kingdoms..

This event triggered the Southern Israelite kingdoms/tribes (Judah) to come up with "Shirk" concept (Abandoning YHVH commandment and adopting foreign Gods and Practices) and the details can be read in today's version of Tanakh... and henceforth "Judaism" was born.. Judaism.. the truest religion who worshipped the only one and true God...

Judaism, later on evolved to become Christianity and Islam...
Celebrating Christmas or worshipping Jesus is a "Shirk" (In Judaism and Islam), because it's an adaptation of foreign practices and other deity than YHVH / Allah...

uq

I can think of acts worse than kissing a stone in the name of religion.

I can think of acts that abhorrently violate man's inalienable rights and that are carried out in the name of religion. We only need to look at what's happening in the Middle East today.

I think that we, instead of working to invalidate the belief's of other communities, should be working collectively to validate the beliefs of ours.

Zulf

I can think of acts worse than kissing a stone in the name of religion.

I can think of acts that abhorrently violate man's inalienable rights and that are carried out in the name of religion. We only need to look at what's happening in the Middle East today.

I think that we, instead of working to invalidate the belief's of other communities, should be working collectively to validate the beliefs of ours.

Of course, agreed.

However, the very same people (whatever creed) who engage in "innocent" religious activities... also tend to insist this is the way people must do it, or else they are pagans/kaafirs/infidels/doomed/lost souls etc.

So yes, live and let live is the way, but we need to be able reason about things we find unreasonable without people getting emotional all the time (which happens in 100% of the cases with religion).

Peace